Postgraduate Course: Marketing Communications (CMSE11113)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | Marketing communications tools are constantly evolving in response to developments in media, technology and branding, and changes in consumer practices. This course builds on the understanding of marketing principles and practices gained in Semester 1, and aims to examine the process of planning and managing marketing communications, within communication agencies and between agencies and clients, and the factors which impact on effective, responsible integrated marketing communications programmes. Particular attention will be paid to enabling strong creative work and achieving a seamless relationship between online and offline communications. |
| Course description |
This course seeks to provide you with the knowledge and skills to manage the development of marketing communications campaigns, from either side of the agency/client relationship. It aims to introduce you to the contemporary marketing communications landscape, including the relationship between communications agencies and clients, and the societal implications of marketing communication practices. It aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of the role played by digital and more traditional advertising/communications tools, and how these can be integrated effectively. It seeks to provide you with analytical frameworks and practical insights to guide you through the process of planning and evaluating marketing communications campaigns.
Syllabus
Introduction: the marketing communications landscape
Managing agency-client relationships
The marketing communications planning process
Understanding creatives and creativity
Creative strategy and working with creative teams
Reading Week
Media planning
The rise of digital communications tools
Planning international communications
Understanding and researching communications effectiveness
Ethics and regulation, and course review
Student Learning Experience
This course will introduce you to vocabulary, concepts, case histories and decision-making frameworks which are essential for marketing communications-related careers, either from a client or agency perspective. The material covered in this course will also expose those of you interested in further study to a range of research issues and methods in the area.
This course is based on ten two-hour lectures, involving class interaction, which will relate theory to practice by drawing on examples of marketing communication practice in the form of video and other case material, and through a number of contributions from guest lecturers with extensive industry experience.
Attending lectures is only one part of the work you are expected to do on this course. You will also be expected to read the assigned material for each lecture, keep up to date with developments in marketing communications through observing campaigns around you and monitoring the trade press and relevant websites; and work on the continuous assessments and revise for the examination. You will be encouraged to engage with the material through small group work in preparation for short informal class presentations and on the group project.
Please note that for each lecture, a list of essential reading has been provided on Learn. A list of further reading is also provided for each lecture for students interested in pursuing topics in greater depth - this is not required for the examination, though any extra reading you select from this list would of course deepen your knowledge!
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Marketing Management (CMSE11132) OR
Principles of Marketing Management (CMSE11110)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Alternatively, students must have previously undertaken a marketing-related module at university/college level (documentary proof must be supplied), or worked in a marketing post for a minimum of one year.
For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
125 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formal assessment of your performance on this course takes two forms. The degree examination is worth 60% of the total marks on this course, and the group continuous assessment project is worth 40%. Of the 40 marks for the continuous assessment project, 35 will be for the report itself and 5 will be based on peer assessment. |
| Feedback |
You will receive informal feedback throughout the course as part of class discussion and through interactions on the class Facebook Group.
Each group will have the opportunity to meet with the Course Organiser to discuss their approach to the project, and will also receive formative feedback on one draft of their creative brief.
When the projects have been marked, students will receive written comments on the text of the project, and a feedback summary sheet containing rating scales and overall comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the work.
Following the Board of Examiners meeting, generic feedback will also be provided on examination questions. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Marketing Communications | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand how the marketing communications industry is organised and key relationships within it.
- Understand and comment critically on the marketing communications process, and on the environmental, ethical, organisational and personal factors shaping it.
- Critically evaluate the implications for communications planning of the expanding role of digital communication tools.
- Critically discuss the rationale for integrated marketing communications, barriers to achieving it and ways of overcoming these.
- Apply theoretical frameworks to analyse particular marketing communications situations.
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Reading List
Class Text
Hackley, C. and Hackley, R.A. (2015) Advertising and Promotion: London: Sage.
This book provides a useful and up-to-date orientation to most sessions and is a good background text, but it will need to be supplemented with academic and practitioner journal articles as detailed below. You may wish to buy your own copy of the textbook, but may find it enough to borrow a copy when necessary from the HUB or main library.
A lecture outline, including lecture-specific essential readings, is available as a separate document on the course Learn page. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge, understanding and cognitive skills
After completing this course, you should be able to:
- analyse the contemporary marketing communications landscape and the key challenges facing the industry, informed by both academic and practitioner literature
- understand the process of marketing communications planning and the organisational context in which it is undertaken
- analyse the contribution of different communication tools and media to effective communications
- explain ethical and regulatory aspects of marketing communications practices
Applied knowledge, skills and understanding
After completing this course, you should be able to:
- apply theoretical frameworks to analyse particular marketing communications situations
- identify and evaluate alternative communication strategies in light of an organisation's marketing environment, objectives and target markets
- understand the perspective of advertising creatives and how account planners and other managers can communicate effectively with them;
- research and write a creative brief in an appropriate format and justify your approach
- compare, contrast and apply different approaches to assessing marketing communications effectiveness.
- locate and use appropriate marketing resources to research particular issues concerning marketing communications.
Communication, ICT and numeracy skills
By the end of the course you will be expected to be able to:
- communicate and exchange ideas and arguments about marketing communications in both large and small group settings;
- analyse secondary data about a particular marketing communication challenge in order to identify and evaluate potential solutions
Autonomy, accountability and working with others
By the end of this course you will be expected to:
- have contributed proportionately to group coursework by agreeing, undertaking and reviewing the tasks required to research, write and justify a creative brief
- have contributed effectively to small group and plenary discussion in class
- reflect on and communicate your own values with respect to ethical marketing communications practice. |
| Keywords | Mark-MComms |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Stephanie O'Donohoe
Tel: (0131 6)50 3821
Email: S.O'Donohoe@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Ashley Harper
Tel: (0131 6)51 5671
Email: Ashley.Harper@ed.ac.uk |
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