Advertising, Public Relations and Branding BA Honours

This module provides a historical and critical introduction to the development of brands and their complex relationship with media and power in contemporary society.

Specific practices, processes, and industries will be explored alongside key theories and debates about promotional practices within a broader social, cultural, ethical, and political context.

We will consider the role played by the promotional industries in shaping society through consumer culture and the commercial dynamics of media industries during a period of profound change.

The module will draw on case studies to examine how brands both shape culture and are shaped by it.

The foundation for the learning will be core reading from academic and contemporary media sources that will enable you to develop critical and practical vocabularies in preparation for the second and third years of your degree.

Public Relations is both the art and science of managing reputation. Every organisation, large and small, relies on people who can communicate with customers, business partners, the media, or the public.

This module will introduce the concept of public relations as a persuasive form of public communication that exists within the dynamic media environment.

Through exposure to industry examples and case studies, you will consider how PR can assist in raising awareness, changing attitudes and behaviour, and managing relationships.

You will gain skills in copywriting for both traditional and digital media, editing, story-telling, media relations, presenting, and project management.

Creativity is central to successful advertising but plays an equally important role in developing brand strategy and Public Relations campaigns.

The ability to conceptualise, develop and hone creative ideas is a foundational skill for you taking BA Advertising, PR, and Branding: graduates who possess an aptitude for creative thinking and innovation are in high demand in a range of related roles across the creative industries.

This module equips you with foundational strategies and skills in conceptualisation and concept development for a range of advertising applications that will be put into practice and further developed throughout the course.

This module equips you with foundational strategies and skills in conceptualisation and concept development for a range of advertising applications that will be put into practice and further developed throughout the course.

This module focuses on the design of content for print and online publications. You will learn how to design material that communicates information clearly and persuasively, gaining an understanding of the conventions and practices of content design and exploring the history and context of its development in the advertising, PR, and branding industries.

The module will explore the influence of design theories on the production of material in print and web design and you will have to work with industry-standard desktop publishing and web design software to produce material in response to creative briefs.

You will develop an appreciation for the unique demands of designing across different media and for the challenges and opportunities offered by producing material in print, online and mobile formats.

You will use the knowledge and skills developed in this module to gather, analyse and present information in ways that are creative and communicate meaning effectively.

With social media and mobile use now ubiquitous, it has become ever more crucial but also more feasible for brands and companies to monitor consumers’ everyday practices and participate in their shared culture.

In order to integrate such grass-roots consumer culture into their advertising, branding, and PR processes, companies need to deploy traditional market and social research methods but also augment these with new methodologies capable of accessing and providing insight from an ever-expanding range of digital data sources.

This module provides you with cognitive skills and ad hoc methodologies for researching consumer culture across offline and online spaces.

Through a range of lectures, case studies, and practical workshops combined with ample and varied opportunities for formative feedback, you will learn how to collect, organise, analyse, visualise and interpret qualitative, quantitative, and digital data as well as connect them to advertising, PR and branding strategies.

Every day the public encounters a variety of media campaigns, be they advertising, PR, political, or expressions of popular democracy. Whatever the purpose, they all involve communication and conversations within society and a ‘call to action' in the receiver.

This module explores the practical process of campaign planning and how best to communicate awareness of a product, service, idea, or societal issue in an effective and engaging way.

Emphasis will be placed on problem-solving and over the course of the module you will undertake primary and secondary research into the audience, develop measurable and achievable goals, conceptualise and develop creative ideas, prepare a media strategy, and finally present a cohesive and compelling IMC campaign plan.

The module will develop your practical campaign planning skills based on briefs set by external clients or organisations and will consist of group work which enable you to develop skills in interpersonal communication and team working.

You will use Industry-standard online project management tools for team organisation and communication as well as keeping track of workflow.

Individually as well as in groups, you will develop creative ideas and produce promotional material in a range of formats, further developing the practical skills acquired in the first year modules in Creative Advertising, Public Relations Practice, and Content Design.

Brands have become integral to all aspects of social life, from the constantly evolving ways in which people use brands as a means of constructing their identities and creating social bonds, to the political as well as commercial value they hold for companies, public institutions, and even individual workers.

In a context where such a diverse range of organisations and individuals are required to imagine and communicate themselves as brands, i.e., as a set of symbols, values, and emotions that convey a certain narrative vision of the world, brand management has emerged as a key discipline that integrates a range of competencies from across the spectrum of marketing communications.

This module introduces you to the discipline of brand management and aims to provide: a critical understanding of the historical development of brands and branding practices; the ability to critically assess the roles of brands in the contemporary global culture and economy; the ability to analyse the components of brand equity and assess different measures of brand value; the ability to design and manage brands.

The nature and practices of work are constantly evolving and the creative industries are at the forefront of this evolution. The aim of this module is to establish an in-depth understanding of the creative industries and their specialist sectors.

This module offers key employment and job-seeking skills, including networking, personal branding (including portfolio, CV, and online profile development), and interview training.

It provides you with the opportunity to learn from the experience of recent graduates who have moved into full-time roles as well as network with seasoned professionals. It reviews theoretical frameworks and provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the nature of contemporary working practices.

The module pays particular attention to the role of evolving online technologies in shaping and changing the world of work in the creative industries.

This module also requires you to complete a work placement (100 hours) in a selected sector of the industry, and runs in cooperation with MDX Works as well as external partners such as futurerising.com.

You will evaluate your own performance and learning from your own work experience, as well as reflect on the cultural role of the organisation and its place in the industry in which the work experience took place. The work done in this module can feed into a number of third-year modules.

Some students draw upon their work experience as the basis of their final year dissertation while the self-presentation and personal branding skills acquired in this module are developed further in the Social Media and Public Relations module (APM3002).

Short and long-form video content has become an essential component of the promotional mix, ranging from corporate videos for the Business to Business (B2B) sector to branded lifestyle content for social media.

This module will enable you to gain experiences working in professional ‘client-led’ promotional video production scenarios. It enables you to get an insight into working with clients in a professional context in order to enhance their transition into a range of roles across the advertising, PR and branding industries.

The module will also introduce you to ethical and compliance issues by providing them with production opportunities with both external clients and in-house productions.

The emergence of neoliberalism as a dominant paradigm in political-economic thinking and policy since the early 1980s has seen the extension of the market into all aspects of public and private life.

Coupled with the rise of digital communication technologies, the imperative for promotion has become intrinsic to contemporary forms of self-presentation and socialisation, labour, and affect.

This module provides an opportunity to critically engage with the major ethical issues, regulatory frameworks, and political debates arising from these transformations.

Through a range of case studies and independent studies, you will learn about the changes brought about through the rise of promotional cultures and develop advanced skills in critical analysis.

This module aims to enable you to demonstrate, in the execution of a complex and large-scale project, high-level academic and/or practical skills, relevant to their field of study and creative and professional interests.

It seeks to test your confidence in your intellectual abilities and capacity to organise your time through an emphasis on self-directed learning and independent research.

It will enable you to identify and apply relevant critical frameworks drawn from their degree programme and relevant to their professional interests and to demonstrate independent thinking in the application and development of theoretical/practical projects.

The ubiquity of social media has transformed the way organisations communicate with audiences and individuals present themselves to the world.

This module introduces you to the ways in which organisations use social media to develop and deliver public relations campaigns and to how those technologies can also be used by individuals to develop a professional profile online.

You can expect to develop skills in the strategic planning, design, and evaluation of online campaigns and in developing their own personal brands, promoting their achievements and capabilities to enhance their employability.

You will gain a strong critical understanding of the modern public relations industry and undertake practical work directly applicable to their development as creative professionals.

In developing their own online professional persona, you will draw upon the work you have produced and the skills you have developed throughout your degree, applying practical and theoretical knowledge in branding and promotion to your own professional development.

This module develops the student’s ability to apply the in-depth knowledge and skills gained from prior learning in relation to a professional practice environment. Students will be required to reflect and evaluate their working practice and be able to adopt a problem-solving approach to practice and a working environment. Sport & Exercise Pathway only There is a compulsory placement module where students will be encouraged to seek short term (minimum of 400 hours) of work experience in a suitable Sport and Exercise Rehabilitation environment; this should be supervised by a suitably qualified practitioner (certified and registered/insured with a professional body; Sports Rehabilitator, Sports Therapist, Physiotherapist, Chiropractor, Osteopath, Sports Medicine doctor, or equivalent, dictated by the programme leader).

Advertising has been transformed by the emergence of digital communication technologies and related cultural shifts.

No longer solely concerned with creating and publishing persuasive messages in broadcast media, advertising now involves the co-creation and placement of content across hybrid digital ecosystems by both human and nonhuman actors.

This module provides you with the necessary knowledge to understand the complex relationship between digital technologies and consumer behaviour in this evolving context.

It equips them with the skills to produce and manage advertising content in the major digital platforms (including specific skills in Search Engine Marketing, eg. Facebook Advertising and Google Adwords) as well as, crucially, the ability to adapt to continual change in relation to technology, culture and professional practice in these fields.

From angry street protests to sophisticated charity lobbying and from populist political insurgencies to online activism, campaigns designed to change society are an integral part of the Twenty-First Century media environment. This module seeks to help you understand how these campaigns develop, what they mean and how they reflect the way in which power works in our societies.

• You will have the opportunity to put these lessons into action as they plan and deliver a campaign designed to address an issue of importance to their community.
• You will gain knowledge of a range of different theories of social change and study how those ideas are reflected in recent global events and apply these lessons to the conduct of your own campaign.
• You have the opportunity to bring together the skills you’ve developed through your degree to plan and deliver a campaign, usually in partnership with an external campaigning organisation.

The process builds your confidence in dealing with the public, press, and authority figures and provides the experience in managing their work in a small group to deliver a real, public-facing, campaign.

This module aims to enable you to understand and develop an awareness of, and capacity for, innovation and enterprise through the initiation and exposition of a proposal and business plan with creative and commercial potential.

The module encourages you to apply your acquired knowledge of advertising, public relations and branding, and new and emerging media processes and techniques, to opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, and business start-ups.

Students taking the module will develop core entrepreneurial skills, including networking, negotiation, presentation, pitching, skills, project planning, time management, and market research.

Places, just like products, require a brand strategy to compete in today’s international globalised environment.

Cities, regions, and nations worldwide have begun to use promotional strategies to position themselves favourably in the minds of target groups such as tourists, businesses, potential residents, and foreign investors.

As an entry into a relatively new and highly interdisciplinary field, this module will explore tourism, investment, migration, planning, and governance through a promotional lens.

Through an interactive mix of lectures, guest lectures, and case studies, you will gain a global understanding of international communication flows and place promotion strategies.

They will also benefit from skills developed in audience segmentation, stakeholder relationship management, public administration, and promotional policy implementation.

You will be studying at our north London campus in Hendon.

Whether you are studying full or part-time – your course timetable will balance your study commitments on campus with time for work, life commitments and independent study.

We aim to make timetables available to students at least 2 weeks before the start of term. Some weeks are different due to how we schedule classes and arrange on-campus sessions.

Typical weekly breakdown

During your first year, your weekly timetable will typically consist of:

• 8 hours of classes (workshops/seminars/lectures)
• 1 hour of one-to-one meetings with your tutors
• Up to 9 hours of supervised time in study/workshops
• Up to 2 hours of support from Learning Enhancement Team, Student Learning Advisors and Graduate Academic Assistants
• 6 hours of fieldwork/external visits per term.

Independent Learning

Outside of teaching hours, you’ll learn independently through self-study which will involve reading articles and books, working on projects, undertaking research, and preparing for assessments including coursework, presentations and exams.

Teaching vs independent learning

Here is an indication of how you will split your time:

Percentage

Year 2

Year 3

Our excellent teaching and support teams will help you develop the skills relevant to your degree from research and practical skills to critical thinking. Our Sheppard Library is open 24 hours a day during term time. And we offer free 24-hour laptop loans with full desktop software, free printing and Wi-Fi to use on or off campus, even over the weekend.

Your learning will be assessed regularly and is made up of 100% coursework. It comprises a variety of assessment formats, ensuring you will have ample opportunity to showcase what you have learnt and what you can do. These might include individual and group research projects and campaign proposals in professional formats (decks and reports), individual and group pitches and presentations, essays, critical reflections and portfolios of creative work.

We'll test your understanding and progress with informal and formal tests.

The informal tests usually take place at least once per module, from which you’ll receive feedback from your tutor. The grades from these tests don’t count towards your final marks.

There are formal assessments for each module, usually at the end, which will count towards your module and your final marks.

Assessments are reviewed annually and may be updated based on student feedback or feedback from an external examiner.

To help you achieve the best results, we will provide regular feedback.