Master's in Integrated Marketing Communications
On-Campus Course Schedule for Summer 2024

Mastering Money for Marketers

Marketing consistently attracts the brightest and most creative individuals around the world. What holds many marketing professionals back, however, is the ability to manage, navigate, and speak the language of finance. This weakness, lack of knowledge, or lack of experience holds back some of the best marketers. Worse, these talented marketing professionals can be shamed (intentionally or unintentionally) or sidelined by the finance department, investors, or board members. For entrepreneurs who are running marketing companies, this lack of ability can translate into less working capital as banks and investors feel the person doesn’t know finance. This course will teach marketing professionals both the skills and language to navigate and flourish in regard to finances. The course builds into every creative person a full knowledge of basic and advanced financial concepts. With practical tools given as a part of the course, you will be able to construct and manage a financial plan including three-year forecasts, P&L;, Income, Balance Sheets, and budgets. Also taught will be company valuation, net present value of future debt, stock valuations, and shareholder strategies, among other financial terms and knowledge.

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 5020, 5021, 5022 & 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.

Digital Media Buying

The average person spends nearly 7 hours online each day – and 95% of that time is spent on websites, in apps or on social media platforms. This creates a massive opportunity for brands to reach, engage, inform and convert users through the use of display, video, social & search (d/v/s/s) ads. In this course, students will dive deep into both the overall digital media ecosystem, as well as how each ad type functions, strategies for researching + identifying your target audience(s) on each platform, methods to standardize your audiences, how to implement effective, tiered remarketing campaigns on each platform and how to quantify the success of each campaign relative to your organization’s goals and objectives.

Note: Students must have completed foundation courses MPMC 5021/600 Consumer Research & Insights and MPMC 5022/602 Foundations in IMC: Campaigns to register for this elective course.

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 (min. 6-8 hours per week) is required. Program Approval is required.

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.

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.