Advertising, Public Relations and Branding BA Honours

Course content

What will you study on the BA Advertising, Public Relations and Branding?

This innovative course explores a broad range of subjects and practices within the fields of advertising, PR and branding, from creative advertising and promotional video production to social media PR and place branding. You will learn about the traditional differences between paid, earned and owned media, but also the ways in which brand communications are transforming this media landscape.

This course will enable you to develop all the practical skills that are integral to the disciplines of advertising, PR and branding. You will learn the full range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including digital data analytics, to generate insights into consumer behaviour. These insights will inform the design, development and pitching of creative work and campaigns, which will see you producing strategy documents and promotional media that will include social media content, adverts, events and videos.

By the end of the course you will have developed a compelling portfolio of academic and creative work, but also essential skills in self-branding and reputation management

Modules

This module provides a historical and critical introduction to the development of brands and their complex relationship with media and power in contemporary society. You will explore specific practices, processes and industries alongside key theories and debates about promotional practices within a broader social, cultural, ethical and political context. You will examine how brands both shape culture, and are shaped by it through field visits, case studies and guest speakers.

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 key skill as graduates who possess an aptitude for creative thinking and innovation are in high demand, in a range of related roles across the creative industries. You will be equipped with the strategies and skills in conceptualisation and concept development required for a range of advertising applications that will further developed throughout the course.

This module is designed to give a broad overview and understanding of the main concepts involved in public relations, and will prepare you for future work in campaign planning and brand reputation management. Through exposure to industry examples via lectures, guest lectures and workshops, you will consider how PR can assist in raising awareness, changing attitudes and behaviour, and managing relationships.The module is broken into three distinct blocks that will broadly cover the history and development of PR, understanding persuasion in a promotional or communicative context, and finally individual pitching and presentation skills.

This module focuses on the design of content for print and online publication. You will learn how to design material that communicates information clearly and persuasively. You will gain an understanding of the conventions and practices of content design and explore the history and context of its development in the advertising, PR and branding industries. The module introduces both industry standard software as well as freeware software for the creation of layout designs in print, online and on mobile.

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. This module provides you with the cognitive skills and methodologies for researching consumer culture across offline and online spaces. You will learn to collect, organise, analyse, visualise and interpret qualitative, quantitative and digital data, and connect the findings to advertising, PR and branding strategies

In a context where a diverse range of organisations and individuals are required to imagine and communicate themselves as brands, (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 the knowledge and skills that are required to create, manage and communicate brands as well as assess their socio-cultural impact and economical value.

This module explores the practical process of campaign planning and communicating awareness of a product, service, idea or societal issue in an effective and engaging way. You will work on briefs set by external clients or organisations and this practical work will develop skills in key areas of campaign communications such as:

• undertaking research and deciding the most appropriate communication strategy
• developing creative insights and campaign objectives
• devising a media/media relations strategy
• working in creative teams to plan and produce promotional materials
• working in teams to pitch the campaign
• reflecting on the planning process and evaluating the campaign.

For this module, you will be required to complete a work-placement (100 hours) in a selected sector of the industry. The module runs in cooperation with our Employability Centre as well as external partners such Future Rising.

In recent decades, the advertising, PR and branding industries have become central to public life - in business, politics and culture. This module provides an opportunity for you to critically engage with the major ethical issues, regulatory frameworks and political debates arising from the economic and digital transformations of contemporary society., You will learn about the changes brought about through the rise of promotional cultures and develop advanced skills of critical analysis through a range of case studies and practical workshops with regulatory and industry professionals.

This module will allow you to gain valuable work experience in professional ‘client-led’ promotional video production scenarios. You will gain an insight into working with clients in a professional context with the aim to enhance your transition into a range of roles across the advertising, PR and branding industries. You will explore ethical and compliance issues with production opportunities from both external clients and in-house productions.

This module will allow you to demonstrate, in the execution of a complex and large-scale project, high level academic and/or practical skills, relevant to your field of study and creative and professional interests. The project will take the form of either an independent project or a work placement project. For the work placement, you will undertake a Middlesex-approved work placement and base your final project around your experience of being a participant observer.

This module will give you the necessary knowledge to understand the complex relationship between digital technologies and consumer behaviour in an evolving context. You will explore the latest developments in advertising practice, from data analytics and programmatic advertising to augmented reality executions of branded content and experiences. You will gain the knowledge and skills to design and manage advertising content across a range of digital channels and platforms.

This module introduces the ways in which organisations use social media to develop and deliver public relations campaigns and how those technologies can also be used to develop a person's professional profile online. You will develop the skills for strategic planning, design and evaluation of online campaigns and you will have the opportunity to refine your own personal brand; promoting your achievements and capabilities to enhance your employability.

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 21st century media environment. This module will help you understand how these campaigns develop, what they mean and how they reflect the way in which power works in societies. You will have the opportunity to effectively design, manage and deliver a campaign designed to address an issue of importance to your community.

This module will give you the opportunity to engage with realistic scenarios that you are likely to encounter during your career in the media industry. Through seminars, directed study and experiential learning, you will explore the employment and self-employment opportunities in these industries. Entrepreneurial activities, both supervised and self-directed, are at the core of the module with a constant focus on your budding enterprise ideas and ambitions.

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. You will gain a global understanding of international communication flows and place promotion strategies through an interactive mix of lectures, guest lectures, field visits and case studies. You will also benefit from developing your skills in audience segmentation, stakeholder relationship management, public administration and promotional policy implementation.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.