The purpose of this course is to lead students in an exploration of fundamental advertising principles and the role advertising plays in the promotional mix. You will learn where advertising fits in the Marketing Mix, also known as the four Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Although some consider all promotion synonymous with advertising, you will learn the unique characteristics that separate advertising from other forms of promotional communication. You will re-visit some familiar marketing concepts within a new framework, approaching the subject from the advertiser’s perspective.
Advertising is an integral part of our modern, media-dominated society. While many of us have a love-hate relationship with the industry, advertising can be wonderfully entertaining. However, is advertising a necessary evil? Does it make meaningful contributions to our society?
With the incredible growth of social media, now is a particularly exciting time to explore the fascinating world of advertising.
Our text uses a case-based approach that focuses on the activities of a successful advertising agency, Shepardson, Stern and Kaminsky (SS+K). You will see the practical applications of advertising theory as we follow SS+K through the formulation and implementation of a real-world advertising campaign. This model will allow you to see how businesses blend creativity with tested advertising principles to develop promotional communication that builds brand equity. You will learn that while creativity is certainly an important aspect of advertising, businesses must also follow a systematic planning approach to get the maximum value from their advertising spending. You will see advertising in an entirely new light as you examine the discipline through the lens of today’s advertiser.
As you work your way through the units, you will see that each one builds upon the ones before. After the overview of advertising—where you will learn the definition of advertising, and how it fits into the marketing mix—you will move on to advertising’s place in our society. Next, you will learn about the ways in which advertisers communicate with us, and how and why consumers behave the way they do. Market research, an essential tool in uncovering information, follows. Here you will learn about the kinds of information needed to meet a market’s needs, and the ways in which that information is obtained. After that, you will move on to how advertisers choose their target markets. Once this is determined, advertisers can set an appropriate budget for their advertising campaigns. This will be covered in unit 6. Unit 7 focuses on the next step in the process, which is advertising strategy—the pathway to setting objectives and reaching advertising goals. Once goals and objectives are formulated, it is important to have a coordinated marketing effort—this is covered in unit 8. Media planning, the process of determining where advertising will be placed, is the natural next step, and is covered in unit 9. And finally, once all aspects of a plan are in place, they need to be executed and then evaluated for effectiveness. These topics are covered in your last unit, unit 10.
