Students

MECO399 – Advanced Issues in Marketing and Media

2017 – S2 Day

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Lecturer
Associate Professor Lawrence Ang
lawrence.ang@mq.edu.au
Contact via (02) 9850 9135
E4A 638
Thursday 1pm -2 pm
Lecturer/Tutor
Dr Ray Welling
raymond.welling@mq.edu.au
Contact via 0422 000 373
Y3A 165B
Please email for an appointment.
Stephen Collins
stephen.collins@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to BMktgMedia and 39cp at 100 level or above
Corequisites Corequisites
MAS390 and MKTG303
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit is a team-taught unit designed to help students to parlay skills and concepts studied in the Bachelor of Marketing and Media into future pathways, and make sense of (and articulate) the academic scaffolding of this program. Staff from both Marketing and Media will address the key opportunities, challenges and trends that characterize this dynamic professional nexus, as they relate to industry, creative practice and research. The emphasis is on contemporary phenomena and the pertinent skills needed to navigate this increasingly influential and important field.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Adapt and apply integrated marketing and media knowledge and skills to undertake professional work.
  • Respond creatively to business problems using appropriate media.
  • Persuade client of appropriate marketing and creative media solutions.
  • Anticipate and build professional skills and capabilities appropriate to the marketing and media business environment.
  • Develop capacity for creativity, curiosity, criticism and be able to collaborate with others.

General Assessment Information

MECO399 is a team-taught capstone unit designed to help students parlay skills and concepts studied in the Bachelor of Marketing Media towards future pathways, and make sense of (and articulate) the program's academic scaffolding. The unit addresses key opportunities, challenges and trends that characterise this dynamic professional nexus, as they relate to industry, creative practice and research. The emphasis is on contemporary phenomena and the pertinent skill-set needed to navigate this increasingly influential and important field. As such, assessments are designed to draw on and showcase the comprehensive skills and knowledge students have derived from the Marketing Media program, and to demonstrate a capacity to work creatively and critically, both individually and in collaboration with peers. To pass this unit, students must ultimately achieve an overall grade of at least 50%.      

Late Penalties: Tasks above 10%. Students who submit late work without an extension will receive a penalty of 10% per day. This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved. 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Industry Pitch Project 60% No Week 12 & Week 13
Application of Learning 20% No End of Week 12
Participation 20% No On-going

Industry Pitch Project

Due: Week 12 & Week 13
Weighting: 60%

Students will undertake a major creative production project for an industry partner. This project comprises 4 main components, broken into individual and team tasks. Details of each of these 4 components are as follows:

  1. Presentation (individual mark): A twenty-minute pitch presentation to industry partners, followed by a 5-minute Q&A based on each team's creative brief (15%) - due on day of presentation;
  2. Executive  Summary (collective mark): A written executive summary of the Pitch Project to a client industry partner on your team’s creative brief / production project (25%) - due end of Week 12; 
  3. Peer Evaluation  (collective mark): A two-minute presentation on which team had the best pitch and why (5%) - due on day of presentation;
  4. Teamwork (individual mark): An activity sheet and a one-page statement addressing a teamwork related selection criteria (15%) - due on the day of presentation; but activity sheet must be sighted by tutor during the intensive class period

Further details are provided on iLearn.

Assessment criteria

  • Synthesis and integration of marketing and media knowledge.
  • Apply marketing and media knowledge and skills to profession.
  • Explain and evaluate suitability of proposed creative concept(s).
  • Presented message / content is relevant, purposefully structured, clearly supported and evidence driven.
  • Employ and deliver an effective and logical argument to persuade client to adopt recommendation(s).
  • Demonstrate professional communication skills. 
  • Describe the practice of teamwork and its relation to its immediate goal and role in the workplace.
  • Critically analyse how the team worked and critique how well this contributed to successful teamwork practices and the achievement of the team goals.
  • Identify learning gained through working in teams and assess specific ways to improve effectiveness of self and/or teams engaging in future teamwork.
  • Demonstrate creative, original and/or interesting thinking.

Extension and penalties

No extension will be granted.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Adapt and apply integrated marketing and media knowledge and skills to undertake professional work.
  • Respond creatively to business problems using appropriate media.
  • Persuade client of appropriate marketing and creative media solutions.
  • Anticipate and build professional skills and capabilities appropriate to the marketing and media business environment.
  • Develop capacity for creativity, curiosity, criticism and be able to collaborate with others.

Application of Learning

Due: End of Week 12
Weighting: 20%

Students will be required to write an essay that synthesises what they have learnt from this unit (e.g. from readings, case studies, guest lecturers and class interactions) and how this learning will help them in their chosen profession (or within the media/marketing/business industry).

Further details are provided on iLearn.

Assessment criteria

  • Synthesis and integration of marketing and media knowledge.
  • Apply marketing and media knowledge and skills to profession.
  • Demonstrate professional communication skills.
  • Demonstrate creative, original and/or interesting thinking.

Extension and penalties

No extension will be granted. There will be a deduction of 10% of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late (for example, 25 hours late in submission – 20% penalty). This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Adapt and apply integrated marketing and media knowledge and skills to undertake professional work.
  • Anticipate and build professional skills and capabilities appropriate to the marketing and media business environment.
  • Develop capacity for creativity, curiosity, criticism and be able to collaborate with others.

Participation

Due: On-going
Weighting: 20%

Student participation and engagement is encouraged and evaluated in this unit. Participation / engagement is assessed through face-to-face (F2F) class seminar participation.

Further details are provided on iLearn.

Assessment criteria

  • Participates actively in discussions and works with others.

Extension and penalties

No extension will be granted. Students who do not attend class will be awarded a mark of zero for the task, expect for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Adapt and apply integrated marketing and media knowledge and skills to undertake professional work.
  • Develop capacity for creativity, curiosity, criticism and be able to collaborate with others.

Delivery and Resources

Unlike previous offerings, lectures and tutorials are conducted in an intensive teaching mode including the use of online activities.  Note: there will be a two full day classes during the first week of the session break. The classes are carried out in the following manner & locations.

A. In Faculty of Business & Economics (FBE) Finance Lab in building E4A (level 1) except week 12: 

  1. Week 2 (4-8pm) - attend Tuesday or Thursday (FBE Finance Lab)
  2. Week 3 (4-8pm) - attend Tuesday or Thursday - Client briefing (FBE Finance Lab)
  3. Week 12 (4-5pm) - everyone to attend (E6B 149)
  4. Week 13 (12-6pm) - attend Tuesday or Thursday - Pitch presentation to client (FBE Finance Lab)

B. In Building W2.4A; Room 2.300; Active Learning Space during the first week of session break: 

  1. Sept Wed 20 (9am - 5pm) - everyone to attend
  2. Sept Thurs 21 (9am - 5pm) - everyone to attend

Students are required to complete online activities, use iLearn, and whatever technical resources required for their group assignments (e.g. PowerPoint). Lecture and tutorial attendance is compulsory and will be recorded in the former. Students will also be expected to come to all classes having already read the reading/s, complete online activities, and prepared to discuss the content.Students will not be able to change groups they have registered in, and must attend 80% of the total face-to-face class time. Failure to do so (without proof of sickness or misadventure) will undermine the final grade. Students must arrive on time and not leave until the lecture/tutorial has finished.  All students must present in the final pitch project in week 13.  Finalisation and submission of presentation at the end of week 12.  Client briefing is in week 3.  

There are two cohorts, Tuesday or Thursday.  You only need to attend one of these (i.e., Tuesday or Thursday class) in weeks 2, 3 and 13.  For all the other weeks, the two cohorts will  come together for joint classes.

Please stay in the cohort you have been allocated, that is either Tuesday or Thursday.  Do not change as this will disrupt group formation and client project.

 

 

Unit Schedule

Week 1

  • No class, but read the following two cases for week 2's class:

Readings

  • Becoming Digital and Exploiting a Digital Future - Reading:  Beyonce.  Harvard Business Case: 5-515-084 
  • Evaluating different digital tools - Readings: Online Marketing of Skinny Wallets: Harvard Business Case: 9-911-033

Week 2

  • Course explanation, team formation, group activity contract & dynamics
  • Planning the campaign
  • Becoming Digital and Exploiting a Digital Future - Reading:  Beyonce.  Harvard Business Case: 5-515-084 
  • Evaluating different digital tools - Readings: Online Marketing of Skinny Wallets: Harvard Business Case: 9-911-033 

Week 3

  • Client briefing: Kimberly Clark
  • Viral Marketing & Dealing with a Viral Crisis - Readings: (1) Dumb ways to die: Advertising Train Safety Harvard Business Case: 9-514-079 to 81.and (2) Domino's Pizza: Richard Ivey School of Business Case: W11159

Week 4 (online)

  • Creativity - What exactly is it?   
  • Advertising creativity, issues & its barriers

Week 5 (online)

  • Persuasion & persuasion technologies
  • Reading: Fogg (2009), Creating Persuasive Technologies: An Eight-Step Design Process Persuasive’09, April 26-29, Claremont, California, USA.

Week 6 (online)

  • Branding and social media 
  • Readings: (1)  Holt (2016) Branding in the age of social media​ Harvard business review, 94, 3. (2) The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation.  Harvard Business Case: 5-516-03

Week 7 (online)

  • Self-branding & micro-celebrity
  • Readings: (1) Alison Hearn and Stephanie Schoenhoff (2016) From celebrity to influencer in David Marshall and Sean Redmond (eds) Companion to Celebrity p. 194-212. (2) Khamis, Ang and Welling (2016) Self-branding, ‘micro-celebrity’ and the rise of Social Media Influencers Celebrity Studies (in press).

 

Intensive sessions  (September Wed. 20th, Thurs. 21st)

Topics to be discussed

  • Searching for the key inisight, compelling selling proposition and the big idea
  • Pretesting and evaluating the campaign - the latest thinking
  • Effective online advertising - what do we know?
  • Strategies and tactics in content marketing
  • How to take advantage of outdoor advertising
  • How to navigate through digital media & tech boom like a boss!

Readings: Specific readings and case studies will be provided for some of these topics

 

Week 8 (online)

  • Ethics in the Digital World
  • Readings: (1) Anjali S. Bal et al. (2013) Do good, goes bad, gets ugly: Kony 2012, Journal of Public Affairs, volume 13, number 2, pp. 202-208; (2) Gayle Kerr et al. (2012), Buy, boycott or blog: Exploring online consumer power to share, discuss and distribute controversial advertising messages, European Journal of Marketing, volume 46, number 3/4, pp. 387-405

Week 9 (online)

  • Media, Politics & Terrorism on the Internet
  • Readings: (1) Hill et al (2013), How quickly we forget: The duration effects from mass communication, 20, 521-547. (2) Awan (2017) Cyber-Extremism: Isis and the Power of Social Media Society 54:138–149

Weeks 10 & 11 (no class)

  • Pitch preparation
  • Application of Learning assignment

Week 12 

  • Pitch finalisation
  • Finalisation of individual assignment on Application of Learning
  • Both assessment tasks due at the end of week 12

Week 13 

  • Industry Pitch to client

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.html​

Disruption to Studies Policy (in effect until Dec 4th, 2017): http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html

Special Consideration Policy (in effect from Dec 4th, 2017): https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policies/special-consideration

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Additional information

MMCCS website https://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/department_of_media_music_communication_and_cultural_studies/

MMCCS Session Re-mark Application http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/?id=167914

Information is correct at the time of publication

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Respond creatively to business problems using appropriate media.
  • Anticipate and build professional skills and capabilities appropriate to the marketing and media business environment.
  • Develop capacity for creativity, curiosity, criticism and be able to collaborate with others.

Assessment tasks

  • Industry Pitch Project
  • Application of Learning

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Adapt and apply integrated marketing and media knowledge and skills to undertake professional work.
  • Persuade client of appropriate marketing and creative media solutions.

Assessment tasks

  • Industry Pitch Project
  • Application of Learning
  • Participation

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Adapt and apply integrated marketing and media knowledge and skills to undertake professional work.
  • Respond creatively to business problems using appropriate media.
  • Persuade client of appropriate marketing and creative media solutions.
  • Anticipate and build professional skills and capabilities appropriate to the marketing and media business environment.

Assessment tasks

  • Industry Pitch Project
  • Application of Learning
  • Participation

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Respond creatively to business problems using appropriate media.
  • Persuade client of appropriate marketing and creative media solutions.

Assessment task

  • Industry Pitch Project

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Persuade client of appropriate marketing and creative media solutions.
  • Anticipate and build professional skills and capabilities appropriate to the marketing and media business environment.
  • Develop capacity for creativity, curiosity, criticism and be able to collaborate with others.

Assessment tasks

  • Industry Pitch Project
  • Application of Learning
  • Participation

Changes from Previous Offering

This year's offering of MECO399 has a two-day intensive teaching session in the first week of the session break.  It also has a number of online sessions.  There is no examination, but the industry pitch is now heavily weighted at 60% with an individual assignment on Application of Learning, weighted at 20%.