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Canyon College

online Principles of Advertising course at Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING

Course Title:
Department:
Instructor:
 JC304 - Principles of Advertising
Journalism and Communications
William Flood, M.A., M.Ed. E-Mail - Vita


Required Textbook: - Online Bookstore

Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A. (1998). Advertising and Promotion, An Integrated Advertising Communications Perspective, (4th Edition). Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill.
ISBN #: 0256218994


Course Description:

This course teaches the concepts of advertising through a series of readings and cases that profile the decision-making problems advertising professionals face. The basic objective is to introduce students to advertising concepts and to the complex problems involved in advertising goods and services in today's society. The course emphasizes the interrelationships of advertising’s creative and management concepts, decision making, strategy, planning, and systems of control. Topics will include audience analysis and targeting, media selection and buying, understanding the functioning of advertising agencies, creative strategy, planning campaigns, as well as testing and evaluation.

This is an action-oriented course, in which the primary learning tool will be a series of projects that simulate advertising activity. Among these is the creation of a complete advertising campaign for a hypothetical product or service.


Course Objectives:

Upon completion of this course the student should be able to...
  1. Define what advertising is and understand advertising strategy as applied by many companies today
  2. Apply analytical and critical thinking skills used in advertising decision-making
  3. Understand the role that advertising agencies play in the larger advertising process.
  4. Develop rudimentary creative work for television, radio, print, outdoor advertising, and new media
  5. Perform audience analysis and targeting
  6. Perform media selection and buying duties
  7. Assess advertising through testing and evaluation methods

Methods: The course will include:

  1. Assigned readings
  2. Two (2) journal Article reviews
  3. Two (2) simulation projects on various facets of advertising
  4. Development of an advertising campaign
  5. Final examination

Evaluation:

  1. Journal article reviews (2) @ 50 points each
  2. Simulation projects (2) @ 50 points each
  3. Advertising campaign project
  4. Final examination (cumulative)
Total 		100 points
100 points
150 points
50 points

400 points


A = 360-400
B = 320-359
C = 280-319
D = 240-279
F = 239 or below
I  = Incomplete work


Student Biography:

Once you start the class, provide me with an informal (this is not graded) biography about yourself, your background, career, interests in taking the course, etc. Make sure to include your contact information including phone number and email address so that I can contact you if necessary.


Proficiency Examination:

The final exam will be a cumulative testing of your knowledge of advertising principles. You will be provided with a take home case-study that will allow you to utilize most of what was learned in the course to analyze an advertising problem. You may use your textbook, or any other form of research you feel is necessary to analyze the problem. Although there is no limit on the number of pages, the completed examination should be a minimum of 5 pages (single-spaced), and should profile all of the key decisions an advertising manager would face given the situation. In essence, the answer should follow the form of an advertising campaign, but can be less comprehensive.


Journal Review:

Students will prepare two (2) journal article reviews on various advertising-related subjects. Reports should come from professional advertising journals such as Advertising Age, AdWeek, or similar (see links below for online versions). Select articles that you feel will contribute to your knowledge of advertising. Write an approximately 2-3 page assessment of the article. Your report should provide a summary of the article’s information, commentary about the insights you gained, as well as your reactions to the information.


Simulation Projects:

Students will prepare two (2) simulation projects on various advertising-related subjects. A list of possible projects is provided below, but students can create their own projects subject to the instructor's approval. Each report should be submitted in written form (3-5 pages each), but can also take the form of a PowerPoint presentation or website if approved by the instructor.
  1. Study the yellow pages for a certain business category such as "real estate" or "plumbers." Compare and contrast the way businesses in that sector advertise and compete with each other through their advertising. Pay attention to headlines, body copy, visuals, placement, etc.

  2. Review an advertisement on television, or radio. Identify the target audience, attention getting techniques, messages, visuals, and/or sound effects. What motives are being addressed? Analyze the advertisement’s effectiveness and appropriateness of messages, visuals and/or sound elements.

  3. Review a print advertisement. It can be a display ad, classified, or outdoor form of advertising. Identify the target audience, attention getting techniques, messages and visuals. What motives are being addressed? Analyze the advertisement’s effectiveness and appropriateness of messages and visuals.

  4. Locate an example of an online banner or online display advertisement that either really "works," or really does not work. Give your professional opinion as to why (in advertising terms). Consider issues related to target audience, placement, suitability of message and visuals given the actual (as opposed to intended) audience. Provide the location and context and give your rationale as to why the advertisement was functional or not.

  5. Pick a product or service currently being advertised that "bothers" you in some way (ex: cigarette or alcohol commercials aimed at children, political "slur" campaigns, violent video games, etc.). Discuss what you think are the ethical implications of the product or service's introduction to both the intended and unintended audience. Discuss what you would do (or change) if you were the advertising manager in charge of that offering. Discuss ways in which you could balance the profit needs of the company with societal concerns.

  6. Find a product that interests you. Write a print advertisement for that product that could be used to direct market it in a national magazine.

  7. Watch an infomercial (a commercial that runs 30 minutes to sell a product). Aside from length, what are the differences between the infomercial and a regular 30-second commercial? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Discuss what are critical concerns for an infomercial advertiser.

  8. Think up a target group to which you would like to market a product or service. Do one of the following to locate a mailing list:
    1) Locate a copy of the Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) in your local library
    2) Use mailing list vendors described in various advertising journals.
    3) Contact a mailing list broker to locate a suitable mailing list.
    Contact the list broker and ask them to supply the information concerning renting the list. You can have the material faxed, mailed, or emailed. Describe the list, its costs, and how it properly targets your identified market.

  9. Think up a target group to which you would like to market a product or service. Locate a publication that would properly target that market. Order a media kit from the advertising offices of the publication. Describe how the publication properly targets your identified market. What are the costs, sizes, discounts, etc.

  10. Choose a cable TV specialty channel such as ESPN or Disney. Describe the target audience (in terms of demographics and psychographics) that the channel seems to be aiming towards. Compare that to the advertisements that are running on the station. Describe those that seem to match the target audience and those that do not.

  11. Read several advertising-related help wanted advertisements. Use advertising journals for this exercise as opposed to newspapers. Describe the duties and requirements for the jobs, and salary if cited.

  12. Attend an advertising-related function such as a media trade show or advertising seminar. (Note: your instructor may be able to help you locate a local event). Write a general account of the event.

  13. Research a failed product or service (Examples include Boo.com, Crystal Pepsi, the McDLT sandwich, the Yugo automobile). Describe why they failed from an advertising perspective. How did the marketers fail to adequately promote the product or service?

  14. Find an example of an unusual form of advertising (examples include cash register tapes, promotional items, or wrapped cars [cars painted as a rolling advertisement for a product]). Discuss the ad from a creative and strategic perspective. Does it work? Does it make an impact? Does it make sense?



Advertising Campaign Project:

This is your major project for the course. You will be developing a complete advertising campaign for a 6-month to 1-year period of time. Your campaign should serve as an advertising plan and should include: identification of the target audience, objectives, selection of appropriate media, creative work, budgets, advertising calendars, and methods for monitoring progress.

Note: The creative work should include at least one (1) example of a print advertisement, one (1) television commercial, and one (1) radio spot. Your print advertisement can be any size at or above a ¼ page of a standard-size magazine. Your layouts can be rough (this is not an art class), but should be as realistic as possible for you. The television commercial should contain a minimum of 5 storyboard frames. Place the copy below the frames, and include a script complete with any visual or sound effects. The radio spot should be for a 60-second commercial, and should contain a script complete with sound effects.


Submission of Assignments:

Because this is a college-level course, assignments should be typed. Make sure to document and reference where you obtain your information. Beyond documentation, you can submit your assignments in any attractive and readable format.


Course Outline:

Lesson (Week) Subject Chapters
1
Assignment
Intro to the course/advertising
Student biography
   and integrated marketing
1, 2
2
Advertising and the firm;
   advertising agency relationships
3, 4
3
Consumer behavior;
Journal article #1
   The communication process    issues of credibility
5, 6
4
Objectives and budgetary
Mini-project #1
   concerns; the creative process
7, 8, 9
5
Media Selection and planning;
Journal article #2
   broadcast, print, support media
10 - 13
6
Media (continued)
Mini-project #2
   Direct marketing, sales promotion
   PR, personal selling
14 - 17
7
Monitoring and evaluation;
   Special advertising situations
18, 19, 20
8
Legal and ethical concerns
Ad campaign due
Proficiency Exam
21, 22



Course Related Links:

Adweek
One of the advertising industry’s main journals
http://www.adweek.com

Advertising Age Magazine
Another of the advertising industry’s main journals
http://www.adage.com

Advertising and Marketing Publications
Part of the SRDS Media Resource Center. Provides a large list of links to general and specific advertising related periodicals.
http://www.srds.com/media_resource/advmkglinks/adv_mkg_publ.html

Advertising Media Glossary
Defines hundreds of advertising/marketing terms
http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/iaml3.htin

Advertising World
Presented by the University of Texas. Touted as the most extensive collection of advertising related links on the web.
http://advertising.utexas.edu/world

American Marketing Association
http://www.ama.org

Direct Marketing Association
http://www.the-dma.org

Direct Marketing News Magazine
http://www.dmnews.com

Advertising and Marketing Research
A comprehensive, global list of journals, associations, and periodicals provided by Tilberg University in New Zealand.
http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/faculties/few/marketing/links/journal1.html

Advertising Resource Center
An extensive site offering articles, and a searchable association database.
http://advertisingsource.com

Newsdirectory.com
Provides an extensive listing of periodicals by subject matter. This link will take you directly to the sales and marketing section.
http://www.newsdirectory.com/news/magazine/business/salesmkt

Ad Critic
Has a collection of television ads and related criticisms
http://www.adcritic.com/

Ad Access
A comprehensive database of advertisements run in North American Newspapers and magazines prior to 1960.
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/

Ad Resource
A good site concerned with Internet advertising
http://adres.internet.com/

Advertising Education Foundation
http://adres.internet.com/

Advertisement Avenue
A site with commentary on advertisements and commercials.
http://www.advertisementave.com/