Media Planning: Case Study (20513)

Degree/study: Bachelor's Degree in Advertising and Public Relations 
Year: Third
Term: Third 
Number of ECTS credits: 4 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 100 hours
Teaching language or languages: Catalan / Spanish 
Teaching Staff: Bárbara Pérez-Albert Noguera and Katia Colomer

1. Presentation of the subject

Media Planning: Case Study's goal as a course is to help students acquire a sufficient level of knowledge in the specific competences of the media planning sector, by introducing them to the practical aspects of the course and approaching them to the professional day by day.

 

2. Competences to be attained

 

General skills:

 

· Analysis skills.

· Putting knowledge into practice.

· Ability to work autonomously.

· Team work skills.

· Critical assessment and self-assessment skills.

• Arguing skills aimed at being able to defend one's proposals.

Specific skills:

• Targeting advertisers' needs for strategic development.
• Capacity for distinguishing and adjusting the different media according to the communication's goals.

· Excel® and Power Point® skills.

• Knowledge and understanding of the main specific resources and tools within the sector (audiences, advertising investments, etc.)

· Analytical skills aimed at drawing conclusions.

• Capacity to define media strategies depending on the goals to achieve.

 

Knowledge and understanding of the comprehensive media planning process.

 

3. Contents

 

The following program orderly goes through the steps taken in media planning. Every module will be illustrated with updated and real practical cases.

Taking real case analysis as a starting point, students will have to put the acquired knowledge into practice through practical class exercises and individual or group tasks to be done out of the classroom.


MODULE 1. The Brief. The importance of a good brief. The essential parts of a brief. The counter-brief. Goals definition.

Practical case.

MODULE 2. Performance analysis. Investment and pressure level (Infoadex, Sofres). Positioning map.

Practical case.

MODULE 3. The target group. Why and how we define the target. The consumer's profile. Media consumption habits ("A day in someone's life" / Touch Points). (EGM, AIMC and Internet).

Practical case.

MODULE 4. Media selection. Media preferences (consumption, use, involvement). Strong and weak points of the media. Creative considerations.  

Practical case.

MODULE 5. Media Plan. Media mix. Support selection. Negotiation and budget distribution. Campaign architecture.

Practical case.

MODULE 6. Campaign follow- up. Daily control: purchase, counter-offer, awards.

Practical case.

MODULE 7. Campaign close- up. Results assessment. Learnt lessons.

Practical case.

 

4. Assessment

As the course is eminently practical, the final mark will be an average of the following marks:

•1.       The first mark will be an average of all the marks of the tasks students must hand in every session throughout the whole term. This mark will be worth 50% of the final assessment. 

•2.       The second mark, worth the the other 50% of the final mark, will come from a compulsory project. 

Students who do not get a pass in the compulsory project or do not hand in all the tasks (although the average mark of all of them gets a pass) will have to take a final exam on the date indicated by the university. It will involve developing a practical case according to all the concepts.

 

5. Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

The course focuses on case study

6. Metodology

This attendance-required course is organized by two complementary aspects: practical cases illustrating the basic knowledge to take into account in media planning and practical sessions in an IT classroom, where students will face the same kind of tasks they could encounter throughout their professional careers.

The teachers will decide for every case if the tasks must be done individually or in group. They will have to be finished during the session (2 hours), printed out and handed in at the end of the session. They cannot be handed in later, unless in duly justified cases, as absence in case of sickness.

Additionally, students will have to do an out-of-class subject project.

 

7. Planning of activities

The activities to do in order to complement the practical cases are:

Excel® and Power Point® tasks in an IT classroom.

Manipulating investment data reports obtained by sector-specific tools: Infoadex.

Demonstration and use of sector-specific tools for obtaining audience quantitative data: Infosys.

Visiting a media business management department .