Developing and Managing Communication Campaigns & Projects

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CCT302H5S LEC0101

Developing and Managing Communication Campaigns & Projects

Course Outline - Fall 2017

Class Time & Location        Mondays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in CCT 2150

Instructor        Gennadi Gevorgyan, Ph.D.

Office        CC4005

Office Hours        Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon or by appointment

Phone        647-978-0739

E-mail        g.gevorgyan@utoronto.ca

        ggevorgyan@ryerson.ca

Course Description
Communication campaigns, whether they involve marketing, politics, public affairs, or advertising/PR, require the establishment of goals, objectives, strategies, tasks, milestones, and research/measurement techniques. This course offers a variety of in-depth methods for creating and executing comprehensive communication campaigns that advance organizational goals and help companies cerate/capture value in competitive and multimedia environments. Students will learn to develop and implement campaigns by focusing on the following: environmental scanning, audience and company research, strategic objectives and goals, message/media development and delivery as well as budgeting and measurement/analytics. Throughout the course, students will develop and leverage their analytical and creative skills, understanding the management of communication campaigns in a variety of sociocultural and technological environments. Theory and empirical research along with case studies/deconstructions will comprise an integral part of the course content. At the core of the course format will be a seminar-based approach to learning. As a result, discussions and debates will be of particular importance.[pic 2]

Prerequisite: CCT222H5, minimum of 8.0 credits. (SSc)

Distribution Requirement: SSc
It is your responsibility to ensure that the prerequisites for the course have been met. Students without the prerequisites can be removed at any time.

Goals and Learning Objectives
Communication campaigns have become an immensely important part of the marketing mix. This course is designed to help students learn the building blocks of creating effective, cost-efficient, and measurable campaigns. Students will develop proficiency in meeting objectives, setting strategies, understanding target audiences, and choosing communication tools available to speak to them. The course objectives are to:

• Teach students how to conduct environmental scanning, collect, analyze, and interpret market intelligence.  

• Help students understand how to craft persuasive messages along with developing a strong understanding of media and creative strategies.

• Walk students through developing measurable goals and objectives.  

• Give students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience by putting together campaign proposals and a variety of strategic communication materials (e.g. advertising copy, news releases, etc.) in a simulation-based and deadline-oriented environment.

• Teach students how to synthesize, analyze and interpret a range of media-related information/data using qualitative and quantitative techniques for the purposes of making sound and ethical communication decisions.
  

Evaluation
The grade for this course is composed of the sum of the points received for each of the following components:

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES AND GRADING RUBRICS

Campaign Deconstruction/Discussion Leadership

Planning a successful campaign requires a strong ability to analyze and evaluate various components of the campaign from a range of conceptual and practical perspectives. This group assignment will allow you to assess a campaign in terms of its overarching goals, strategic objectives, target audience(s), media, and key messages. Being a discussion leader means being in charge of initiating and moderating in-class interactions. It also means developing a high level of expertise in the campaign/topic(s) you choose to present.

The assignment will consist of three parts: campaign research, presentation/moderation, and written report. For the research part of the assignment, you will need to thoroughly investigate a campaign (past or ongoing), reviewing a variety of articles, relevant cases, and theoretical concepts. For the presentation part of the assignment, you will need to summarize your research insights into a 15-20-slide presentation. For the written part of the project, you will need to prepare a 1,000-1,500-word document, elaborating on your research findings, conclusions, and reflections. All papers should have at least 5-7 discussion questions which you will use to prompt student insights/participation and foster engagement. Try to make your questions open-ended, eliminating the possibility of answering them with a simple “yes/no” (e.g. How do you think interactivity in digital campaigns influences the persuasive potential of those campaigns?).

Grading Rubric

SWOT Analysis
This is a 2,500-3,000-word report that will comprehensively summarize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an existing company in an actual business situation. In addition to highlighting the outcomes of the SWOT analysis, the report should propose communication-related recommendations that will help the company achieve its organizational goals and strategic objectives. The assignment will be conducted based on an assigned business case. In order to successfully complete this assignment, it is important to thoroughly review the case, identifying its protagonist(s) and reflecting on how communication can enhance the protagonist’s market position. You are expected to recommend and critically analyze three communication initiatives you believe would add value for the company at hand.

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