Advertising and Consumer Representations

This course introduces the key stakes, frameworks and best practices that shape the current advertising landscape. Students will learn the fundamentals of  the discipline, including its creative, media and data/tech sides, for traditional AND digitally-driven campaigns and programs. The course will tackle both branding, and direct-response advertising, throughout what practitioners call « a full-funnel » approach of paid advertising. Doing so, students will be exposed to some of the key trends affecting both agencies and clients, including the rise of Advertising Technologies (AdTech) and the increasing role played by algorithms in advertising campaigns (at a time when some agencies and experts try hard to reclaim the role played by « craft » and « magic » in advertising effectiveness). This course will be very much anchored in the realities of today’s practitioners, both from the agency and client side.

Students will have also the opportunity to reflect on the implications of consumer representations delivered through advertising. They will be exposed to examples of advertising campaigns showing the complexity, dynamicity and potential harmful effects of consumer representations. By the end of the course, students hopefully will develop a more insightful approach to advertising that takes into consideration also the ethical dimension rooted in consumer representation.

This Course aims at:

1. Providing students with an overview of key advertising issues, from the design of campaigns to the measurement of advertising effectiveness
2. Preparing them for any positions in advertising, at the client or agency side.
3. Stimulating a reflection on the ethics and implications of consumer representations

The Course is organized as follows:

PART I.  ADVERTISING TODAY

Class 1 and 2 : Maths vs Magic, Machines vs Craft.

Class 3 and 4 :  Advertising, Digital advertising, Marketing communications, Creative and Media strategy.

Class 5 and 6 : The funnel and its applications

Class 7 : Focus on Branding objectives and tactics

Class 8 :  Focus on Performance/Direct-response objectives and tactics

PART II. IMPLICATIONS OF CONSUMER REPRESENTATIONS

Class 9 : Complexity and dynamicity of consumer representations

Class 10 : Ethics of consumer representations and personal code of conduct

Assessment will consist of an individual written exam that will address issues and topics covered in part 1 and 2 of the course.

Some articles drawn from the trade press will be handed out before the first and second week for the part 1 of the course (« Advertising today »)

References for the part 2 of the course (« Implications of consumer representations ») will be uploaded on iCorsi at the end of the course. These references will not be compulsory for the final exam that will be based, for part 2, on the material presented and discussed in class.