Overview
The ability of an organization to communicate effectively and efficiently with its target audiences is critical to its success. Marketing communications, including advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, personal selling, and internet marketing, are increasingly used to sell products and services, and to promote causes, market political candidates, and deal with societal problems. With the fragmentation of traditional media, the use of more sophisticated interactive and social media, and the growing privacy concern for customers, marketers are constantly searching for new alternatives to communicate with their target audiences. This course introduces you to this fascinating field. You will learn how to cope with recent environmental challenges, research and evaluate an organization’s marketing and promotional situation, and use the different elements of promotional mix to develop and present an integrated marketing and communication plan. The course is divided into 14 lessons as described below.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, you should be ready to take a marketing communications job in either a for-profit or not-for-profit organization and perform the following tasks:
- discuss various concepts and frameworks necessary for understanding, developing, implementing, and evaluating marketing communication campaigns.
- research and evaluate an organization’s marketing and promotional situation.
- design creative strategies and tactics.
- use different elements of the promotional mix to develop effective marketing
communication strategies and programs. - develop and implement media plans.
- communicate persuasively and logically in written, oral, and visual language.
Evaluation
Your final grade in MKTG 420: Advertising & Promotion will be based on your performance on three assignments and on your satisfactory participation in 10 discussion forums.
There are no examinations in this course.
To receive credit for MKTG 420, you must
- complete Assignments 1 & 2
- participate in all 10 discussion forums
- achieve an overall course grade of at least D (50 percent).
Failure to satisfactorily complete Assignments 1 and 2 or participate in a discussion forum will result in a failing grade for the entire course.
The weighting of each assessment activity is indicated in the table below.
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1: Situation Analysis | 20% |
| Assignment 2: Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Plan | 20% |
| Assignment 3: IMC Plan Presentation | 10% |
| Learning Forum Participation | 50% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Guolla, M. A., Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2020). Advertising & promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective (7th Cdn. ed.). McGraw-Hill Ryerson. ISBN 978-1-26-006598-5
Other Resources
All other learning resources will be available online.
Challenge for credit
Overview
The challenge for credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about challenge for credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Evaluation
To receive credit for the MKTG 420 challenge registration, you must achieve a grade of at least D (50 percent) on the examination.
Online Exam
Challenge for credit course registration form