module specification

This module is designed to introduce students to the advertising process and the role it plays within the changing global technological environment of marketing communications. The module presents theoretical frameworks and models which are relevant to brand advertising and explores traditional and on line advertising practice. The content includes advertising theories and models; the strategic advertising brief; how agencies work with clients; how advertising is developed and produced; how advertising is evaluated and measured, (the metrics); the development of offline and online media; how advertising works within the regulatory framework in which advertising operates across markets and international cultures.

This module has been designed to build on Level 4 modules knowledge with a focus on the understanding of advertising theory and principles. This module aims to provide students with the relevant skills in developing strategic creative briefs and advertising campaigns.

The origins of modern branding and how advertising developed- history of branding and advertising in both a national and global context
- How advertising agencies are structured and the differing relationships with client companies
- The role of advertising in building strong brands and brand equity
- Culture-driven values, brands and advertising
- Advertising theories used to explain how advertising works & how consumer process information LO1

Crafting a realistic and effective strategic creative briefs
-An overview of the advertising planning process and developing a strategic creative brief; how each stage of an advertising plan is developed from brief to execution; writing and evaluation of a creative brief and creative appeals; understanding the challenges involved in the development of strategic creative briefs LO2

The advertising planning process
- How advertising fits into a company’s marketing plan, and the role it plays within the marketing communications framework
- Advertising strategy and context analysis
- Understanding and selecting target audience decision making
- Setting advertising objectives and budgets
- Creative strategy - conceptualising the ‘big idea’, creative appeals;, copywriting, creative strategy and executional styles across cultures, analysis and critique of advertising executions
- The media planning options for adverting traditional and digital-paid, owned and earned media
- The media industry in the context of buying and using media for advertising
- International advertising strategies and planning – culture, cultural norms, language and symbols standardisation, adaptation & localisation.
- Campaign implementation and scheduling process
- How advertising is measured, controlled and evaluated (quantitative  /qualitative approaches) 
- Standards and responsibilities- regulatory, legislative and ethical frameworks within which advertising operates LO3

This module will be delivered over a 30-week period and consists of 3-hour interactive learning sessions.
The weekly interactive learning sessions will consist of a combination of theoretical input and problem-based tasks, discussions, supported by multimedia, including videos and student centred discussions, peer evaluation of set tasks and problem based group work. Theoretical input will focus on defining and clarifying contemporary advertising issues to the appropriate level for Year 2 students. The interactive learning sessions will also allow students to critique advertising campaigns drawn from a wide variety of markets, cultures and countries, which will be facilitated by tutorial staff and enable students from the different groups to interact.

Students will be directed toward particular journal articles relating to the weekly content, whether it is focused on advertising theory, control or metrics and there will be regular opportunities for critique presentation and review of individual approaches to this style and form of learning.

In order to ensure that students take more control of their learning and development, a ‘flipped classroom’ approach is adopted where students are provided with a topic and prepare well in advance of the date on which materials will be covered. Reflective learning is incorporated into the module and students are advised to keep a journal of experiences and personal development to analyse and reflect on the effectiveness of their learning.

The facilities of Web Learn will be used as part of a blended learning approach and will be central to the delivery of module handbook, case studies, campaigns, journal articles, and external web links, as appropriate. It will also be used for the timely provision of feedback following formative assessment.

On successfully  completing the module students will be able to:

1. Identify and analyse key principles and theories of advertising in branding communications.

2. Outline the key elements of a strategic creative brief that are commercially and creatively viable.

3. Demonstrate an analysis of the steps in planning an effective advertising campaign.

The assessment has been designed to test the achievement of the module’s learning outcomes and requires students to analyse, think critically and apply their specialist knowledge gained during the module. Accordingly, the module is assessed by three components:  Individual essay on one theoretical aspect of advertising 30% (1500 words),group presentation  of  a creative   brief  20% (15 minutes) and group advertising campaign report 50%  (3,500 words).

Individual Essay 30% (1500 words)- LO1 addressed

Students will be required to select a recently published academic article about advertising theory. They will need to write an essay that presents the theoretical underpinnings of the article and gauge the most important ideas from the selected article and its relationship to advertising theory. Students should also be able to identify and analyse rival theories and concepts which may have been missing in the journal article as well as find alternative explanations for the findings presented in the article. Students will discuss managerial implications and provide illustrates of advertising campaigns supporting the theory and viewpoints from the article. Students should demonstrate striking personal insight and originality, supporting their arguments with relevant literature. 

Phase I- Group Presentation, Strategic Creative Brief  20 % (15 minutes) – LO2 addressed
Students will be required to work in groups of 3-4 for an oral presentation. Students will be required
to carry out the development of a strategic advertising pitch for a brand, product or service as agreed with the Module leader. Students should highlight the key elements of a strategic creative brief. Referencing must be carried out using the Harvard System. Aside from assessing subject knowledge, students will be assessed on:
- their ability to work in a team as well as independently, formulate and defend a complex argument in a logical manner
-their ability to choose appropriate materials and  Media, e.g. Prezi presentations
- use of voice, clear well-paced verbal delivery and body language, confidence, eye contact and
  professional approach
- audience engagement  during the presentation and time management

Phase II- Group Written Report  50% (3500 words)– LO3 addressed
Students will be required to produce a comprehensive advertising plan. Each group should clearly explain the contents of the advertising campaign including the context analysis, advertising strategy, creative strategy, media planning and buying strategy, campaign implementation process, budgets and measurements of results. Referencing must be carried out using the Harvard System.
The advertising strategy will include carrying out context analysis, setting focused campaign objectives and message strategies aimed at specific target audience. The advertising plan should fit in the strategic marketing plan of the company and its marketing communications activity. Students should consider the full range of available traditional and digital media channels and justify the use of those they select. They are also required to discuss how they intend to coordinate and control their campaigns across their chosen media vehicles. The analysis should be grounded in appropriate advertising concepts, theories and models.

Arrangements for formative and summative feedback

Students will be provided with both formative and summative feedback in the lecture and seminars and during tutor’s office hours.  Formative feedback will be given in seminars. For the individual essay students will be provided with the opportunity to produce drafts The feedback should assist students in addressing their individual essay which will be due in week 12. For the group creative brief presentation   students will be given an opportunity and encouraged to produce drafts on the presentation during seminars in week 21, 22 and 23. For the group campaign plan students will be given the opportunity to work on the plan in the seminar period therefore attendance will assist this process and assist in the
management of time. This will enable formative feedback on the work in progress, and will be required to show draft work/progress reports to their tutors for comments during seminars in week 25, 26 and 27.

Core Texts

Fill C., Hughes G. And De Francesco, S. (2013) Advertising: strategy, creativity and media, Pearson.
Percy, L. and Rosenbaum-Elliott, R. (2016) Strategic advertising management, 5th Edition, Oxford University Press.

Other Texts:
- Aaker, D. (2000) building strong brands, UK: Simon & Schuster.
- Altstiel, T. and Grow, N. (2013) Advertising creative: strategy, copy and design, 3rd edition,
  SAGE.
-Baron, R. and Sissors, J.(2010) Advertising media planning, 7th Edition,  McGraw-Hill Education.
- Chaffey D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2015) Digital Marketing Strategy Implementation & Practice 6th Edition Pearson Education Limited.
- Chaffey, D. and smith, PR (2017)Digital Marketing Excellence: Planning, Optimizing and Integrating Online Marketing, 5th Edition,  Routledge
- De Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M. & Van den Bergh, J.,(2017) Marketing Communications, 6th  Edition, Pearson
- Dahlen, M, Lange, F. and Smith, T. (2010) Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative
Approach, John Wiley& Sons.
- Davis, J.J. (2011) Advertising Research: Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- De Mooj, M, (2014) Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Global Paradoxes. 4th
Edition, SAGE.
- Fennis B.  Stroebe  W. (2015) The Psychology of Advertising  2nd edition Routledge.
- Fill, C. and Turnbull, S. (2016) Marketing communications: discovery, creation and
conversations, 7th Edition, Pearson.
- Hegarty, J. (2011) Hegarty on advertising: turning intelligence into magic, Thames & Hudson.
-Himpe, T. (2008) Advertising Next: 150 Winning Campaigns for the New Communications
Age. Thames & Hudson.
- Kapferer, J-N. (2012) The New Strategic Brand Management, Advanced Insights and Strategic Thinking. 5thth edition, London: Kogan Page.
- Keller, K. (2013) Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand
Equity. 4th (global) edition, London, Pearson International.
- Kelley, L., Jugenheimer,D. and Sheehan, K. (2015) Advertising Media Planning: A Brand Management
  Approach,4th Edition, NY: Routledge.
- Moriarty S, Mitchell N.  Wells W. (2015) Advertising & IMC: Principles and Practice, Global
Edition, Pearson.
- Mueller, B. (2011) Dynamics of international advertising: theoretical and practical perspectives,
2nd edition, Peter Lang Publishing, New York.
- William F. Arens, Michael F. Weigold, and Christian Arens, Contemporary Advertising (2016)
15thEdition International edition, McGraw.
- Pricken, M. (2010) Creative Strategies Idea Management for Marketing, Advertising, Media
and Design. Thames & Hudson.
- Rodgers S. and Thorson E. (2012) Advertising Theory, Routledge.
Sissors, J. and Baron, R. (2010) Advertising Media Planning, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education.
Tag, N. (2012) Ad Critique How to Deconstruct Ads in Order to Build Better Advertising, Sage.
- Yeshin, T. (2011) Advertising, South-Western, CENGAGE Learning.

Journals:
Journal of Marketing
Journal of Current Issues and research in Advertising
Journal of Advertising Research
Journal of Marketing Research
Journal of Advertising
International Journal of Advertising
Journal of marketing communications
Journal of Marketing Communications
Journal of Communication Management
International Journal of Advertising: the quarterly review of marketing communications
International Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications

Websites/ Electronic Databases:

Institute of Practitioners in Advertising   www.ipa.co.uk
Internet Advertising Bureau UK   www.iabuk.net
Interactive Advertising Bureau   www.iab.net
Thinkboxwww.thinkbox.tv
Broadcaster Audience Research Board  www.barb.co.uk
Advertising Standards Authority   www.asa.org.uk
Radio Advertising Bureau  www.rab.com
Click Z   www.clickz
Marketing Sherpa www.marketingsherpa.com
World Advertising Research Centre www.warc.com
Imediaconnectionwww.imediaconnection.com
Advertising Associationwww.adassoc.org.uk
News Media Association www.newsmediauk.org
emarketer - http://www.emarketer.com/
Smartinsights - http://www.smartinsights.com