UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA



UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Marshall School of Business

MKT 405: Advertising and Promotion Management

(Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC))

Spring 2010

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Professor: Dr. Debbie MacInnis

Telephone: (213) 740-5039

E- Mail: macinnis@usc.edu (preferred mode of contact)

Office: Hoffman Hall, Room 618

Office Hours: M/W 11-12 (or by appointment)

Class Meetings: M/W 12 p.m. and M/W 2 p.m. (HOH 304)

Course Web Page:

Professor’s Web

Page:

Marketing Dept Accounting Building, Room 306E

Office: (213) 740-5039 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Course Description

This course is designed to provide an overview the concepts involved in managing the promotion mix (advertising, sales promotions, direct marketing, event marketing, website marketing) and the processes involved in developing an integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaign. The course is best suited to juniors and seniors in marketing, communications, psychology, cinema/TV or art who are interested in learning about or considering career options in the marketing communications industry. BUAD 307, COMM 200, COMM 302 or JOUR 340 are pre-requisites for this class.

Course Objectives

The course will provide you with the skills and knowledge to:

1. Understand what IMC is and why it is so important to marketing programs today.

2. Understand the key players in the IMC industry and what they do. This knowledge should help you identify your specific interests in IMC as a career.

3. Determine how insight and knowledge of the target market provides critical input to the design of advertising, sales promotions, internet marketing, and direct marketing.

4. Develop an effective positioning strategy to distinguish a product or service offering from the competition.

5. Understand how to develop communication objectives, formulate a creative strategy and design a set of creative tactics for advertising that will best position the product, break through the clutter, and achieve the communication objectives.

6. Select various forms of media to maximize the effectiveness of an integrated marketing communications (IMC) program.

7. Understand the key role of other communication tools in the IMC mix—like sales promotions, direct marketing, and the internet in creating a synergistic IMC campaign.

Class Format

Class sessions will be devoted to summarizing major advertising and promotion concepts and then probing, extending and applying these concepts. Lectures, videos, commercials, exercises, discussion, guest speakers, and a team IMC Plan will be utilized to maximize learning and provide a forum in which advertising, promotion, and communications concepts and theory are applied to real world experiences.

It is assumed that all students have read the relevant assignments prior to coming to class and will actively contribute to each session to maximize the learning experience. Lectures will not necessarily rehash book material. Hence if there is any information in the book that you find unclear, please bring it to my attention and we will discuss it in class.

How Class Activities Fit with Course Objectives

8 By developing an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Plan project, your team will be able to apply key advertising and promotion concepts in the form of a professionally presented document—one that may be used for interviewing purposes.

9 By taking quizzes, you will better understand the key advertising buzzwords and concepts that will enhance your ability to interact knowledgeably with advertising and IMC professionals. You will also ensure the understanding of key concepts that will facilitate their usage throughout the course.

10 By completing the IMC plan, assigned exercises and cases, you will be able to apply IMC concepts to real world experiences and better understand the decisions made by IMC professionals as they pertain to actual products, services, and companies.

➢ By collaborating with others, you can learn new knowledge and develop new abilities, develop interpersonal skills needed to work effectively with others, and gain experience working in team settings in which team members share common objectives. You will also learn how to work with others to maximize the performance and output of the team. These critical team-building skills are required in all business settings.

➢ Through active class participation you enhance your opportunities to assess your understanding of IMC concepts in a safe environment and allow yourself the opportunity to refine oral communication skills so critical to the IMC community.

➢ By hearing guest speakers you will gain deeper insight into the nature of the IMC industry and its practice.

Course Materials

REQUIRED:

➢ Belch, George E. and Belch, Michael A. (2009). Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective (8th ed.), Irwin McGraw-Hill. Purchase a new or used hard copy at the USC Bookstore or Amazon.

➢ Shimp, Chapter 5- purchase for $7.99 at ; search for ISBN # 0324593600 or access copy on reserve in Crocker library.

SUPPLEMENTARY:

➢ Advertising Age Magazine[1]:

➢ Additional readings have been posted under the Team Project description on Blackboard. These readings are not required, but may be of considerable help to you in executing your Team Project.

MATERIAL POSTED TO BLACKBOARD:

➢ Lecture notes, will be posted on Blackboard under “Course Documents” link. Lecture notes will be posted before class, but may not be available until the morning of class (. It is the student’s responsibility to print out lecture notes and bring them to class. These, slides do not substitute for thoughtful note taking, so be sure to be active in writing your own notes in class.

➢ The project description, assigned exercises, some handouts, class syllabus, class schedule, several Integrated Marketing Communications (hereafter IMC) plans, links to external websites, and other information can be found on Blackboard[2] under “Course Documents”.

Grading and Student Deliverables

1. IMC Plan. The IMC plan is a strategic document that directs the implementation of IMC ideas. It reviews the situation facing the brand, identifies the strategy and objectives and target market for the brand and then indicates how all elements of the promotion mix (advertising, sales promotions, Internet, direct marketing) are to be coordinated to achieve communication objectives. From a pedagogical perspective, the plan incorporates all of the concepts we will learn in this class.

➢ In this class, students will work in groups of 4-5 (no fewer than 3; no more than 5) to develop an IMC Plan for the new Lexus LF-Ch. You select your own group members. Students must do supplementary secondary research to develop their IMC plan. The outline that students should follow in developing their plan is distributed separately in a document called “Detailed Project Description” (also distributed on the first day of class) that can also be found on Blackboard. Sample IMC plans can be found on Blackboard (under “Course Documents”). Teams must be formed by Monday, January 25th. Students will submit a signed team contract with all group members’ names and contact information on Wednesday, January 27th. Also, students have the ability to warn, fire, and change group members (detailed at the end of this document) if they do so by the Monday, February 24th deadline.

➢ During the last three class meetings of the term, each team will have 20 minutes (with 5 additional minutes of Q&A at the end) to “pitch” their ideas to the “client” (i.e. members of the class and potentially Lexus executives), simulating an actual pitch conducted by an agency. The best projects will present their plans to Lexus.

➢ Details of the IMC Plan are found in a separate document creatively named “Detailed Project Description”. Please adhere to these details carefully.

2. Quizzes. A total of 4 (mostly multiple choice) quizzes will be given throughout the semester to test students’ understanding of key concepts discussed in the book and in the lectures. Unless otherwise indicated, quizzes will be administered at the beginning of class.[3] Each quiz will contain approximately 25 questions. If you do not wish to be rushed in taking your quiz, please come to class on time (or even before the formal start of class). There are no make-ups for quizzes.

3. Experiential Exercises. A document on Blackboard (and distributed on the first day of class) contains a set of 10 Experiential Exercises. Three of these exercises must be turned in. Exercise #2 (Critique of an IMC plan) is required. Students are free to choose which additional 2 exercises they wish to complete for their total set of 3. All exercises must be typed and single spaced (approx. 5 pages; 1” margins; 12-point font). The highest grades are assigned to students who show the greatest effort and correct application of concepts. The due date for each assignment is listed on the class schedule. Students are strongly encouraged to identify early on which exercises they wish to complete. Exercises must be turned in at the beginning of the class on the date that they are due. Late exercises (those turned in after the beginning of the class on which they are due) will not be accepted; NO EXCEPTIONS). Once I have begun my lecture, your exercise will not be accepted. Please do not try to turn it in. DO NOT email me your experiential exercise write-ups.

4. Class Participation and Attendance. Class participation is an important part of the learning experience of this course. Class participation is based on in-class discussions, participation in in-class exercises, class preparation, involvement in cases, and the quality of questions asked to the professor and guest speakers. Poor classroom etiquette (e.g., failing to attend lectures and guest speaker presentations, coming to class late, making disruptive or uncivil comments, engaging in any non-class related activity during class) will seriously affect your class participation grade. While consistent attendance is expected, it is participation, not simple attendance that affects your class participation grade. Please note the following:

➢ Please arrive on time. Late arrivals are disrespectful to everyone and disrupt the class experience. They also send a bad signal about your ability to act professionally and manage your time.

➢ You will receive a score of 0 on class participation when you have an unexcused absence. Students who arrive more than 10 minutes late to class will be marked as absent.

➢ Receiving a score of 0 on more than 3 classes will seriously affect your class participation grade

➢ If you miss class, you will be responsible for everything covered that day

➢ Attendance is required for guest speakers and group project presentations. Guest speakers have taken a considerable time from their daily schedules to talk to you. Please treat them with utmost courtesy as you would a prospective employer.

➢ ABSOLUTELY NO laptops, cell phones, pagers, in class, except as required on specific dates noted in the class schedule.

Grade Breakdown and Expectations

The following grading system will be utilized for this course.

IMC Plan Semester-long; due at the end of the term (35%)

Quizzes 4 multiple choice quizzes (40%)

Exercises 3 turned in from a choice of 10 (15%)

(includes required Exercise #2)

Class Participation (10%)

There are no opportunities to improve your grade through the completion of extra credit work. Extra credit should not be necessary as long as you are a diligent class member.

Communication:

I am best reached by email. I access my email many times a day and rarely check my phone messages. Office hours are on Monday and Wednesday from 11-12. You can always email me and set up an appointment at a different time that works with your schedule.

I will use Blackboard’s email system to contact you individually or as a group about the class (e.g. changes in the syllabus, assignments, etc.). It is your responsibility to make sure that emails sent via Blackboard can reach you at an email address you check on a regular basis.

I have a Group on Facebook called IMC Devotees. I will invite everyone in the class to join the group. I use the group to post messages that may not be of interest to everyone in the class but are of interest to those of you who are seeking a career in the industry. Posts include internship opportunities, interesting articles, job notices, interesting commercials or ads and the like. You are free to post material as well. The Facebook group allows us to maintain contact with one another after you graduate.

Academic Integrity

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: . Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at:

Students are expected to adhere to the standards of academic integrity that govern students registered at USC. The use of unauthorized material, plagiarism, failure to cite relevant work, communication with fellow students during an examination, attempting to benefit from the work of another student, and similar behavior that defeats the intent of an examination or other class work is unacceptable to the University. Where a clear violation has occurred, the professor may disqualify the student’s work as unacceptable and assign a failing mark on the paper.

Statement for Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

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[1] AdAge is a great resource for students who are interested in the IMC industry. Find news, job tips, award winning ads, data (e.g., top advertisers, agencies, digital, media companies), blogs for students (GenNext) and more.

[2] Access Blackboard using your USC account name and password. Contact ITS (1-213-740-5555) if you do not know your account name/ password or if you have trouble accessing Blackboard. Do not use Explorer 7 as your browser.

[3] Students can test their preparation for these quizzes by taking the online quizzes and studying the key term flashcards offered on the Belch and Belch website at belch. Go to the student site, pick the chapter for which you want to take a quiz or for which you wish to study key terms and test your skills. Note that quizzes will also cover material covered in class that is not in the book.

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