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MC 510 Marketing Foundations
MC 514 The Marketing Communication Plan
MC 516 Marketing and Advertising Research
MC 520 Understanding the Target Audience
MC 522 Media Strategy and Implementation
MC 524 Creative Strategies
MC 526 The Database as Marketing Tool
MC 530 Direct Marketing
MC 532 Sales Promotion Techniques
MC 534 Fundamentals of Public Relations
MC 536 Practicum
MC 552 Marketing Strategy in the Digital Environment
MC 546 Communication Strategies in the Digital Environment
MC 551 Business Strategy in the Network Economy: Best Practices
MC 552 Marketing Strategy in the Digital Environment
MC 554 Customer Relationship Management
MC 502 Brand Management
MC 504 Account Planning
MC 512 Organization Dynamics
MC 528 Writing and Presentation Skills
MC 532 Sales Promotion Techniques
MC 534 Fundamentals of Public Relations
MC 536 Practicum
MC 538 International Marketing Communication
MC 546 Communication Strategy in the Digital Environment
MC 551 Business Strategy in the Digital Environment
MC 552 Marketing Strategy in the Digital Environment
MC 554 Customer Relationship Management
MC 563 Web Page Design
MC 502 Brand Management (elective)
A central activity of marketing is the development of brand relationships between a firm, or its products, and the firm's potential customers. Building that relationship, optimizing its execution through all of the marketing efforts of the firm, measuring what has been built, and managing brand equity are the focus of this course. Students will address positioning, channel strategies, trade promotion, budgeting as a part of the planning process, new product development, packaging and merchandising and the management of agency relationships.
MC 504 Account Planning (elective)
A new discipline in integrated marketing communication, Account Planning aims to use qualitative research techniques and the study of individual consumers, to produce insights that drive the building of a brand relationship. Whether they are called strategic planners, brand directors or account planners, the practitioners of this new discipline are a fast growing group with a critical role, both in agencies and in the marketing departments of corporations.
MC 510 Marketing Foundations (core)
This course teaches students how to develop and evaluate marketing plans. Topics include: how to interpret overall company business plans; how products/services are designed, created, tested, produced, priced, positioned and distributed; market segmentation and product life cycles; the economic foundations of marketing; and sales and cost-benefit analyses. Marketing models and case studies are employed.
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MC 512 Organization Dynamics (elective)
In this course, students learn to integrate and manage the people, departments, skills, and activities involved in the marketing communication process. Interpersonal communication, decision-making and perception, and attitude formation are studied. The course guides students through the skills needed to manage an enterprise where working members of a team have different sets of expertise. Case histories and role-playing are employed to illustrate problems and their solutions.
MC 514 The Marketing Communication Plan (core)
In this course, students learn how to develop, write and evaluate marketing communication plans that effectively integrate a mix of communication channels. Based on a competitive analysis, the major elements of a communication plan are put in place: media, message, target audiences, testable objectives, and budgets. Students learn to measure consumer and business target audiences by their demographic and psychographic characteristics and to analyze the style and appeal of messages within campaigns. Students also learn how to develop a balanced marketing communication plan that includes print and TV ads, as well as sales literature and direct marketing, and promotional and public relations materials.
MC 516 Marketing and Advertising Research (core)
This course is an introduction to the purposes and methods of research. The course concentrates on how research provides critical information for marketing and communication decisions. Topics include identification of the research problem, research design, data-gathering techniques, sampling procedures, data analysis, and report preparation. The course exposes the student to basic statistical methods. Students learn how to critically read and evaluate a market or consumer research study.
MC 520 Understanding the Target Audience (core)
Understanding the demographics and psychographics of target audiences is essential to an effective marketing communication strategy. In this course, social, cultural, and psychological factors are explored with particular attention to motivation, how attitudes are shaped and altered, how information is processed, and learning in the formation of purchasing decisions. Theories and models of consumer behavior are examined to learn how to apply behavioral research findings.
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MC 522 Media Strategy and Implementation (core)
This course focuses on the major aspects of developing and evaluating media plans, and some key factors in efficient media buying. Beginning with the development of media strategies that flow from overall marketing communication goals, the course analyzes various media from the perspectives of cost, targeting, audience characteristics, and the nature of product/service. The course also includes examinations of information sources, such as Arbitron, Nielsen, and Simmons, and software, such as Manas, IMS, Telmar, Adware, and Tapscan.
MC 524 Creative Strategies (core)
This course deals with the development and execution of the products of marketing communication: the print, TV, radio, direct mail, Internet, and other advertisements delivered to consumer and business audiences. Based on the development of creative goals and strategies, the major elements of advertising are studied: the central idea to be communicated (unique selling proposition, positioning, brand personality, or campaign theme), the appeal of the creative concept (informational, news, emotional), and the style or approach of the creative message (slice of life, testimonial, corporate image, celebrity presenter). The creative process is followed from copy platform to the major components of advertisements (headline, body copy, logo, design) to production (printing, photography, video). The role of research is reviewed in the development and assessment of the creative statement.
MC 526 The Database as Marketing Tool (core)
This course describes how database marketing matches consumers with products and products with consumers, making ongoing relationships with customers possible; and how a company’s database can be utilized to develop tactics and strategic planning. Students also learn to access and utilize database information in areas such as competitive product data and in consumer preferences, needs, media habits, demographics, and psychographics.
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MC 528 Writing and Presentation Skills (elective)
The ability to present ideas in a clear and convincing manner is a key element in the successful management of a marketing communication enterprise. Persuasion is often the critical factor in the success or failure of a project. Students learn to write and present marketing and media plans, new business proposals, creative proposals, copy platforms, and research findings. In-class delivery of written assignments and presentations is required.
MC 530 Direct Marketing (core)
This course provides a comprehensive study of the elements of direct marketing and its fit into the strategy to reach target audiences effectively. Topics include comparison of consumer and business-to-business direct marketing techniques, use of databases, circulation planning, creative executions, lists and media, direct mail, catalog marketing, telemarketing, Internet marketing, and response analysis.
MC 532 Sales Promotion Techniques (concentration)
This course provides an overview of merchandising and sales promotion tools and the planning and execution of sales promotion programs. The use of sales promotion techniques is studied in a wide variety of product/service marketing strategies. Students learn the sophisticated analysis required to determine the effectiveness of sales promotion events against the costs of media advertising.
MC 534 Fundamentals of Public Relations (concentration)
As an overview of the applications and techniques of public relations, this course demonstrates how business communicates and participates in society’s public forums and identifies the tools of the public relations specialist, including special services and media sources, how to locate them, what they cost, and how they fit into an overall marketing communication plan. Measurement techniques are reviewed and evaluated and special problems in public relations, such as corporate and product crisis management, are carefully studied.
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MC 536 Practicum (concentration)
This capstone course is designed to integrate all the skills learned in the Marketing Communication program in a practical context. Student teams will compete as mini agencies with an assignment from a major Chicago-area marketer. Briefed in detail by their client, they will develop a marketing plan and a complete, detailed marketing communication plan. Based on secondary research and original research conducted by the teams, the marketing communication plan will include a media plan, a creative program, budget recommendations, and recommendations for the use of public relations, database marketing, promotion, online marketing, event marketing, and so on. Teams will make formal presentations of their plans to client senior management.
MC 538 International Marketing Communication (elective)
This course is a study of major concepts in international marketing. The objective of the course is to prepare marketing communication managers to function effectively in a global environment. Topics include the development of communication strategies in inter-connected economies and the impact of cultural differences on those strategies. The student will examine the differences between Pacific Rim nations, the European Union, and others as they relate to marketing problems.
MC 546 Communication Strategies in the Digital Environment (concentration)
Advertising on the Internet is only the beginning. Permission e-mail marketing has quickly become a critical tactic and a discipline with its own rather intricate set of rules. Sales promotion in the online environment is a new and different skillset. Database marketing helped shape all of e-commerce marketing, and now e-commerce is reshaping the database business. The public relations specialist is finding that Web sites are among the most critical target media. For the marketing communication professional, these new digital tools and tactics will be essential for success.
MC 551 Business Strategy in the Network Economy: Best Practices (concentration)
The explosion of information in the digital economy, and the rise of the Internet as medium, marketplace, and management tool have transformed the ways companies organize themselves and do business. But that transformation is far from complete. This course will acquaint the student with some of the best current thinking and practice among companies that are succeeding in the new environment. It deals with business models, supply chain strategies, value propositions, revenue sources, new ideas about the marketing of information, and how entrepreneurial ventures go about constructing a business plan. It includes presentations from and conversations with senior managers of e-commerce enterprises, their agencies, and consultants.
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MC 552 Marketing Strategy in the Digital Environment (concentration)
Both the buyer’s behavior and the marketer’s opportunities are fundamentally different in the online environment. There are many ways in which digital assets can be substituted for conventional marketing resources. There is a new spectrum of distribution alternatives. Online branding presents its own set of challenges. There are new product development issues in a space where the method of delivery has become part of the product. Digital communities present a new marketing opportunity. New pricing strategies become available. This course will help the digitally-empowered marketer plan, budget, and adapt to a new world.
MC 554 Customer Relationship Management (concentration)
In a world where it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to keep an existing relationship, companies are learning that they must manage those current customer relationships in order to survive. Around this insight, a new discipline has emerged, using some of the tools of database management and some of the new tactics of digital communication to reduce attrition, and maximize the lifetime value of a customer. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is making fundamental changes in the way companies operate. It is a critical point of merger, where e-business becomes a part of all business. This course will engage the student in the diagnosis of CRM issues, the building of CRM plans, the measurement of their effectiveness, and the new tools available to get all these things done economically, in Internet time.
MC 563 Web Page Design (elective)
The content, organization, presentation, and functionality of Web sites are critical to attracting and retaining customers or members of an audience. Subtle issues of design and organization can have profound consequences on a site’s ability to persuade, communicate, compete, and close a transaction. Principles of effective site design will be used to evaluate existing sites. An authoring tool, e.g., Dreamweaver or Frontpage will be used to build a Web site.
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