Marketing Communication

328248 Fall 2011

Objectives:
Advertising and other forms of marketing communication are fundamental aspects of the marketing process. This course aims to integrate academic and managerial insights in the domain of marketing communications. The objective is threefold: 1) to provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of the communication process, 2) to provide insight into the different steps of the marketing communication plan, and 3) to use these insights when managing the marketing communication mix. Consequently, the focus of the Marketing Communication course is on both extending state of the art knowledge and applying this knowledge in marketing practice.

Contents and Design:

The course centres around three main parts: 1) understanding the communication process (academic part), 2) managing the marketing communication plan (managerial part), and 3) applying the knowledge and insights derived from analyzing the communication process to marketing practice (integration part). 1. Part I: Understanding the communication process: The Lectures During the lectures, insights from the field of consumer psychology will be applied and advanced to study the communication process. The lectures will focus on established theories as well as recent developments and insights in the communication and persuasion domain. A selection of state of the art academic papers accompanies the lectures. The papers usually focus on one or more theories discussed during the lecture and will enable you to deepen your understanding of the respective theory. 2. Part II: Managing the marketing communication plan: Self-Study Marketing communication not only entails the development of a persuasive advertisement, but also involves more managerial issues, such as setting the advertising budget, or evaluating the communication program. A second part of the Marketing Communication course therefore focuses on planning and managing marketing communication campaigns. Important issues here are setting the campaign objectives, establishing the budget, tracking the effectiveness of the campaign, media selection, and timing issues. In addition, knowledge of the important marketing mix instruments, such as personal selling, interactive media, sponsorship, and the like is necessary to efficiently manage the marketing communication campaign. This second (more managerial) part is mainly self-study (although some parts of the lectures may also tap into these more managerial issues), based on the handbook of De Pelsmacker, Geuens, and Van Den Bergh (Marketing Communications: A European Perspective, 3rd or 4th edition). A Dutch version of this handbook is also available, and students are free to study either the English or the Dutch version. 3. Part III: Applying insights from the communication process to practice: Interactive Lectures A third part of the Marketing Communication course consists of applying the communication and persuasion theories discussed during the lectures to practice and integrating them into an
Marketing Communication Course Outline Fall 2011

efficient marketing communication plan. As a result, aspects of part I (the communication process) as well as part II (managing the marketing communication plan) will be integral aspects of the marketing communication plan. Based on a hypothetical case that relates to a particular lecture, teams of students will present a marketing communication plan, hereby applying both the theoretical insights of that lecture as well as the managerial concepts as studied in the De Pelsmacker et al. handbook. As a result, the marketing communication plan will consist of an academic as well as a managerial component. For the academic component, papers that relate to the respective lecture should be used to build a sound argumentation for or against certain choices made in the plan. Note that besides the compulsory papers additional literature should be used. For the managerial component, the plan should also take into account issues that relate to communication objectives, budgeting, planning, and measuring the effectiveness.
To illustrate, an example of a hypothetical case would be that students are asked to develop a marketing communication plan for car brand X. The brand wants to use a celebrity endorser as spokesperson in a campaign, and you are asked to develop such a campaign. In the academic part you can focus on why and when celebrity endorsers will be effective and what would then be the most effective celebrity to use (for example, and in short, when the celebrity is not central to the communication process, (s)he will most likely not be effective when product involvement is high, but when (s)he is an expert, such as Schumacher for instance, (s)he can be considered as a central argument and effective for high involvement product, Petty, Cacioppo, and Schumann 1983). In the managerial part you should outline the managerial aspects of the communication plan, such as what the objectives are (for example, creating awareness versus enhancing attitudes), how the budget will be set (for example, bottom up versus top down approach, why?), how you will test the effectiveness of the ad (focus on both pre- as well as post tests, and explain how), which media you will select (television, newspaper, why?), and what the timing of the campaign will be,.

There will be 6 interactive lectures in total, and during each interactive lecture 3 teams (consisting of 5 students maximum) will present their marketing communication plan. The other (non presenting) teams will act as either academic or managerial reviewers. Note that each team will: - have to present a marketing communication plan twice - act as academic review team twice - act as managerial review team twice Each presentation lasts 15 minutes, and will be followed by a discussion and Q&A. Because we want all team members to be equally well prepared, the presenter will be appointed by the teacher. Relevant assessment criteria of the presentation are summarized in the Grading Form on BlackBoard. The lecturer will use this form to grade the presentation. One half of the non-presenting teams will guide the academic quality (academic review team), and the other half of the non-presenting teams will guide the managerial quality (managerial review team). To stimulate discussion, the teacher will appoint one academic discussion leader, and one managerial discussion leader per presentation. All students are expected to be well prepared during the interactive lectures! Lack of interest, bad preparation, bad discussions etc. will result in minus points (3 warnings will result in a reduction of 1 point on your interactive lecture grade).
Marketing Communication Course Outline Fall 2011

Both the academic as well as the managerial review teams need to write an assessment report of all three presentations in which they discuss the academic (for the academic review teams) and the managerial (for the managerial review teams) quality, and in which they make a rank order of the quality of the presentations. Assessment forms should be no longer than 1 page, and need to be handed in no longer than one week after the respective interactive lecture in the pigeon holes on the 10th floor (please make sure that your names and team number is on the assessment form!). You can use the academic / managerial part of the Grading Form as a guideline to assess the presentation, but please always explain your answer (why?). During the first week of the course, students should sign up for a specific series of interactive lectures (via BlackBoard). There are 6 parallel series of interactive lectures. A maximum of 40 students (= 8 teams of 5 students) per series of interactive lectures is allowed.

Course Materials (compulsory)

De Pelsmacker, Geuens, and Van den Bergh (2007/2010). Marketing Communications: A European Perspective, 3rd or 4th edition. Prentice Hall. (there is also a Dutch version of this handbook: Marketingcommunicatie, which is also OK). Selection of papers (downloadable from BlackBoard) Lecture sheets (downloadable from BlackBoard) (it is highly recommended to make notes during class)

Grading
1. Exam (60%) - Open essay questions related to part I (lectures: the communication process): 60% - Multiple choice questions related to part II (self study: managing the marketing communication plan, based on De Pelsmacker et al.): 40%
Mid-term examination: Because a number of the concepts discussed in De Pelsmacker et al. are highly relevant for the interactive lectures, and because we want to stimulate you to study these concepts before you start working on the hypothetical cases, we organize a mid-term examination in week 3 (i.e., the week before the interactive lectures will kick-off). This mid-term examination will test you on the managerial knowledge you need for the interactive lectures, such as setting communication objectives, budgets, media planning, and advertising research (i.e., chapters 5, 6, 8, and 9 in the De Pelsmacker et al handbook). The mid-term will consist of 20 multiple choice questions. Please note that the mid-term is not compulsory, but highly recommended. The quality of your work for the interactive lectures, such as your marketing communication plan, or your managerial assessment form, will largely depend on how well you know and understand the managerial marketing communication issues.

Marketing Communication Course Outline Fall 2011

Participating in the mid-term exam implies that you can (and should) skip the related questions on the final exam (which will take up 30% of the final exam), so you wont need to study these chapters for the final exam. If you decide to participate in the mid-term exam, you should take this serious (so dont just come and guess), because you can only redo the related part during the resit exam).

Please note that exam grades lower than 5 can not be compensated with interactive lecture grades.

2. Interactive Lectures (40%) Presentations: 80% (2 times 40%) Team Assessments: 20% (2 times 5% for the managerial review reports, and 2 times 5% for the academic review reports) Peer assessment
Peer assessment: To make sure that each team member contributes equally, and in order to avoid free riding behavior within a team, there will be an opportunity to assess the contribution of each of your team member. At the end of the semester you get the possibility to evaluate your team members on the extent to which they have contributed to the team performance. You will be able to give scores of either 0.8 (i.e., contribution worse than normal) or 1 (i.e., contribution as can be expected). Your final grade on the interactive lectures will be a multiplication of your own grade on the interactive lectures (assessed by us) by the mean of the peer assessment scores provided by your team members about your contribution. For example, you obtain an interactive lecture grade of 7/10, and your team members give you scores of 0.8, 0.8, 1, and 1 respectively. In this case, your final interactive lecture grade will be multiplied by 0.9 (= (0.8 + 0.8 + 1 + 1)/4), resulting in a 6.63/10. If we do not receive any peer assessment scores from you, we assume that your team members have all contributed as expected (so they will receive a peer assessment score of 1).

The interactive part (presentations and assessment forms) of the Marketing Communication course cannot be re-examined. The grade obtained for the interactive lectures (presentations, assessments, peer assessment) remains unchanged throughout the academic year until August 31st, 2012.

Message for the Repeaters

Grades of last years assignment cannot be transferred to the current academic year (meaning that you should redo the assignment-part as outlined in this course outline).

Important Deadlines and To Dos

Week 1 (deadline September 2nd): sign up for a series of interactive lectures via Blackboard (in week 2, final team compositions will be announced, including the dates that your team will have to present and act as academic and managerial review team) 4

Marketing Communication Course Outline Fall 2011

Weeks 1-3: study the De Pelsmacker et al. handbook, especially chapters 5, 6, 8, and 9 Week 3 (September 15th, 18.45- 19.30, CZ115): make the mid-term exam (not obligatory) One week after interactive lecture: hand in the assessment forms if you were the academic or managerial review team Week 50 (deadline December 16th): peer assessment (not obligatory)

Lecturers
Dr. Anick Bosmans (coordinator) A.M.M.Bosmans@uvt.nl K1007 Tel. 013-466.30.22 (secretary Marketing Department) Consulting hours: on appointment Drs. Marit Gresnigt M.J.Gresnigt@uvt.nl K1020 Tel. 013-466.30.22 (secretary Marketing Department) Consulting hours: on appointment

Schedule
Week Date
1 Week 35

Lecture Lecture 1: Introductory Lecture: Breaking Through the Advertising Clutter by Anick Bosmans Lecture 2: Issues in Media Planning by Anick Bosmans Lecture 3: Persuasion I by Marit Gresnigt

Interactive Lecture

Week 36

Week 37

Week 37 Week 38

Mid-Term Examination September 15th, 18.45-19.30 (CZ115) Interactive Lecture 1: Issues in Media Planning Based on lecture 2 Lecture 4: 5

Week 39

Marketing Communication Course Outline Fall 2011

Week Date

Lecture Persuasion II by Marit Gresnigt

Interactive Lecture

Week 40

Interactive Lecture 2: Persuasion I Based on lecture 3 Lecture 5: Affective Persuasion by Anick Bosmans Interactive Lecture 3: Persuasion II Based on lecture 4

Week 41

Week 42

Fall break
9 Week 44

Lecture 6: Consumer Inferences by Anick Bosmans Interactive Lecture 4: Affective Persuasion Based on lecture 5 Lecture 7: Social Influence by Anick Bosmans Interactive Lecture 5: Consumer Inferences Based on lecture 6 Lecture 8: Lecture Wrap-up by Anick Bosmans & Marit Gresnigt Interactive Lecture 6: Social Influence Based on lecture 7

10

Week 45

11

Week 46

12

Week 47

13

Week 49

13

Week 49

Marketing Communication Course Outline Fall 2011