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Marketing Communications

Convenor: Professor Douglas West
Assessment: A two-hour, formal unseen examination (75% of the overall mark) and written report (25% of the overall mark). The deadline for the report is 5th December 2011 (Absolute Cut-Off deadline – 26th December 2011).

Aims

  • To introduce students to the concepts and components of Integrated Marketing communication (IMC) and Marketing Communications.
  • To concentrate on the non-personal marketing communication tools of Advertising, Public Relations, Sales & Promotion and Direct Marketing.
  • To develop a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the means by which the various elements of communications activity can be integrated.
  • To provide a framework for the understanding of the role of Marketing Communications and the inter-relationship between the goals of the client and the agency.

Learning objectives

To provide critical understanding and knowledge of:

  • Understand communication theory and how it applies to the development of the marketing communication process.
  • Define and interpret Integrated Marketing communication (IMC) both strategically and tactically, and use this interpretation to help assess case study problems.
  • Analyse and assess specific Integrated Marketing Communication strategies developed and managed by organisations.
  • Write and present to a professional standard a report that combines marketing information and recommended communications strategy.

Content

The course will examine learning about how practitioners make decisions relating to the deployment of different communication channels and plan integrated Marketing Communications processes, and how changes occurring in society are related to new Marketing Communications approaches. Through case study and group work, students will develop a range of skills that will allow them to question various assumptions in the Marketing literature, and to critically appraise how Marketers formulate and modify Marketing Communications strategy. Students will be able to evaluate Marketing Communications policy and marketing communications decision-making processes.

Recommended Text

  • Belch, George & Belch, Michael (2009), Advertising & Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, 8th Ed., NY: McGraw Hill.

Supplementary Texts:

  • Adamson, Alan P. (2008), Brand Digital: Simple ways top brands succeed in the digital world, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Shimp, Terence A. (2009), Integrated Marketing Communications in Advertising and Promotion, International Edition, 8th Ed., Thomson South-Western.
  • Gerard J. Tellis and Tim Ambler (Eds.) (2007), The SAGE Handbook of Advertising (London: SAGE).