Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

1. To introduce students to themes, issues and ideas involved in media and communications industries.
2. To allow students to learn from a structured analysis of, and reflection on, communication strategies.
3. To enable students to develop basic key skills through practical exercises.
4. To familiarise the student with the theories and practices underpinning professional communication processes.

This module provides students with an introduction to how information can flow from media and communication industries to its various audiences and stakeholders. Through an understanding of a range of practices, such as public relations, advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing, students will be exposed to the various communication channels, and will start to understand which communications techniques work best in which situations. The module culminates in studying how to integrate the different communications media together to get the best possible results.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module will cover an introduction to public relations, advertising, sales promotion, direct and digital marcomms within a professional communications context. We start by looking at the purposes of communications and study basic theories such as PESO, DRIP and AIDA. We then move onto ask who do you need to communicate with, considering segments, audiences, publics and pluralism, all within the communications context. The next stage is to ask what is the message, where we look at branding, logos and symbols, and use motivation theories such as Maslow to assess what we are we saying. Once this generic groundwork has been covered, we then move on to look at the specifics of advertising, public relations and the other marcomms tools, looking at how they work individually and together.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

A student successfully completing the module should be able to demonstrate that they:

a) are aware of the basic principles, practices and techniques involved in public relations, advertising and other marcomms techniques.
b) can identify the main paradigms and key concepts underpinning the questions: who do you want to communicate with and why, what do you want to say, and how will this be received by the various audiences and stakeholders?
c) can recognise the tensions and difficulties in planning and managing a communications strategy with the often competing demands of public relations, advertising and the other marcomms techniques in the professional communications process.

Intended Skill Outcomes

A student successfully completing the module will have developed their skills in:

a) Communication strategies
b) Analysis and research
c) Linking theory to practice
d) Team working
e) Independent learning and working

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Students will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding about both the theory and practice of communication within a professional context. Each session provides an introduction to the underlying theories and concepts of a specific marcomms area, with an exploration of how well, or not, these are articulated in the everyday world. Students will be expected to research and discuss current communication campaigns, in class, online and in their own assessment tasks.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Students will be required to select current communications campaigns and analyse in terms of intended audience, message and channel using the key themes of rhetoric, language, and other communication materials (such as logos, signs, photos etc). This will allow students to show their understanding of how theoretical communication models are used in practice.

The second assessment, the take-home case study, will assess whether students have understood both the range of, and integrated use of, communications tools available by providing them with a case study and asking them to select and justify which media they will use to solve a particular communications need.

General Notes

N/A