M.A. Advertising and Marketing Communications
Bournemouth University
| Application deadline: | As soon as possible |
| Tuition fee: |
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| Start date: | September 2013 |
| Duration full-time: | 12 months |
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| Location: |
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| Delivery mode: | On Campus |
| Educational variant: | Part-time, Full-time |
| Intensity: | Flexible |
Description
What does this course offer?
- Facilitates an individual’s knowledge, critical appreciation and expertise to enable them to develop, implement and evaluate integrated advertising and marketing communication strategies
- This course is renowned throughout the UK and our programmes is highly regarded by the agency world
- Many of the staff who teach on the programme have worked in marketing companies, large advertising agencies and client companies
- We have strong links with industry which include live briefs, guest lectures and master classes and employment opportunities.
Where could this lead to?
This is a course for graduates who want to work in the Advertising and Marketing Communications industry but may not have studied a related undergraduate degree. Our graduates have achieved some fascinating careers including positions within:
- Client companies
- Advertising agencies
- Media agencies
- Digital agencies
- Integrated marketing communications agencies
- Research agencies
- Event management companies
- Government departments across the globe.
Tell me more....
It is one of the leading courses of its kind in the country. Bournemouth was the first UK university to offer marketing communications at Masters level. The programme attracts students from all over the world as well as from the UK and is delivered over three terms for those studying on a full-time basis.
Bournemouth is renowned for its Advertising programmes throughout the UK and our programmes are highly regarded by the agency world. Please note that the advertising component for this degree is from the management perspective and is not intended to develop either copywriters or art directors.
The term Marketing Communications is the means by which a company relates to and communicates with its customers and clients outside of the major discipline of Advertising. It employs above and below-the-line communication - sales promotion, sponsorship, public relations, direct marketing and personal selling. These functions are shaped by marketing strategy and conditioned by a rapidly changing global media environment.
Many of the staff who teach on the programme have worked with large advertising agencies and client companies. These established connections are strengthened by strong links with industry which include live briefs, guest lectures and master classes and employment opportunities.
Aims
The overall aim of the course is to facilitate an individual’s knowledge, critical appreciation and expertise to enable them to develop, implement and evaluate integrated advertising and marketing communications strategies. This will be achieved by providing students with a critical understanding of:
- A rigorous, disciplinary conceptual framework that allows a strategic and integrated approach to be taken to marketing communications;
- The marketing principles and strategies underpinning marketing communications and brand strategies;
- The major perspectives and models informing marketing communications;
- The major perspectives and principles underlying the persuasion and influence of consumer audiences;
- The role of research in marketing communications and the systematic research procedures required to investigate topics effectively;
- The role of elements of the marketing communications mix to integrated marketing communications culminating in a campaign plan;
- The use of advertising as a strategic marketing tool;
- The nature, development and institutionalised forms of media in the UK and the extent to which they function in an increasingly global environment;
- The nature and implications of emerging and convergent digital technologies.
Contents
For those wishing to complete the course on a part-time basis, the course is over two years.
Students will be expected to study a minimum of three units per year, plus their dissertation towards the end of their second year. The timetable of when the units take place vary each year, however, the units are timetabled during daytime hours, and will be studied with fellow full-time and part-time students.
Strategic Marketing and Branding
All aspects of marketing communications arise from the organisation’s marketing strategies. This unit establishes how organisations develop and implement marketing strategies and their impact on brand development.
Advertising Strategy
The conceptual framework and operational perspectives of advertising are examined including its role in society and methods for measurement of its effectiveness.
Consumer Culture and Behaviour
This provides a critical appraisal of the theories and practice pertaining to persuasion and influence within communication. It focuses on change and constancy in individual and group beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviour. This understanding is essential to the work of marketing communications professionals.
Interactive Media Strategies
This unit demonstrates why marketers are increasingly using the internet, digital TV and other interactive media and gives students the ability to make strategic recommendations about their use. It covers diffusion theory, interactivity and human/computer interaction theory.
Integrated Marketing Communications
This module gives the student theoretical and practical perspectives on relationship marketing, direct marketing, sales promotion, sponsorship, public relations and personal selling and contributes to the development of integrated marketing communications.
Research Principles and Practice
The ability to conduct and evaluate research is an important outcome of this programme. The unit contributes to this objective by examining the role of theory in the process of enquiry, investigating the major perspective informing marketing communications research and equipping students with the skills they need to conduct research.
Students successfully completing these units in the first two terms will be entitled to the award of Postgraduate Diploma in Advertising and Marketing Communications.
Students who wish to proceed to the award of MA in the third term commence with:
Integrated Campaign Planning
This unit provides a strategic and integrated approach to the management, planning and development of advertising and marketing communications campaigns all demonstrated through a live brief. The last stage of the MA is completed through a choice of one of the following two routes:
1. Academic Project
This is a 10,000 word research paper or book chapter on a subject of the student’s own interest from the advertising and marketing communications field but drawn from the academic content of the degree.
2. Consultancy Project
This is a 10,000 word professional report where the student acts as a consultant addressing an identified company, brand or communication problem by applying course content to develop researched solutions.
Students can complete this programme full-time over one year, or over two years on a part-time basis.
Study Skills
There is a pre-masters academic study skills course offered to help prepare students for the critical reading and writing demands of the masters programme.
It covers topics such as:
- The reading requirements in a any masters programme
- Plagiarism and referencing
- Lecturers’ expectations in terms of critical writing
- Cross cultural differences.
In addition there are a series of workshops offered which help deal with the principles of academic study with application to the assignments.
Requirements
- Entry requirements: Applicants should normally have an honours degree (typically 2:1 or above, not necessarily marketing related). Comparable qualifications, for example the CIM Postgraduate Diploma or the CIM Professional Diploma, or at least 4 years´ relevant work experience will also be considered.
- Preferred subjects: All subjects considered
- If English is not your first language: IELTS 7.0 (Academic) overall with 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in all other components.
English Language Requirements
| IELTS band: | 7 |
| CAE score: | 60(Grade A) |
You are normally required to take an English Proficiency Test if you come from a non-English speaking country.
Most European Universities recognise the IELTS test.
More information on IELTSInterested? Request information!
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