Integrated marketing communications: New role expectations and performance issues in the client-ad agency relationship?

Marketing client representatives have important work roles to perform in the creation of the advertising agency service., Yet it seems likely that the implementation of integrated marketing and the integrated marketing communications (IMC) approach will inevitably lead to new role expectations and performance issues concerning client and agency representatives. Whereas research on the client-ad agency relationship suggests agencies may have difficulties satisfying their clients because of inadequate or unpredictable client role performance, it also seems likely that implementation of the IMC approach will lead to even greater client role requirements, contributing to role stress, or ambiguity, In this article, (I)the IMC approach and its implications for the client-agency relationship are discussed; (2) an emerging line of theory development in the organization and management literature is reviewed, which views clients as ''partial'' employees and emphasizes how and when client role performance can be controlled, (3) the likely antecedents and consequences of client representative role ambiguity ave discussed; and (4) representative research propositions are presented that focus on the issues emerging from the discussion. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.