1.Appreciate the practice of marketing communications and recognize the marcom tools used by practitioners.
2.Describe the philosophy and practice of integrated marketing communications (IMC).
3.Understand the five key features of IMC.
4.Recognize the activities involved in developing an integrated communications program.
5.Identify obstacles to implementing an IMC program.
6.Understand and appreciate the components contained in an integrative model of the marcom decision-making process.

1.Appreciate the importance of targeting marketing communications.
2.Appreciate the concept and practice of brand positioning.
3.Understand the process of marcom objective setting and the requirements for good objectives.
4.Understand the various rules of thumb, or heuristics that guide practical budgeting.

1.Appreciate marcom’s role in facilitating the introduction of new brands.
2.Explain the innovation-related characteristics that influence adoption of new brands.
3.Understand the role performed by brand names in enhancing the success of new brands.
4.Explain the activities involved in the brand-naming process.
5.Appreciate the role of logos.
Describe the various elements underlying the creation of effective packages

1.Explain the concept of brand equity from both the company’s and the customer’s perspectives.
2.Describe the positive outcomes that result from enhancing brand equity.
3.Appreciate a model of brand equity from the customer’s perspective.
4.Understand how marcom effects must influence behavior and achieve financial accountability.

1.Understand the magnitude of advertising and the percentage of sales revenue companies invest in this marcom tool.
2.Appreciate that advertising can be extraordinarily effective but that there is risk and uncertainty when investing in this practice.
3.Recognize the various functions that advertising performs.
4.Explore the advertising management process from the perspective of clients and their agencies.
5.Understand the functions agencies perform and how they are compensated.
6.Explore the issue of when investing in advertising is warranted and when disinvesting is justified.
7.Examine advertising elasticity as a means for understanding the contention that “strong advertising is a deposit in the brand equity bank.”

1.Appreciate the factors that promote effective, creative and “sticky” advertising.
2.Describe the features of a creative brief.
3.Explain the alternative creative styles of advertising messages.
4.Understand the concept of means-end chains and their role in advertising strategy.
5.Appreciate the MECCAS model and its role in guiding message formulation.
6.Recognize the role of corporate image and issue advertising.

1.Appreciate the efforts advertisers undertake to enhance the consumer’s motivation, opportunity and ability to process ad messages.
2.Describe the role of endorsers in advertising.
3.Explain the requirements for an effective endorser.
4.Appreciate the factors that enter into the endorser selection decision.
5.Describe the role of humor in advertising.
6.Explain the logic underlying the use of appeals to fear in advertising.
7.Understand the nature of appeals to guilt in advertising.
8.Discuss the role of sex appeals, including the downside of such usage.
9.Explain the meaning of subliminal messages and symbolic embeds.
10.Appreciate the role of music in advertising.
11.Understand the function of comparative advertising and the considerations that influence the use of this form of advertising.

1.Describe the major factors used in segmenting target audiences for media planning purposes.
2.Explain the meaning of reach, frequency, gross rating points, target rating points, effective reach and other media concepts.
3.Discuss the logic of the three-exposure hypothesis and its role in media and vehicle selection.
4.Describe the use of the efficiency index procedure for media selection.
5.Distinguish the differences among three forms of advertising allocation: continuous, pulsed and flighted schedules.
6.Explain the principle of recency and its implications for allocating advertising expenditures over time.
7.Perform cost-per-thousand calculations.
8.Review actual media plans.

1.Appreciate the magnitude, nature and potential for internet advertising.
2.Be familiar with two key features of internet advertising: individualization and interactivity.
3.Understand how internet advertising differs from advertising in conventional mass-oriented advertising media, as well as how the same fundamentals apply to both general categories of ad media.
4.Understand the various forms of internet advertising: display ads, rich media, e-mail advertising, web logs, search engine advertising and advertising via behavioral targeting.
5.Appreciate the importance of measuring internet advertising effectiveness and the various metrics used for this purpose.

1.Understand the nature and purpose of sales promotions.
2.Know the factors that account for the increased investment in promotions, especially those that are trade oriented.
3.Recognize the tasks that promotions can and cannot accomplish.
4.Appreciate the objectives of trade-oriented promotions and the factors critical to building a successful trade promotion program.
5.Comprehend the various forms of trade allowances and the reasons for their use.
6.Be aware of forward buying and diverting and how these practices emerge from manufacturers’ use of off-invoice allowances.
7.Appreciate the role of everyday low pricing and pay-for-performance programs as means of reducing forward buying and diverting.
8.Understand nine empirical generalizations about promotions.

1.Appreciate the nature and role of marketing public relations.
2.Discern the differences between proactive and reactive MPR.
3.Comprehend the types of commercial rumors and how to control them.
4.Appreciate the importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) influence.
5.Understand the role of marketing public relations in creating favorable WOM and building brand buzz.
6.Understand the nature and purpose of customer relationship management (CRM).
7.Understand the nature and purpose of point of purchase (POP).
Understand the nature and purpose of packaging, structures of packaging and the VIEW

1.Appreciate the ethical issues associated with advertising, sales promotions and other marcom practices.
2.Understand why the targeting of marketing communications toward vulnerable groups is a heatedly debated practices.
3.Explain the role and importance of governmental efforts to regulate marketing communications.
4.Be familiar with deceptive advertising and the elements that guide the determination of whether a particular advertisement is deceptive.
5.Be acquainted with the regulation of unfair business practices and the major areas where the unfairness doctrine is applied.
6.Know the process of advertising self-regulation.
7.Appreciate the role of marketing communications in environmental (green) advertising.
8.Recognize the principles that apply to all green marcom efforts.

A1 : MOOC are generally open to anyone interested in taking the course, without any entrance requirements.