Overview
This course examines the theory and practice of integrated marketing communications, focusing on how organizations coordinate paid, owned, earned, and shared media to deliver consistent, audience-centred brand messages and achieve measurable objectives. Students analyse communication problems, market situations, customer journeys, audiences, brand positioning, and communication contexts.
The course develops competencies in objective setting, message strategy, creative development, brand voice, storytelling, media planning, channel selection, budgeting, scheduling, and campaign evaluation. Coverage includes advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct and database marketing, personal selling, experiential and event marketing, content marketing, social media, influencer partnerships, search, email, mobile, and emerging interactive formats.
Students address omnichannel consistency, accessibility, cultural sensitivity, regulation, disclosure, misinformation, privacy, and ethical persuasion. Applied work culminates in a research-supported integrated campaign plan incorporating a campaign brief, creative or content executions, media and channel rationale, implementation resources, and effectiveness measures including reach, engagement, conversion, brand outcomes, and return on investment.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse a communication problem, market situation, customer journey, and target audience using relevant qualitative and quantitative evidence.
- Establish measurable communication objectives aligned with organizational, brand, and customer outcomes.
- Synthesize positioning, brand voice, message strategy, storytelling, and creative direction into a coherent integrated communication strategy.
- Develop or commission appropriate advertising, public relations, content, promotional, digital, and experiential executions for defined audiences.
- Evaluate paid, owned, earned, and shared media channels using audience, reach, engagement, conversion, accessibility, and contextual evidence.
- Allocate campaign resources and construct an implementation schedule that coordinates communication across customer touchpoints.
- Assess regulatory, cultural, privacy, disclosure, misinformation, and ethical persuasion requirements in integrated marketing communications.
- Measure campaign effectiveness using relevant brand, behavioural, financial, return-on-investment, and optimization measures.
- Design and defend a complete research-supported integrated marketing communications campaign plan.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Weekly | All semester |
| Workshop | 2 hours | Fortnightly | All semester |
| Seminar | 1 hour | Fortnightly | All semester |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Campaign brief and situation analysis | 15.00% |
| Assignment | Audience, positioning, and communication objectives | 15.00% |
| Deliverable | Creative or content executions | 20.00% |
| Assignment | Media and channel rationale | 15.00% |
| Capstone | Integrated campaign plan | 30.00% |
| Exam | Campaign evaluation and ethics examination | 5.00% |
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.