Both practitioners and scholars agree that IMC makes practical "good sense".<ref name=j5>Cornelissen, J.P., Christensen, L. and Vijn, P. (2006) "Understanding the Development and Diffusion of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC): A Metaphorical Perspective, NRG Working Paper No. 06-02, p. 11</ref> Consequently, the discipline has relatively few critics. Nevertheless, researchers have pointed to areas that are in need of further research, and highlight some of the discipline's deficiencies: Some practitioners and scholars argue that IMC is not new. Skeptics point out that the more experienced communications managers, especially national brand managers, have always practiced integration. A more serious criticism of IMC concerns the problem of measurement. The value of IMC activities has proved very difficult to measure due to the interactions of different communications tools. A growing number of scholars agree that the lack of rigorous measurement metrics and methods represents a major challenge for the discipline. Studies have shown that, while managers are familiar with the IMC concept in theory, it is not widely practiced. Such findings suggest that IMC is easy to understand, but difficult to do. One possible explanation for the slow uptake is that organizational barriers to implementation may have become entrenched and are difficult to overcome. A number of organizational characteristics have been cited as possible barriers to implementation. These factors include: a mind-set that has been built up over the years which promotes specialization rather than integration; organizational structure which has been designed to manage specialisms (e.g. advertising, PR as separate branches); manager ability and lack of skills in integration; agency remuneration systems and the adequacy of budgets. Marketing communications framework The marketing communications planning framework (MCPF) is a model for the creation of an ICM plan. Created by Chris Fill, senior examiner for the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the MCPF is intended to solve the inadequacies of other frameworks. Integrated marketing communications planning approaches Inside–out approach An “inside-out” approach is the traditional planning approach to marketing communication. Planning begins "inside" the organization by identifying the goals and objectives which are often based around what has always been done. Communication's task then becomes a process of "selling" the organization's message to the "outside" or external stakeholders. The inside–out approach to integrated marketing communications has been criticized as a one sided view point, since it combines the elements of communication and marketing to create a single unified message. Porcu and his team point out that many of