GRA 6433 Marketing Communication
GRA 6433 Marketing Communication
Communication is a key aspect of marketing. Marketers communicate with their customers and other stakeholders in order to influence perceptions, attitudes, and behavior, and to drive sales. To succeed, they must convey the right messages to the right audiences at the right times and leverage today's complex and rapidly evolving online and offline media channels. This course prepares students for this challenge by equipping them with state-of-the-art knowledge and skills. It provides a deep understanding of marketing communication, both in terms of real-life application, and as a field of scientific research. Throughout the course, students will work in groups on a marketing communication project in collaboration with a real client organization and its agencies. The lectures will provide inspiration for the group project in two ways:
1) We will meet senior guest speakers holding various key functions in marketing communication (e.g., client, media agency, creative agency). These practitioners will provide insights into the daily business and current challenges of marketing communication and mentor the students in their group projects.
2) We will discuss concepts and theories in marketing and adjacent fields that are relevant to marketing communication. These insights may be used in the project. We will also pay attention to theoretical and methodological challenges in these research areas.
Upon successful completion of this course, the students will have a sound platform of knowledge on:
- the practice of marketing communication: By working on an applied project in collaboration with a real firm and getting feedback from experienced communication professionals, students will learn first-hand about how the marketing communication landscape is structured, and get to know best practices in marketing communication.
- the theory of marketing communication: In the course, students will familiarize themselves with two theoretical approaches to marketing communication. First, theories of attitude change and persuasion, sensory perception, and virality help us understand how consumers are influenced by marketing communication. Second, models of communication effectiveness and planning, media integration, and creativity give insights on how to design communication strategies, allocate budgets, and measure impact. We will critically discuss these insights and their potential to guide managerial decision-making.
Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be able to
- address managerial challenges of marketing communication in an analytical manner
- tackle a real-life marketing communication project in an international team and under pressure
- digitally present a marketing communication project in a clear and convincing way
- critically evaluate and apply scientific insights in the field of marketing communication
After successfully completing this course, students should be able to
- appreciate key factors that affect the effectiveness of marketing communications
- critically assess marketing communication activities from the perspective of a marketer, but also in their role as consumers, and from an ethical perspective.
The topics below are exemplary and subject to change.
- The structure of marketing communications (client, agencies, media channels)
- How marketing communications work (psychological models of how marketing communications work, information processing, persuasion)
- Managing marketing communications (budgeting, measuring impact, integrating marketing communications)
- Leveraging today's media landscape, including key online and offline channels, their properties, uses, and KPIs
- Message strategies and execution
- Multisensory marketing communication
- Persuasion tools
The course combines lectures by the course responsible and various guest lecturers, in-class discussions and exercises, and out-of-class homeworks and project work.
Class attendance is expected. It is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
Come to class well prepared (i.e., make sure you have read the assigned readings and completed any assigned tasks).
All parts of the assessment must be passed in order to receive a final grade in the course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
GRA 4145 Brand Management or equivalent.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission other than PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 60 Grouping: Group (4 - 7) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Group project. Exam code: GRA 64332 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Portfolio Assessment PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 40 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Portfolio of homeworks Exam code: GRA 64333 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 24 Hour(s) | |
Prepare for teaching | 36 Hour(s) | |
Group work / Assignments | 20 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 80 Hour(s) | |
Digital resources | 12 Hour(s) | Asynchronous content |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.