INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION - PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL TOUCHPOINTS-1

The course is part of the "Core educational activities" courses of the degree course in Management, curriculum Innovation & Marketing and aims to provide the fundamental knowledge on communication both offline and online. The course provides a powerful insight into the way communication works and a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of communication needed to design and implement various communication approaches and campaigns on national and international scale, completing the marketing process started with "Consumer behavior" and "brand management" courses. Starting from the consumers needs analysis and their customer journeys, the course will discuss integrated marketing communication and how to write and implement a communication plan with a particular focus on the online tools. In the actual context it is important to understand how to plan a social media strategy, analysing the consumer behavior, deciding where and when the company has to be present and measuring the results. The course will provide students an advance knowledge related to the social media marketing activities, the specific terminology used online and how this innovative way of communication is linked to the offline communication.

The aim of this course is developing knowledge about:
- the marketing communication function and how it is growing and evolving
- how to analyse the customer journey and how to plan the communication accordingly
- how defining communication objectives and setting promotional budget
- differences among communication tools (Advertising, Sales Promotions, Public Relations, Sponsorships) and their ability to accomplish different goals
- the main areas of social media marketing (social community, social commerce, social publishing, and partially also social entertainment) and how they are related each others
- communication assessment
- communication plan

A basic knowledge of marketing, with a particular focus on brand management and consumer behavior

Contents can be divided in seven main topics:
1) iintegrated marketing communication
2) communication process
3) budget assessment
4) communication tools
5) foundation of Social media marketing, that provides basic elements and terminology
6) social media metrics
7) communication plan

Textbook and readings will be communicated during the first lecture and uploaded on Moodle

Learning is assessed through a written test.

The final written test consists of 6 multiple choice questions (18 points) and 2 open questions (12 points).
The use of books, notes and electronic devices is not allowed during written tests.

Students participating to integrated activities, are required to complete a project works and create a short presentation on a topic related to the course program supported by a PowerPoint presentation. I In these cases, the written test -that must be sufficient - counts for 60% of the grade, and 40% of the grade depends on the integrated activities.

Regarding the grading scale (how grades will be assigned),
A. Scores in the range of 18-22 will be assigned when:
- Adequate knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum are demonstrated.
- Sufficient communication skills, especially regarding the use of specific language related to the subject
B. Scores in the range of 23-26 will be assigned when:
- Good knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum are demonstrated.
- Adequate communication skills, especially regarding the use of specific language relatedto the subject.
C. Scores in the range of 27-30 will be assigned when:
- Good or excellent knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum are demonstrated.
- Fully appropriate communication skills, especially regarding the use of specific language related to the subject
D. Honors will be granted when there is excellent knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the
curriculum, exceptional judgment, and communication skills.

The course focuses on theoretical and practical elements, which will allow students the opportunity to apply their readings, research and present course materials. Throughout the practical workshops and homework
participants of the course should improve their presentation skills and their ability to take decisions based on real cases.

English

written