Product: Advertising Campaign

Created by: Joy Holster

Used in: Writing for the Mass Media, COMM1002, East Carolina University

Target Audience: Beginning students in media writing, communications, marketing

Duration: At least six weeks

Objectives:

• Students will work in groups of four or five to design a product, develop an advertising concept, create a print and broadcast ad, plan and promote a promotional event, and complete a 20- to 30-minute presentation about their work for class members.

• A series of required weekly written reports, completed together in class, will necessitate group discussion, interaction and creativity.

• For each report, a series of questions requires students to demonstrate comprehension and application of course concepts related to advertising, marketing, and public relations writing.

• Students demonstrate their knowledge of required concepts through a detailed presentation for the class. A series of required topics will be included to guide students in developing their presentations. In their presentation, students should demonstrate and present a rationale for a print advertisement designed in class, a broadcast ad developed in class, and a promotional event developed in class.

• Students will share in evaluating other groups in the class, and evaluating the effectiveness of their own teammates. Student evaluations will be calculated within each individual’s final grade.


Textbook: Students will need to complete supplemental readings to help them understand the concepts under discussion. For this campaign, I use James Glen Stovall’s “Writing for the Mass Media.”

This Product is a detailed, 35-page document that includes a detailed description of the campaign — its objectives, logistics, student expectations, and schedule – along with the following:

Required Documentation

• Project Description – A series of questions that leads students in group work toward determining the basic features and benefits of their chosen product. Description includes questions that require students to demonstrate their knowledge of audience demographics and psychographics, to conduct needs assessments and determine how their product fits in the marketplace, and to explain the key facts about their product.

• A sample project description is included to give students an idea of how much detail is required.

• Project Report 1: A series of questions that leads students to complete a rationale for a print ad, explaining why they completed the ad the way they did. Requires comprehension and application of such topics as advertising objectives, USP, elements of a print ad, and the AIDA concept. Students will use these questions to help them design the print ad in class.

• Project Report 2: A series of questions that leads students to complete a rationale for a broadcast ad. Requires comprehension and application of such topics as dramatic formats, tools used in broadcast ads, announcer formats, and script sheets. Students will use these questions to help them develop the ad and script sheet in class.

• Project Report 3: A series of questions that leads students to complete a rationale for their marketing event. Requires comprehension and application of such topics as reaching their target audience, conveying their advertising message, selecting news values, writing a press release that appeals to editors, incorporating campaign graphics into documents and event activities. Students will use the questions in class to help them develop and promote the marketing event.


Also included in the package, the following handouts:

• Detailed description of the advertising campaign, including expectations, objectives, required documentation, and schedule

• Campaign Roles –Students choose their roles within the group, selecting from such roles as group leader, copywriter, designer, planner, and ad executive. This handout provides a detailed description of what is required in each role, along with requirements for each team member.

• Presentation Expectations – This handout provides students with a detailed description of what is required in their final presentations. The expectations listed here are also used in evaluation sheets and the grading rubric.

• Evaluation Sheets

o Class campaign evaluation: Students evaluate each other’s campaign presentations. A series of questions is provided for this process.

o Teammate Evaluation: Students will evaluate each of their teammates within the group, and this evaluation will affect each individual’s grade. A series of questions is provided to complete the teammate evaluations.

o Presentation Evaluation: A teacher worksheet is provided for use during evaluations. Sheet includes a listing of all required items that can be checked off as the presentations take place.

o Campaign Rubric: The rubric assigns points for expectations already provided to students in a handout. The rubric includes a grade for the entire team, and for individual participation. Averaged together, these two grades form the individual’s grade.






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