Integrated Marketing Communications

General characterization

Prerequisites

N/A

Bibliography

The material for the course is available in the syllabus in two levels: Recommended readings and additional readings (for those students who would like extra input) most used references will include:

Larry Percy & Richard Elliott (2016), Strategic Advertising Management, 5th ed. Oxford University Press.

Patrick De Pelsmacker, Maggie Geuens, Jori Van den Bergh (2017) Marketing Communications, a European Perspective, 6th ed. FT Prentice Hall.

Sunil Gupta, Joseph Davin (2015), Digital Marketing, Core Curriculum Reading, Harvard Business Publishing.

Jill Avery, Thales S. Teixeira (2016), Marketing Communications, Core Curriculum Reading, Harvard Business Publishing.

John Rossiter & Larry Percy (1997), Advertising and Promotion Management 2nd ed. New York, McGraw Hill.

John R. Rossiter and Steve Bellman (2005), Marketing Communications, theory and applications, Pearson Prentice Hall Australia.

We strongly recommend you to access the WARC data base of Advertising Materials, available at Nova’s Library Website: http://libraries.fe.unl.pt/index.php/e-resources/full-text- res/item/warc?category_id=17

Teaching method

The course will be a mix of theory, cases and discussions. A hands-on approach to the subject will be used with many examples and material from the field.

A high student involvement is expected in class discussions and case recommendations and should be accompanied by thorough preparation of cases and readings that are available via the syllabus and class materials that can be accessed on line via moodle. For the cases the discussion questions will also be available. The web based material includes the class presentations together with the recommended and additional readings: the course allows for those who wish to explore the topic further to do so via extra material and advice, and we encourage you to do that.

During the term students will be required to prepare, in teams of up to five, a Communications (A,P) Plan, that will be presented. Teams should involve students from more than one nationality, gender and from different backgrounds (e.g. previous university), and we will set them with you immediately after the first class. During the course, students are required to deliver several individual assignments or write ups. These will be referenced in the detailed syllabus.

Evaluation method

There is no final exam in this course.

40% Communications (A,P) plan-group and individual evaluation, including a peer review (20% of grade, due with the preliminary version of the presentation in power point).

The Comm Plan evaluation is based on Comm Concepts used (60%), Consistency and quality of replies to questions (10%), Quality of report and presentation (10%), and peer review, as detailed above.

20% Assignments/write-ups - individual reports. The write-ups or assignments are strictly individual. Any plagiarism will be handled strictly and offenders will be punished according with the University rules.

20% Class participation evaluation - we will have students discussing cases during several sessions. Unjustified absence to any case discussion will mean a zero grade for that class’s participation. Class participation grades will be based on the quality, listening evidence and frequency of your participation in case discussions, with grades from A to D (zero).

20% Midterm short test (Quiz) - 1 hour, scheduled out of class.

The Communications (A,P) plan should be completed during the term. Groups will have to submit a draft presentation of the plan (a preliminary version of the plan presentation in power point). On the dates to be defined groups will present the plan, and will deliver the final report (in word or power point). Both the draft presentation and the final report are to be delivered via moodle. Presentations will involve every element of the team and will last 45min, including 30min for presentation and 15min for questions.

Subject matter

Integrated Marketing communications programs follow a Strategic planning process and are executed via implementation tactics. We will follow the sequence depicted below in our handling of Communications (A&P).

• Marketing objectives;

• Target audience selection, action objectives and customer understanding;

• Communication objectives and brand positioning;

• Making it work: Creative strategy and execution;

• Media strategy;

• Campaign tracking and evaluation;

• Integrating advertising and promotion.

1. Overview of Advertising and Promotion and Marketing Objectives:

We establish the basic concepts and discuss different marketing objectives. We address the points of view of consumers (Communication response sequence) and companies (Planning stages) and discuss new challenges.

2. Target Audience selection, action objectives and customer understanding:

We address customer targeting using several segmentation criteria and establish action objectives for each customer target. We develop an understanding of the target audience decision making introducing the Behavioral Sequence model. Digital and Social in the Decision Making process.

3. Communication Objectives and Brand Positioning:

We look at positioning of a product or service for marketing communication purposes. Then we introduce and select Communication objectives.

4. Making it work: Creative Strategy and Execution:

We explain the meaning of a creative strategy and discuss the creative brief. Then we explain Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude tactics based on the Rossiter-Percy grid.

5. Media strategy in a Digital environment:

We address digital and its impact distinguishing Digital and Social Strategies via theory and up-to- date cases. Then we discuss media concepts, media type selection and strategic rules for the implementation of the media plan.

6. Campaign tracking and evaluation:

We review basic measures and performance evaluation, together with campaign wear out evaluation.

7. Integrating Advertising & Promotion:

We specifically address Sales Promotion and examine the impact of putting together all available marketing communications tools, on line and off line.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: