| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
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1. To introduce students to themes, issues and ideas involved in marketing communications and promotional practice industries.
2. To allow students to learn from a structured analysis of, and reflection on, marketing communications and promotional practice strategies.
3. To enable students to develop basic key skills through practical exercises.
4. To familiarise the student with the theories and practices underpinning marketing communications and promotional practices.
The module will cover an introduction to how organisations communicate with a range of audiences and stakeholders, through effective messaging, using a range of integrated marketing communications and promotional practices to achieve a goal.
The module will explore marketing communications and promotional practices such as advertising, PR, direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling and digital communications, while introducing concepts such as PESO, DRIP and AIDA, to demonstrate how these promotional practices work individually and together to best effect.
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 marketing communications and promotional practices.
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?
• 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 marketing communications and promotional practices.
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) Presentations and promotional pitching
f) Independent learning and working
g) Report writing
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 45:00 | 45:00 | Reflexive Client -Based Report on marketing communications & promotional practice strategies. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 2:00 | 22:00 | Present-in-person (can be delivered online if needed) introductory lecture to the corresponding week |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 45:00 | 45:00 | Group presentation/pitch & individual slide/audio recording submitted to canvas |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 11 | 3:00 | 33:00 | Watching specific programmes, reading specific titles and visiting specific websites |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 2 | 2:00 | 4:00 | In person Timetabled assessment workshops for each summative assessment |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 7 | 1:00 | 7:00 | In person activity with practical skills training & formative tasks |
| Guided Independent Study | Reflective learning activity | 11 | 4:00 | 44:00 | Combination of quizzes, discussion boards and workshop preparation |
| Total | 200:00 |
Students will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding about both the theory and practice of marketing communications and promotional practices 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.
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Presentation | 1 | M | 50 | 15 Minute group presentation. |
| Written exercise | 1 | A | 50 | Reflexive Client -Based Report. Students will apply marketing communications and promotional practice theory to a case study situation and make recommendations in notes format. 2000 words |
The group promotional pitch will allow students to build team-working and delegation skills alongside independent learning. Students work in groups of 4-5 to research and strategise a problem in relation to a pre-set client brief. The problem will require students to critically apply knowledge and understanding in order to perform a strategic and critical analysis. The group will then rehearse and record their pitch (using software such as Powerpoint ‘narrate’) prior to live presentation in workshops. This allows students to also enhance skills in presenting promotional pitches in response to a client brief. Students will be assessed on the clarity of their communication and delivery skills. A minor percentage of the group work (10%) will be based upon the entire group pitch, with a larger 40% of the assessment grade attributed on the basis of individual student performance and their individual slides. Recordings of the entire group project should be uploaded to canvas so that students can access feedback and allow scope for enhanced accessibility/flexibility should there be any issues with the live presentation. The assessment allows students to develop skills in a conventional presentational software tool and to facilitate remote group work where necessary. This also allows students to develop/enhance their professional communication skills through live and recorded presentation.
The second assessment, the Reflexive Client -Based Report, will assess whether students have understood both the range of, and integrated use of, marketing communications tools and promotional practices available by providing them with a case study and asking them to select and justify which media they will use to solve a particular organisational objective. The second assessment helps to expand upon skills, knowledge and abilities developed in the first assessment into a more critical and developed professional-style report.
Workshops, lectures and dedicated assessment clinics will provide the setting for formative activities that help to scaffold learning so that students have practiced specific skills prior to summative assessment.
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Disclaimer: The information contained within the Module Catalogue relates to the 2023/24 academic year. In accordance with University Terms and Conditions, the University makes all reasonable efforts to deliver the modules as described. Modules may be amended on an annual basis to take account of changing staff expertise, developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Module information for the 2024/25 entry will be published here in early-April 2024. Queries about information in the Module Catalogue should in the first instance be addressed to your School Office.