Marketing Communications: Advertising

Nearly everyone in the modern world is influenced to some degree by advertising and other forms of promotion. Organizations have learned that the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with their target audiences is critical to their success. This course was designed to teach how to implement successful marketing communication programs. In order to do so, we will consider two vital perspectives. First, marketing communications messages must be integrated into the overall marketing strategy of the organization. Second, the ultimate goal of marketing communications is to have an impact on the consumer. Thus, the manager must understand how consumers engage in communication, react to persuasion attempts, and make purchasing decisions.
The overall goal of this course is to provide you with a set of approaches and concepts to consider when faced with a managerial decision involving marketing communications, whether via traditional media or social/digital media. The frameworks discussed in this course and applied to the real-world cases will enable you to think critically and make better marketing communications decisions. The course adopts an integrated marketing perspective that treats marketing communications as one element of an overall marketing strategy that is designed to alter some aspect of consumer behavior.

Course Objectives:
1) To generate an appreciation of the role of marketing communications within an overall framework for marketing strategy.
2) To increase awareness and understanding of the challenges associated with implementing effective communication efforts across multiple and developing media, including traditional media and evolving social media.
3) To introduce current knowledge regarding both substantive findings and theory about customer reactions to marketing communications and persuasion attempts.
4) To provide concepts for anticipating and understanding customer reactions to marketing communications and communications strategies.
5) To allow students practice in leveraging #1 - #4 above in making managerial decisions.