90840 - Corporate Communication

Learning outcomes

The course provides a comprehensive overview of advertising and promotion. It creates a clear understanding of traditional advertising and promotional tools, and shows how other key elements within the marketing communications mix ( e.g., advertising, direct marketing, promotion and the Internet) can be integrated.

Course contents

The course is divided in two modules. In the first module, students are instructed about the relevant theories and the tools that are useful to develop an effective communication and advertising plan. Example about real offline and online advertising complement the issues that are discussed in class.

 At at general level, the course deal with the following topics:

- Communication objectives
- The elaboration likelihood model
- The copy strategy
- The communication budget
- Media Planning
- Communication for Customer Engagement
- Communication on Social Media

- Advertising effectiveness

 

In the second module (held by Riccardo Pirazzoli) the focus is on digital communication and on positioning strategies, both from a theoretical and an operational point of view.The skills acquired in the first module are exploited to develop a project to be carried out in a team of 5-6 people.

Analysis-1: The KPIs (quantitative and qualitative) of communication: what they are, how they are read and what role they play in strategies

Analysis-2: Algorithms: how they affect communication and creative strategies

Analysis-3: positioning: semiotic tools to identify the right positioning of a brand / product in the market

Operation: The digital funnel process: what it is, why it is important to exploit it in communication processes, to whom it is addressed, what objectives, how it is measured, what means

The Teaching Assistant for this course is Ms. Marina Berton - marina.berton@unibo.it

 

Classes are held during the months of September - October (first module) and November- December (second module)

Readings/Bibliography

First module:

Collection of selected readings extracted from italian and english textbooks available at "Asterisco" Via Belle Arti 35 (next to the Bigiavi library) from Sept. 15th
Looking for the street? Go to:
http://www.unibo.it/CMSUniboWeb/UniboMappe/

Second module:

 
a) for students who attend group work:  the evaluation is based on the group work and on the following book Grandi Roberto, Miani Mattia (2006), L'impresa che comunica. ED. ISE

Teaching methods

First module: Interactive class teaching, videos, short case studies

Second module: Interactive class teaching, slides that are made available to students, group work

Assessment methods

The assessment aims to ascertain two aspects of learning:

1) knowledge of concepts, theories and techniques of communication

2) the ability to apply this knowledge to a real context.

To assess the first aspect, the test consists of a written exam with open questions.

To assess the second aspect, the test involves the preparation and presentation of the group work.

First module: Written exam with open ended questions and few multiple choice questions

Second module

For those who carry out group work: the concepts learned during the course must be applied in group work. Each group will choose a business case and will have to study its positioning and then devise an ad hoc funnel process, arguing each creative choice on quantitative and qualitative data. Furthermore, to ascertain the knowledge of the theoretical concepts discussed in class and their application, attending students will have to take a written exam with open questions on the text in the bibliography. This exam involves a single question (of reasoning) to be answered demonstrating both the knowledge of the concepts and the ability to reason and apply these concepts in a personal way. The absence of a good argument is a mistake.

For those who take the total exam or the exam for non-attending students: Written exam with 3 open-ended questions each of 10 points each.The questions focus on the text indicated in the bibliography and require:

- knowledge of the text

- individual reasoning on the concepts of the text

 

The overall grade is the arithmetic average of the results of the two checks.

The test assessment grid will be as follows:

· <18 insufficient

· 18-23 sufficient

· 24-27 average/good

· 28-30 very good

· 30 cum laude excellent/outstanding

Teaching tools

Case studies, examples form the business press and participants' consumption experiences

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Orsingher

See the website of Riccardo Pirazzoli