Skip to main content
Unit outline_

MKTG3112: Marketing Communications

Semester 2, 2022 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

This unit of study offers an introduction to an overview of current theory and practice in marketing communications. It will include aspects of advertising in the main media (television, radio, print, outdoor, cinema), sales promotion, personal selling and new media, such as the Internet. It will provide students with a sound theoretical/conceptual foundation as well as the strategic/practical perspectives of Marketing Communications planning and implementation.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit Marketing
Credit points 6
Prerequisites
? 
MKTG1001
Corequisites
? 
None
Prohibitions
? 
None
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator Joanne Nash, joanne.nash@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Assignment Final Individual Assignment
Written Task
30% Formal exam period
Due date: 18 Nov 2022 at 23:59

Closing date: 27 Nov 2022
1000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Presentation group assignment Group Presentation: IMC Plan
In-class group presentation
15% Mid-semester break
Due date: 02 Oct 2022 at 23:59

Closing date: 03 Oct 2022
6 minutes
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Assignment First Individual Assignment
Written task
20% Week 04
Due date: 28 Aug 2022 at 23:00

Closing date: 11 Sep 2022
1000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO3 LO2
Assignment group assignment Group Written Report: IMC Plan
Written task
20% Week 12
Due date: 30 Oct 2022 at 23:59

Closing date: 06 Nov 2022
3500 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Participation BRC Research participation
Participation
2% Week 12
Due date: 28 Oct 2022 at 17:00
45 minutes
Outcomes assessed: LO5
Participation Participation and Engagement
Participation and engagement
13% Weekly n/a
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO6 LO5 LO4 LO3 LO2
group assignment = group assignment ?

Assessment summary

  • Participation and engagement:  degree of active engagement with course content and tutorial exercises (beyond simple attendance at tutorials). Quizzes may be used to assess students’ knowledge of selected week's course content. 
  • First Individual Assignment: Undertake a Situation and Marketing Communications Analysis for an assigned company. This includes identifying a communication challenge/issue for the brand and a critique of an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) campaign aimed at your target. 
  • Group Presentation: Building on the first individual assignment, teams are required to develop a persuasive presentation for their brand’s IMC plan up to and including the Creative development stage plus initial ideas for media. 
  • Group Written Report: Building on the group presentation and incorporating feedback received, students are required to develop an IMC plan for their assigned company. To complete this task effectively you must work as part of a team. Your IMC plan should address the brand communication challenge(s)/issue(s) identified by your team.
  • Final Individual Assignment: Following your group report, individually review your team's communication and creative strategy. Then propose an alternative approach. This task may ask also ask you to state how you would evaluate its effectiveness and/or reflect on your learnings from the unit.
  • Research participation: Instructions on how to complete this assessment can be found on the new business research component site of students’ Canvas course dashboard. You will have two options for completing this Assessment. Option 1- participate in a research study. Option 2- research paper review. For detailed information about how to complete the Business Research Component Assessment (2%) please refer to the Assignments tab on your course CANVAS site

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name

Mark range

Description

High distinction

85 - 100

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school. 

Distinction

75 - 84

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Credit

65 - 74

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Pass

50 - 64

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school. 

Fail

0 - 49

When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

  • Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
  • After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

As per Sydney University policies

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

WK Topic Learning activity Learning outcomes
Week 01 Introduction to Marketing Communications (Ch 1, 2, 3). No tutorials in Wk 1 Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1
Week 02 Consumers and Marketing Communications (Ch 4). Tutorials start; ensure you attend assigned tute to help group formation Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 03 Communication Process (Ch 5, 6). Each tutorial covers the prior weeks content. Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO5
Week 04 Objectives (Ch 7), Creative Strategy- Planning (Ch 8) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 05 Creative strategy- Implementation & Development (Ch 9) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 06 Media strategy & IMC Tools 1 (Ch10 Media Planning, Ch11 TV & Radio, Ch12 Mag. & News) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO3 LO5 LO6
Week 07 IMC tools 2 (Ch13 Support Media, Ch 14 Direct Mktg) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO3 LO5 LO6
Week 08 IMC tools 3: Digital & Social (Ch 15) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO3 LO5 LO6
Week 09 IMC tools 4 (Ch16 Sales promo, Ch17 PR) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO3 LO5 LO6
Week 10 Evaluating Effectiveness (Ch 18) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO5 LO6
Week 11 Evaluating Social, Ethical & Economic Impact & Regulation (Ch20, Ch21) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 12 IMC: deep dive (Ch19) Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO2 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 13 IMC Reviewed: Pulling it all together Lecture and tutorial (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5

Attendance and class requirements

  • Tutorials: Start week 2 and cover the material/ lecture from the prior week ie. Wk 2 tutorial focuses on Wk 1 content.  You must listen to the prior weeks lecture and complete any online learning activities BEFORE each scheduled tutorial. 
  • Attendance: You are required to attend your weekly enrolled and timetabled tutorial. Tutorials cement the learning from the lectures. Students are responsible for ensuring they join a group in their enrolled tutorial. 
  • Lecture recording: All live lectures are recorded and are available on Canvas. The Business School does not own the system and cannot guarantee that every class will be available due to technical issues.   Students should ensure they attend, listen and make notes while the lecture is being delivered during the timetabled lecture time.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Mandatory text. Students are required to purchase;

Belch, G.E., and Belch, M.A.(2021), Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective 12th Edition  

McGraw Hill By George E. Belch, Michael A. Belch © 2021 ISBN: 1260590216 · 9781260590210

There will be some limited access via library resources. 

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. understand critical theories and concepts relevant to the study of marketing communications
  • LO2. identify and understand the relationship between the key elements of message strategy that can be practically applied to the development of an integrated marketing communications plan
  • LO3. identify the appropriate forms of media that can be adopted to efficiently, effectively and creatively deliver the communication message to the target audience
  • LO4. identify the role of integrated marketing communications in creating brand meaning to build appropriate consumer based brand equity
  • LO5. open new ways of thinking and appreciate the importance of intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and reflection as the foundation for continuous learning
  • LO6. collaborate and communicate with people from diverse backgrounds with inclusiveness, open-mindedness and civility, and to communicate thoughts and opinions confidently and to a professional standard.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1 Depth of disciplinary expertise

Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.

GQ2 Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.

GQ3 Oral and written communication

Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.

GQ4 Information and digital literacy

Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.

GQ5 Inventiveness

Generating novel ideas and solutions.

GQ6 Cultural competence

Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.

GQ7 Interdisciplinary effectiveness

Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

GQ8 Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity

An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.

GQ9 Influence

Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes Graduate qualities
GQ1 GQ2 GQ3 GQ4 GQ5 GQ6 GQ7 GQ8 GQ9

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Final exam has been removed and replaced by a Final Individual Summative Assignment. This individual task has been modified in order to enhance student learning outcomes. Group Presentation has been moved forward to allow for formative feedback to help students enhance their Group Written Report

Late changes requested as Wk 8 group presentations have been impacted by the recent announcement of Queens Holiday on 22/9/22

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.