Course Descriptions

CORE COURSES

MC 510 Marketing Foundations:  The Art of Marketing (core) (3 hrs)

This course provides students with a holistic examination of the theory and practice of marketing.  Learning will concentrate on how marketing can transform how companies look at customers and how innovation and creativity can enhance competitive performance. 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 from contemporary thought-leaders and case studies are employed.

MC 514 The Marketing Communication Plan: Developing Transformative Marketing Strategies (core) (3 hrs) 

In this course, students learn how to identify and evaluate the full gamut of competitive strategic alternatives in both business to business and business to consumer marketing using a wide variety of analytic tools to develop and analyze consumer insights.  Based on this 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, psychographic and attitudinal characteristics and to analyze the style and appeal of messages within campaigns. Students also learn how to develop a balanced marketing communication plan utilizing the multitude of vehicles available to reach a target audience using the latest today’s technological tools and media.

MC 516 Marketing and Advertising Research:  Building Consumer Insight Through Research (core) (3 hrs)

This course is an introduction to the purposes and methods of research. The course is a state-of-the-art hands-on course that 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 using both qualitative and quantitative research methodology.

MC 520 Understanding the Target Audience (core) (3 hrs)

Understanding the demographics and psychographics of target audiences is essential to an effective marketing communication strategy. From data to information to insightful strategic marketing, this course covers what’s important to know to make more effective marketing decisions.  Social, cultural, psychological and attitudinal factors are explored with particular attention to motivation, how attitudes are shaped and altered, how information is processed, and the role of learning in the formation of purchasing decisions. Theories and models of consumer behavior are examined to develop incisive insights into consumer behavior that can build strong brands.

MC 522 Media Strategy and Implementation for the 21st Century (core) (3 hrs)

This course focuses the massive transformations based on new technologies that are occurring in today’s communication environment, and the wide variety of consumer contact points it generates.  Students will develop an understanding of how the industry is organized and how marketing communications flow from the source company to the target audience. The course examines the major aspects of developing and evaluating media plans, 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) (3 hrs)

This course deals with translating business and marketing strategies into creative executions that deliver effective messages to the intended target audience.  The course focuses on the analysis of consumer information for meaningful insights, and translating those insights into incisive strategies for execution in print, TV, radio, direct mail, Internet, and other delivery vehicles 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 of “brainstorming” is used to hone creative thinking skills to see beyond existing paradigms to develop innovative executions capable of transforming consumer attitudes and beliefs.

MC 536 Practicum (core) (3 hrs)

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 strategy 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, as well as other media vehicles. Teams will make formal presentations of their plans to client senior management.

COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT CONCENTRATION  (Four Required)

MC 526 The Database as Marketing Tool (concentration) (1.5 hrs)

This course introduces students to the critical nature of information gathered in real-time directly from important constituencies or third party sources.  It explores 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.

MC 530 Direct Marketing (concentration) (1.5 hrs)

This course introduces students to the communications techniques that seek to generate immediate response to a very specific offer.  It involves 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) (1.5 hrs)

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 other media vehicles.

MC 534 Fundamentals of Public Relations (concentration) (1.5 hrs)

This course provides an overview of the applications and techniques of public relations, event marketing and other forms of “free media”.  It 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.

ELECTRONIC MARKETING CONCENTRATION  (Four required)

MC 546 Communication Strategies in the Digital Environment (concentration) (1.5hrs)

Advertising on the Internet is governed by an entirely different set of parameters.  This course explores the different skill sets involved in promoting in the on-line environment, from search engine optimization, banner ads, to permission e-mail marketing, with its own rather intricate set of rules. With more money invested in search engine marketing than network television, companies are finding that the Web is among the most important media vehicles in the marketing arsenal. 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) (1.5 hrs)

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.

MC 552 Marketing Strategy in the Digital Environment (concentration) (1.5 hrs)

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) (1.5 hrs)

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.

ELECTIVES

MC 502 Strategic Brand Management: Creating Brand Ownership (elective) (1.5 hrs)

The most valuable assets that a company has are the brands that it is developed and invested in over time.  Students will explore the components of a brand, it’s equity and emotional benefits and an understanding of how to develop a meaningful “brand relationship” with the customer or prospect to optimize the brand or brand portfolio.  The class will also explore the various aspects required to champion a new product or service from development to launch by optimizing the execution through all the marketing efforts of the firm. 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.  Like people, brands have unique personalities that differentiate them and drives their ability to grow or limits their ability to expand.  

MC 504 Account Planning (elective) (1.5 hrs)

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 512 Organization Dynamics (elective) (1.5 hrs)

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 538 International Marketing Communication (elective) (1.5 hrs)

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 528 Writing and Presentation Skills (elective) (1.5 hrs)

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 563 Web Page Design (elective) (1.5 hrs)

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., Expression Web will be used to build a Web site.