What you will learn
It is the creative executions themselves that create the personality
of a brand. Thus, a creative idea may enhance or alter the personality
statement that was conceived before creative work began. This is
not only permissible, but desirable, and there is no rule against
going back and changing the personality statement to fit the creative,
provided two conditions are met. One, the new personality is compatible
with the product, its benefits, and the target audience; and is
unique versus competition. And two, the new personality is not merely
a temporary deviation from one that has already been built and which
should be maintained.
After all, creativity is at the heart of the business we're
in. And great creative should win out over unyielding strategy at
every opportunity.
Bob
Kuperman
Chiat-Day,
LA
Strategic Creative Communications
This course is an exploration of advertising campaigns. It is the
the capstone course in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication's
advertising sequence. The course prerequisites include Principle of
Advertising and Ad Writing.
In the course, you will learn that ad campaigns blends many talents
into one seamless -- hopefully flawless -- presentation intended to
win the account or boost your client's product into the history books
as that amazing whatchamacallit that outsold everything. Okay, campaigns
are a bit self-conscious, a little egotistical, and a lot about innovation.
That's okay, since all of us can be -- to varying degrees -- all of
these.
We will do a lot of researching, planning, writing and thinking in
this class. We will cover a spectrum of advertising media, from traditional
print ads, to direct mail, to television. You will work in teams of
three or four (so be careful who you team up with!) and produce two
campaigns for two specific products or services. The work requires
that you apply yourself on specific assignments from two companies
to be named shortly. The first assignment must be ready by Oct. 31,
the second by Nov. 28. These finished campaigns will be one way to
get a job . . . there are others.
This will be fun.
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Materials to help you learn
Text: TBA
Assigned readings from various sources. These will be on file in
the school library and available online (perhaps) through the class
schedule.
This course will include several online assignments, including
web site readings. Again, refer to the schedule for daily assignments.
If you have an e-mail address, please
send it to me now!
Contrary to popular belief -- at times subscribed to my me -- merely
owning a book is not sufficient. Your text books will be an invaluable
guide in this course only if you actually read it. This text has been
used by classes before you and has been found very useful. Of some
note, you will find that your ability to participate in class and
fully appreciate the daily discussions will be greatly enhanced if
you read the text.
To this end, it is essential that you read the assigned material
before class. It is important that you read everything in the
assigned pages, including the examples provided and case studies.
Past students have found it useful to do the exercises in the chapters,
whether assigned or not.
Instead of lecturing, I may at times ask you questions about the
assigned material, and I will not always rely on volunteers who raise
their hand to answer. I will call on you whether you volunteer to
answer or not.
We will spend a great deal of time looking at great campaigns from
the past. These examples will touch on several areas.
My expectation is that you all know how to do all of the components
of a campaign. The one area lacking is management. We'll talk.
.
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How you will demonstrate what you learn
You will have different ways to demonstrate what you learn in this
course. One, I expect you to do the assigned reading in advance of
the specified date. I expect students to take active participation
in class discussions, and I will call on individual students to answer
questions and discuss material from assigned readings. Make sure you
can participate fully in such discussions and demonstrate what you
have learned from the reading. I also urge you to come to class with
questions and opinions about advertising you see or are curious about.
Consequently, you should pay increased attention to advertising and
relate it to what we are talking about in class. This counts 10% toward
your final grade.
Two, you will be able to demonstrate your ability to apply the principles
you learn in this course to an advertising problem by working in a
cooperative learning experience to develop a campaign for two products
or services and present your campaigns to the client and the school.
This is designed to help you to learn by doing. Early in the course,
you will organize yourselves into teams (3-4 students each . . . let's
talk about this) and will begin to work on advertising for a product
or service. Near the end of the course, we'll take a look at what
you've done . . . yes, this is a little vague, but let's talk about
this before we nail things down. Some class time will be set aside
for group work, and I will monitor the progress of group work. It
is absolutely essential that all students be present on the days set
aside for group work in class. Students who do not attend those
class sessions or who otherwise do not carry their share of the load
on the group project will be penalized when grades are determined.
The project counts 60% toward your final grade.
Three, you will have a mid-term over materials from class discussion
and readings. The mid-term will be short-answer in format will count
for 30% of your final grade. Please bring a blue book to class for
the test.
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Class attendance and participation
Mandatory.
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Determinants of your course grade
Mid-term exam: 30 percent
The campaign: 60 percent
In class: 10 percent
Vitae
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