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[Course Policies]
[What can you expect?]
[Learning Tools]
Instructor: Dr. Cynthia Frisby
Office: 221 Walter Williams
Phone: (573) 882 6232
E-mail: FrisbyC@missouri.edu
Office hours: Tuesdays 9:30 - 11 a.m.
Thursdays 11 - 12:30 p.m.
and other times available by appointment only!
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Even the most innovative and highly creative advertising campaign in the world can fail if it is; a) placed in the wrong media; b) delivered to the wrong audience; and/or c) presented at the wrong time. This course introduces you to the world of media planner and illustrates how media planners, individuals who are responsible for placing advertisements in media where it will reach the right audience at the right time in the right place, accomplish important advertising objectives in a most cost-efficient manner.
J330: Media Strategy deals with the planning, selection, and evaluation of advertising media. You gain a clear understanding of the problems and issues involved in crafting effective media strategies and making the right media decisions. You learn how media decisions relate to the overall marketing and advertising process. In a broad sense, J330 is designed to enhance your knowledge of the all the mass media options available in the U. S.and the forces that shape them. When you finish this course, you will:
Understand the process of media planning and the role it plays in campaign development. Even if you are going into Account Management or Creative Services, in order to be successful, you must have a basic understanding of how media operates. After completing this course, you will have a basic overview of the media process including the basic terms and concepts used in most media departments.
Be able to identify the various sources needed to compose a media plan and develop market profiles of valued customers and prospects. The primary responsibility of media planners is to recommend where the advertising should run. After completing this course, you will become familiar with and be able to identify those sources that can provide information concerning product sales performance, market and audience buying habits and patterns, budgets, and the competitor's advertising buying habits and market share.
Enhance your creativity and creative thinking and problem solving skills by translating market research into a context that will adequately describe the audience.
Be able to use specific criteria that will allow you to select and choose the "best" or the "right" media.
Discover how media planners and buyers evaluate media plans and determine whether the plan is any good.
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What You Can Anticipate In J330
Students in my courses have describe me as a teacher who is "tough," "challenging," and "gives hard tests," yet, most students would describe me as an enthusiastic, encouraging, and thought-provoking instructor. In this course, you can expect me to provide you with honest and objective feedback concerning your work, performance, and behavior in and out of class. I am willing to meet with you outside of class. You can even call me at home. For example, if you find an assignment extremely vague or confusing, feel free to call me at home, send an e-mail, stop by during office hours, and/or make an appointment to discuss your problem. I would rather you try to discuss the problem with me than to "hold in" your concerns and have your grade suffer as a result. I am an instructor who gives 100% to my students. It is, in my opinion, not unethical or wrong, to have a class where all the students receive "A"s. However, students must EARN the A. I don't give As: Students earn them. Here are other things that you can look forward to:
Extensive reading and time outside of class completing the weekly reading assignments.
To spend approximately 4 - 6 hours outside of class reading, meeting with your team and working on the group project, preparing for the lab assignments and other homework problems, along with other miscellaneous responsibilities.
To spend approximately $75 on supplies and materials for your final group project and other class-related assignments.
Lots of challenging and hard work
Ambiguity...well, what I mean is that I will provide some ideas and instruction on your projects. However, in order to tap into your creative potential and encourage you to think critically and creatively, I will leave a lot of details "up to you and your creative skills. This is done so that you are and can be prepared for working in the real world.
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Due to the nature of the course material and course objectives, learning will be assessed in a variety of ways from two regularly exams to working with "real-world" clients. You will experience several opportunities to demonstrate what you have learned and to let me know when learning has or has not occurred. Various class activities, homework assignments, and projects have been assigned throughout the semester to help me determine if and when course objectives are being met. These varied tasks will also help me to adequately and objectively assess and chart your level of learning and progress.
Active Class Participation
During the semester you will be able to "show what you know" by completing interactive journal assignments, taking a mid-term exam, and writing and presenting a media plan created for a local retailer. You will also demonstrate your understanding of the weekly reading assignments by generating a set of discussion questions and other related comments or thoughts you may have after (or while) reading the assigned chapters and homework readings. You will also be allowed to demonstrate your comprehension of important media planning concepts and processes through your active class participation and your attendance.
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Work with Real Clients
In addition to these activities, and to really make the course a fun,--yet challenging experience, you will have a rare opportunity to work with a real client. Yes, you will be involved in a group project that will not only provide you with the experience of working together in teams, but afford you with an opportunity to work with a local retailer to develop and create a realistic and usable media plan for their business. Details concerning these assignments will be explained in the following sections.
I specifically chose clients who were in need of and wanted your ideas. Keep this in mind when you meet and craft your plans—the advertiser's selected this semester are interested in using your media and advertising campaign plans—that's why they were selected. With that in mind, understand that deadlines for parts of your media plan were created, not to give you lots of busy work, but to aid in your completion of the bigger project. I want each of you to "do your best," receive the top grade, and produce a high-quality, extremely professional project, one you are sure to be proud of and might include in a portfolio or on a resume.
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Weekly Lab Exercises and Related Thought Papers
The purpose behind the lab assignments is to encourage students to keep up with the reading and other media exercises. These exercises and lab assignments have been shown to pique student interest and curiosity outside of the classroom experience. Every week, students will be asked to think/reflect upon the reading and lab assignments and then bring to class a list of questions that need clarification or explanation. Difficulty in providing a brief paragraph pertaining to the assignments and/or difficulty in answering or developing questions is a signal that the student and instructor must spend time reviewing the related concepts
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Lab Assignments
To help you learn how to identify media and market sources, your will have to complete several weekly lab assignments. These assignments were also designed to help you build your basic knowledge and understanding of how media terms and calculations are applied within the media planning world. Throughout the course you will have to answer questions taken from the Media Planning Workbook (see lab calendar for a listing of the exercises). The lab assignments are designed to help you explore, question, and seek out answers for yourself. Each of the assignments you do will enable you to become an active participant in learning about media and related concepts.
You will be expected to submit your answers to the weekly assignments into a lab notebook. Then, each week, before you leave the lab, you should complete the journal page that corresponds to our discussion and lecture topic. You are to file your lab assignments into your notebook. Lab notebooks will be collected three times during the semester.
Journals are an excellent opportunity to allow you to reflect upon what you have learned and apply the information presented in lecture and in your readings. If in the event there are areas that you are unclear or need help with, you may use the journal to pose questions or comments concerning the problem. You may also use the journal to present comments and/or suggestions concerning course content, assignments, and projects. This vehicle for learning (weekly lab assignments) is especially appropriate for the student who may not like or want to talk a lot during lecture time, but feels as if he/she has something to contribute to the discussion or ideas concerning the skill, concept, or theory.
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Attendance and Class Participation
You will demonstrate your comprehension of reading material and assignments through your class participation and attendance. Because I believe that you cannot get maximum benefit from the course if you are not present and participating, I have placed emphasis on class attendance. You will be allowed one (1) unexcused absence, however, you will lose 10 points for every unexcused absence after your first one.
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Exam
The exam will cover materials from class discussions, textbooks, and lab assignments/projects. The main purpose of the exam is to help you begin to apply and gain insights into and obtain a better understanding of the process of creating, writing, and organizing a media plan. Before you work on the final project, I needed to create a tool that would allow you to "practice" or work on a "draft" media plan before constructing a "real one."
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Group Media Planning Project
You get a chance to show how creative you are and how well you understand the process of media planning by participating in a group project. You will be asked to form a team of 2- 3 people. You will be asked to pretend that you are the media planner/buyer for a particular advertiser (I will assign an advertiser to each group). Your group will prepare a written and an oral presentation for this customer. (*Pretend that the client is "new business" and we are trying to "win the account"). Your written group project and oral presentation will be evaluated on the quality of your research and its professionalism.
Team projects are often difficult and challenging. However, welcome to the real-world! In the advertising industry, there is no such thing as "me," "my," "mine," and "I." Throughout my time visiting, working in, and observing advertising agencies, all I ever heard was "we" and "our."
So, let me tell you the secret behind the successful teams. Successful advertising teams are those that: a) get along very well; b) meet regularly, c) have a leader (i.e. make this the individual who is interested in Account Management); and d) can communicate openly without harboring bitter feelings. Therefore, to be successful, I suggest you and your team get together very soon after the teams are announced. Your initial meeting should simply be one that allows both of you to get to know each other and learn of your class (and work) schedules. Then you should hold bimonthly meetings to discuss issues, reports, and other class projects.
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[Attendance] [Reading Assignments] [Class Participation] [missed deadlines] [Academic Misconduct] [Office Hours]
It is assumed that you are here to learn and that you want to learn. For some reason or another, a lot of students choose to "skip" lecture. In this class, quiz and exam questions come directly from lectures, videos, guest speakers, and other class activities. If you do not come to class, you will miss out on actually seeing and hearing important concepts, terms, and class discussions. You should know that students who attend class lectures regularly tend to make better grades. Also remember that this class meets one time a week for three hours. This means that when you miss one class, you in actuality miss three (3) classes or a week's worth of course material.
Thus to be able to successfully complete this course, you MUST attend classes regularly. Attendance in the lecture and lab will be taken on a regular basis. You are responsible for all information and materials presented in your absence. NOT THE INSTRUCTOR!!! If handouts are distributed during a class lecture in which you were unable to attend, then you need to contact a fellow student for the notes and/or handouts.
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It is also expected that you will have completed the assigned readings or projects BEFORE coming to class. Because you have to generate weekly thought papers and discussion questions, this means that I expect for you to come to lectures prepared to discuss your readings and any information provided in the chapters. I have found that students who are not up on their reading assignments tend to feel lost during lecture and prepare poor projects and complete less than perfect assignments.
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I assess your class participation grade by using the following criteria to evaluate your behavior in and out of the class room. Your class participation grade will be evaluated on:
The extent to which you initiate and answer discussion questions and provide insightful comments about assignments.
Your consistent class attendance and completion of in-class activities and worksheets.
*Note: I will not take points away if you don't talk for an entire class. I recognize that there are times when some of us may have nothing to say. What I am concerned with here is having quiet, dull, and boring class discussions with only two or three people making comments or answering questions. This criteria is a guideline for you to use to conduct self-evaluations of your class participation!
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See the calendar and syllabus for the deadlines for all projects, assignments, and reports. Late projects and assignments may be accepted but will not receive any credit. In other words, you and your group will receive a ZERO for the assignment, if turned in after the deadline. If you have a legitimate excuse, which may be verified, and given that you have talked to me about it in advance, I will allow you to submit the assignment on another date without penalty!
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Academic misconduct includes some of the following: extensive use of materials from another author without citation/attribution, extensive use of verbatim materials from another author with citation/attribution, extensive use of materials from past assignments, extensive use of materials from assignments in other, current classes. It is possible that some of these guidelines may be waived under special circumstances, so, if you wish to avoid problems, please ask in advance.
The School of Journalism is committed to the highest standards of academic and professional ethics and expects its students to adhere to those standards. Students are expected to observe strict honesty in academic programs and as representatives of school-related media. Should any student be guilty of plagiarism, falsification, misrepresentation or other forms of dishonesty in any assigned works, they may be subject to a failing grade from the course teacher and such disciplinary action as may be recommended pursuant to University regulations. Academic misconduct includes the following*:
Cheating or the improper taking or tendering of information which shall be used to determine academic credit. Taking of information includes, but is not limited to copying graded homework assignments from another student; attempting to take an exam from the instructor's office; working together with another individual on a take-home test or project when not specifically permitted by the instructor, and looking at or attempting to look at another student's paper during an examination. Tendering of information includes giving your work to another student to be used or copied; giving answers to exam questions either when the exam is being given or after taking an exam, and giving or selling a term paper or project to another student.
Plagiarism involves representing and submitting the work or ideas of another fellow student or colleague; using someone else's ideas, designs, or copy ideas.
Misrepresentation includes lying to a teacher to increase your grade; lying or misrepresenting facts to affect your grade.
*It is possible that some of these guidelines may be waived under special circumstances, so if you wish to avoid problems, please ask in advance.
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I do my best to make myself accessible to you. Your opportunity to learn and to get in touch with me is very important to me. I will do my best to be in my office during the designated office hours. However, it is always a good idea to call ahead, send an e-mail message, or otherwise set things up ahead of time, if you can.
If my office hours are over, I ask that you try not to "show up" or "stop by" expecting me to meet with you and discuss review questions, exams, or other problem areas. I ask this because when I am not holding office hours, I am working on other commitments, publication deadlines, and conference papers. If you want my full attention, it is always a good idea to call before you "stop by" and schedule a time that is good for both of us. Also, I may occasionally need to shift office hours. If I do this, I will let you know ahead of time and/or during class so that we can arrangements. If problems arise let me instructor know immediately, particularly if those problems might potentially hamper your performance in class. Postponed deadlines (and even an incomplete grade) may be granted in this class when a problem is noted early and the student speaks with and establishes contact with the instructor ahead of time. If you have no documentation-and your excuse sounds like a last ditch effort not to get a bad grade, you should probably forget talking to me about it.
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Provisions to the above mentioned policies
Provisions to policies regarding attendance, makeup exams, and late projects will be given for the following situations ONLY:
Observance of a religious holy day of your faith, upon approval by the instructor.
Personal or family health conditions, certified by a physician or counselor and approved by the instructor.
Personal or family legal conditions, warranting your attention during classtime and certified by an attorney or judge and approved by the instructor;
or
University business certified by a University official and approved by the instructor.
In general, the "excusable" reasons for missing class include: severe illness, serious family emergencies, military obligation, religious holidays, and participation in university sponsored activities such as athletic competition, debate, or music performances. Students who are absent from classes or exams because of these and other reasons should contact me. If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and need assistance, please notify me immediately. A reasonable effort will be met to accommodate your needs.
PLEASE DO NOT EXPECT ME TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSE FOR A LATE ASSIGNMENT OR MISSED EXAM AFTER EVERYTHING IS OVER! If you miss a class, exam, or project deadline without an acceptable reason approved IN ADVANCE, you will receive a grade of zero.
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© 1998 Cynthia M. Frisby, Ph.D.,
Missouri School of Journalism, Department of Advertising
The last major update was made on Wednesday, September 03, 2003.