Master's in Integrated Marketing Communications
On-Campus Course Schedule for Spring 2025

Capstone

During this final course, students will apply the comprehensive skills they have built throughout their study of the concept and practice of integrated marketing communications. After identifying and securing a company or organization of their choosing, students will respond to a marketing communications challenge by creating a well-researched, creative, integrated plan that exemplifies their development as IMC professionals. Students will be able to choose clients based on their personal interests or aimed at continuing the social impact mission of the program. Consumer research is the heart of the IMC planning process and students are required to develop their creative insights from original research. Throughout the semester, multiple forms of assessment—including quick-fire challenges, written projects, an ethical response paper, a final plan, and a strategy pitch—track and evaluate each student's level of competency in all IMC program learning goals.

Note: Students must have completed the core and foundation courses (MPMC 500/5020, 600/5021, 602/5022 and 603/5023) to register for this elective course. Students may only take this course in their final semester of the program. A minimum grade of "B" is required to pass. Program Approval Required.

Capstone

During this final course, students will apply the comprehensive skills they have built throughout their study of the concept and practice of integrated marketing communications. After identifying and securing a company or organization of their choosing, students will respond to a marketing communications challenge by creating a well-researched, creative, integrated plan that exemplifies their development as IMC professionals. Students will be able to choose clients based on their personal interests or aimed at continuing the social impact mission of the program. Consumer research is the heart of the IMC planning process and students are required to develop their creative insights from original research. Throughout the semester, multiple forms of assessment—including quick-fire challenges, written projects, an ethical response paper, a final plan, and a strategy pitch—track and evaluate each student's level of competency in all IMC program learning goals.

Note: Students must have completed the core and foundation courses (MPMC 500/5020, 600/5021, 602/5022 and 603/5023) to register for this elective course. Students may only take this course in their final semester of the program. A minimum grade of "B" is required to pass. Program Approval Required

Cause Consulting

Cause Consulting is a signature course in the PRCC program. It offers a cohort of students an applied learning experience by working collaboratively in small consulting teams to refine and implement communications plans for social impact clients, such as nonprofits or socially responsible businesses. It's also an opportunity to explore students’ leadership potential to create positive social impact throughout their careers, as they go through a semester-long journey to become consultants. Students who complete the course are recognized with the designation of Cause Consultants, which allows them to participate in exclusive opportunities through the Center for Social Impact Communication (CSIC).

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021 & MPMC 602/5022 to register for this elective course. This course is cross-listed with MPPR-7051-01.

Change Mgmt Communications

Communications, as a management discipline, must not only be swift to react, but be forward thinking to anticipate and help solve future problems. Change Management Communications is increasingly where practitioners can demonstrate greatest value, as businesses, and their employees, navigate uncharted waters at a furious pace. This hands-on class will help prepare practitioners to identify and act on the communications implications of change. Using a mix of case studies, practical workshops, and group discussion, students will sharpen communications skills, from storytelling to consultative listening, by looking at them anew through the change lens. The forces driving change are not simply impacting individual companies but upending entire industries and spawning entirely new ones. Such change compels companies to rethink their business strategy, reposition themselves in the marketplace, and redefine their value proposition to customers. Business leaders need to acquire new communications skills to help employees take actions to reach new goals. In-house communications teams must reimagine themselves to fulfill their new role. The class will address these, and other, aspects of change. Participants will be encouraged to explore communications, business and other readings – the point being that practitioners need to "connect the dots" between information and issues beyond the traditional boundaries of communications be effective change partners.

Collaboration Lab

Collaborating with other marketers is hard enough – but when you add a real-life client into the mix, figuring out the best path forward can feel like a leap into the great unknown. This course explores how to improve day-to-day collaborations and how to work with clients (internal or external) effectively. You will learn how to navigate strategic disagreements, as well as how to partner with your client to deliver strategic and insightful integrated marketing ideas. In this hands-on, innovative marketing lab, students will work in teams to tackle problems, pitch to real clients, and hone their skills as marketers and leaders while still being able to test, push the boundaries, and experiment as a group.

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021, MPMC 602/5022, and MPMC 603/5023 to register for this elective course.

Consumer Insight

This course is a foundational component of the integrated marketing communications (IMC) program. The course builds student knowledge of research approaches and techniques, equipping them to keep consumer interests and needs at the center of integrated campaigns. Students will learn how to design, interpret, and apply primary and secondary research techniques used in campaign development, execution, and evaluation. Topics include how to locate and mine existing databases and resources; best practices for designing and executing surveys, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and observational studies; and how to incorporate digital tools and emerging technologies as part of an overall research plan. Focus will be placed on how to develop meaningful insights from research to guide audience segmentation and targeting, message strategies, creative development, and channel selection. The course combines textbook learning with real-world examples and applications so that students can experience research in practice.

Note: Foundation course requirement for the IMC program.

Conversations About Ethics

The process of educating the whole person starts with the study of ethics. The concept of IMC requires practitioners to look across multiple communications disciplines and consider each one’s unique challenges. At the same time, the practitioner holds the consumer’s wants and needs as the guiding force for planning. Looking at ethics through a professional lens, students are asked to explore their own values and are challenged to codify and commit to their own code of ethics in relation to a broad range of professional codes of conduct and best practices. Students will gain a solid foundation in ethics and relate what they learn to their own professional situation through class discussions, case studies, and guest lectures conducted by industry experts. This course is required for all MPS students and must be completed within the student's first few semesters in the program. Foundational concepts in ethics are woven throughout the program’s other courses and revisited throughout a student’s tenure.

Note: Core course requirement for the IMC program. A minimum grade of "B" is required to pass.

Creativity in MarCom by Medium

Marketing communications practitioners and professionals are increasingly faced with an exploding choice of outlets to express a Brand’s features, benefits, and expected consumer experience. This applies to both traditional channels like Television, Radio, Newspaper, Out-of-Home (OOH), and Magazines and digital channels like Streaming TV/video, Programmatic, Podcasts, and Social Media including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This class will equip students with the ability to devise strategies and ultimately creative solutions to communicate clearly and concisely why a consumer should consider a particular Brand. No matter whether that Brand is a product or service, the techniques learned will apply across the current spectrum of media channels.

Dig. Analytics & Measurement

This course will provide students with a solid foundation and working knowledge of digital analytics strategies and tactics. Students will learn how to use leading digital analytics tools, how to gather data, how to turn data into insights, and how to present and communicate data-driven information to clients and executives. We will review digital analytics for websites, apps, social media, paid marketing, and other digital marketing channels. Students will also learn about Excel, competitive analysis frameworks and tools, A/B testing, attribution models and data visualization. Finally, this course will enhance the quantitative skills of students, by using and computing e.g. ROI, profit margins and paid campaign costs. Data analysis, in many cases, is a bit like a police investigation: you are a detective and need to find the clues to explain the story that is hiding in the data. Luckily, we are not chasing criminals in this course, but we need to gather evidence, “interview” the data, put it in context by linking it to our knowledge of the world (e.g. industry baselines or historical data), check if there are any errors or biases in it and come up with the most plausible explanations. From this, we develop data-driven insights and actionable recommendations. This course requires surprisingly little math and statistics knowledge (a middle school level is enough: basic operations, computing percentages and reading basic graphs). However, critical thinking is key here: is the data right? What do we see? What do these numbers mean? How does it fit in the greater context and compared with our benchmarks?

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021 & MPMC 602/5022 to register for this elective course. This course is cross listed with MPPR-7100-01 and MPJO-7100-01.

Digital Marketing

In this fast-paced course, we will examine the fundamentals of digital marketing. The course will provide a solid foundation for students to develop a cohesive digital marketing plan, including the strategies, tools and tactics that digital marketers employ. You will learn how to create a digital marketing strategy and translate that strategy into tactical objectives, goals, tasks, and measurements to build brand awareness, drive leads and awareness, and increase sales. Topics include online/display advertising, search engine marketing (organic and paid), social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and website development.

Foundations of IMC: Campaigns

In today's ever-fragmented media world, it's never been harder, or more important, to develop a strong, integrated brand strategy to connect with people. From soft drinks to computers to the presidential election campaigns, managing a brand relationship with your audience is critical. In this class, students will learn how strategies are developed and explore how different communications disciplines can and should work together. You will learn the principles and practice of developing an integrated marketing communications plan using the Georgetown model – a building block for success in MPS IMC and in your career. There will be an emphasis on thinking creatively and strategically about business problems, as well as the importance of humanity and intuition in a data-driven world.

Note: Foundation course requirement for the IMC program. A minimum grade of "B" is required to pass.

In Search of the Big Idea

Marketing for Entrepreneurs

Increasingly, entrepreneurship is a growth engine for the global economy – marketing is a crucial element that defines the success or failure of a fledgling business. This highly interactive class will explore business structures including how to define, identify and quantify opportunities and target markets. It will also cover key branding and marketing strategies necessary to launch, grow and maintain a small business. Bring your business ideas and be ready to learn how to market those visions into reality.

MPS IMC Internship I

This one-credit course is designed to give credit for students doing an internship with an organization that requires them to receive credit. The internships should be substantive and have the goal of providing relevant industry experience, portfolio items or other professional work for students to use when looking for jobs. This course is also meant as a way to help support students who are doing internships. Students are expected to check in every week with the instructor about their experience so that the instructor can give guidance for the internship and for working within a professional organization.

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021 & MPMC 602/5022 to register for this elective course. Extensive, documented academic activity and experiential learning outside of the classroom is required. Program Approval is required. This course is cross-listed with MPJO-7951-01 and MPPR-7951-01.

MPS IMC Internship II

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021 & MPMC 602/5022 as well as MPMC 773/7951 Internship I to register for this elective course. Extensive, documented academic activity and experiential learning outside of the classroom (min. 6-8 hours per week) is required. Program Approval is required. This course is cross-listed with MPJO-7952-01 and MPPR-7952-01.

MPS IMC Internship III

This one-credit course is designed to give credit for students doing an internship with an organization that requires them to receive credit. The internships should be substantive and have the goal of providing relevant industry experience, portfolio items or other professional work for students to use when looking for jobs. This course is also meant as a way to help support students who are doing internships. Students are expected to check in every week with the instructor about their experience so that the instructor can give guidance for the internship and for working within a professional organization.

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021 & MPMC 602/5022 and 773/7951 Internship I & 774/7952 Internship II to register for this elective course. Extensive, documented academic activity and experiential learning outside of the classroom (min. 6-8 hours per week) is required. Program Approval is required.

Negotiation Strategy & Skills

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of current negotiation theory and practice. Students will study negotiation theories, research and techniques. As a result of taking this course, students will have an understanding of how to negotiate effectively in transactions, as managers, and to build effective teams. The materials for this course will consist of readings, negotiation scenarios, and real-life examples. Students will engage in actual negotiations, intensive discussion, individual and group presentations and projects, and close reading of assigned texts and other materials. Students will have an opportunity to explore negotiation theory and practice in order to develop their own strategic approaches to negotiations.

Personal Branding

Thought leadership and personal branding are two essential, yet often ambiguous ingredients in a career strategy. This course will arm students with the resources to evaluate, improve, and employ personal branding strategies for themselves and for key members of their organizational team. The course will discuss personal branding strategies in both digital and event contexts – including social media platforms, presentations, and networking opportunities.

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 600/5021 & MPMC 602/5022 to register for this elective course. This course is cross-listed with MPPR-7052-01.

PublicSpeakingforProfessionals

Researchers interviewed over 9,000 Americans in a nationwide survey and their subjects were asked to list their greatest fears. The top fears listed were public speaking; speaking up in a meeting or class; meeting new people; talking to people in authority; important examinations or interview; going to parties; and talking with strangers. Clearly, communicating publicly is anxiety-inducing for many. Yet in an increasingly competitive world, public speaking is becoming more and more vital to success. This course will tackle these fears head-on by instructing students how to organically build speeches, presentations, and public comments. The emphasis will be on maximizing students’ personal voice and pairing that with time-honored techniques used by the finest orators. Gaining confidence and skill as a public speaker comes only through meticulous preparation and rehearsal. There will be readings, lectures, and discussion; but the bulk of a student’s time will be spent preparing, delivering, and evaluating speeches and presentations. By the end of this course, students will be able to speak to a wide variety of audiences, from a small classroom to a large convention gathering. Along the way, they will bolster their writing skills, become more focused on editing their speeches for time and clarity, and learn how to make their presentation skills more engaging, even for “dense” topics.

The Brand Concept

What is a brand? What is the definition of a great brand? Why do some brands survive generation after generation while others fail after a short shelf life? This course will explore the core principles of branding. You will learn how brands compete in an environment full of choices for consumers, and the tactics they employ to be best in class. Using a consumer-centric approach, you will learn how to think critically and creatively about measuring, sustaining, building, and defending brands in today’s competitive environment.

Note: Foundation course requirement for the IMC program.