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Advertising Workshop Syllabus
Marketing Communication Department 54-1301
Monday 5:30-10:20pm - Instructor: Alton Miller
Why are you here?

Probably out of curiosity, is my guess. These pages are in development for an Advertising Workshop class.
Course description:
    Development of advertising/marketing campaign and adjunct activities, from conception to final client presentation. Students should already have studied and be grounded in copy, media, research.
Course objectives:
    Students will "walk through" an ad campaign, participating as members of a team in the various agency roles. They will monitor, discuss, analyze and apply, as appropriate, trends and issues in advertising.
Textbook:
    Advertising Campaign Planning: Developing an Advertising- based Marketing Plan (second edition) by Jim Avery
Methodology:
    As teams, students will research, design and execute the key elements of an advertising campaign presentation to a client.
    Individually, students will monitor an existing product/service category and keep a "clipbook/log" of advertising in the category. Each student will analyze and examine the advertising by technique used, media used, targeting, effectiveness. This clipbook/log, and analysis, will be turned in for grading at the end of the term. Students are encouraged to apply ideas gleaned from this assignment to the team project on which they'll be working.
Grading:

    Team participation/availability/contribution 50 percent
    Category clipbook/log 25 percent
    In-class discussion and participation 25 percent



Week 1 - Introduction:
  • What is a brand? How do we respond to brands?
  • Discussion of ads & marketing in our culture
  • Elements of an advertising-based marketing plan.
  • Discussion of product-line preferences, and group decision on a product-line as the subject of this course.
  • Discussion of agency roles, and group decision on how to cover each role in class work assignments
ASSIGNMENT:
  • Read assigned material, "The 1994 Study of Media and Markets."
  • Return to class next week prepared to discuss and decide the brand that we will focus on.
  • Find ads in our product line, and analyze each based on Avery's "Copy Platform" structure:
          Target audience:
          Objective:
          Strategy:
             "To convince __________
              To buy _______________
              Instead of____________
              Because_______________"
          Support:
          Considerations:
          Tone:
    


Week 2 - Situation Analysis
  • Review assignments
  • Developing a situation analysis:
  • Group decision on a brand
  • Discuss elements of situation analysis

      Current users
      Geographical emphasis
      Seasonality
      Purchase Cycle
      Creative Requirements
      Competitive Sales
      Competitive Media
  • Apply situation analysis principles to our chosen brand
  • Introduction to secondary & primary research resources
  • Review Simmons
  • Discuss primary research: interviewing
ASSIGNMENT:
  • Read Avery, Ch. 1, "Situation Analysis"
  • Conduct primary research on product, with interviews in place of purchase.



Week 3 - Research, SWOT
  • Review assignments: what did we learn from interviews... copy points? other insights?
  • Discuss research resources
  • Focus groups... one-on-one interviews... surveys
  • Simmons: more detailed discussion
  • Discuss factors that motivate behavior
  • Discuss unique brand characteristics.
  • Problems & opportunities
  • Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)
  • Anticipating competitors' responses
  • Individual clipbook project: each student chooses a different product line for advertising study.
ASSIGNMENT:
  • Read assigned material on "Marketing & The Planning Process"
  • Read Avery, Ch. 2 and 7 - "Research" and "Advertising Creative"
  • Group assignment: compare current Simmons research with 1994 Simmons research to justify (or question) your assumptions.
  • Individual clipbook assignment: find 25 ads from your product category and be prepared to discuss technique, media, targeting, effectiveness.
  • SWOT -- identify our product's
      Strengths
      Weaknesses
      Opportunities
      Threats



Week 4 - Objectives

ASSIGNMENT:
  • Read all related links on this website (start with NEXT page below).
  • Prepare a Situation Analysis as described on the Situation Analysis page.
  • Prepare a Research Worksheet as described on the Research page.
  • Prepare a SWOT Analysis as described on the Problems & Opportunities page.
  • Prepare an analysis of the 25 ads you have collected for your clipbook, as described on the Advertising Analysis page.

Week 5 - Strategies

ASSIGNMENT:
Week 6 - Creative

ASSIGNMENT:
Week 7 - Presentation

ASSIGNMENT:
Week 8 - Presentation


Go on to the NEXT page.



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