Marketing Communications

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Dr Amy Hackley
• Tutor: Riccardo Benzo
• Assessment: a 3000-word individual report (100%)

In this module we analyse current integrated marketing communications practices and the decision-making processes used by different industries and organisations, both in the domestic and international contexts. We will view marketing communications tools, activities and strategies from a client/marketing department perspective, blending theoretical academic frameworks with commercial observations.

Indicative syllabus

• Introduction: marketing communications in evolution
• Theorising marketing communications
• Marketing communications and the brand
• Marketing communication planning, creativity and strategies
• Non-traditional marketing communications techniques
• Marketing communications and media strategy and social media
• Marketing communications and ethics
• International and cross-cultural marketing communications
• Marketing communications and consumer research

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand marketing communications theory and concepts and their application
• appreciate differing channels and tools and associated methods of classification, and appreciate their strengths and weaknesses
• adapt different approaches to using these channels
• apply and use segmentation criteria used to define distinct consumer segments
• develop methods of analysing consumer behaviour in response to marketing communications
• appreciate the creative proposition and different approaches to encoding a desired message
• understand the internal dynamics of managing marketing communications
• demonstrate awareness of the complexities of relationships between agencies and external stakeholders
• understand the integration of appropriate marketing communications tools within the organisational strategic approach.