T347 - Promotion and Marketing in Telecommunications  Spring 2005: Class #10754 Tuesday-Thursday, 4pm-5:15pm Radio/TV Center, Room 245 Instructor: Suzann Mitten Owen

PURPOSE:
This is a course about building and retaining audiences and customers for electronic media by promoting programs, formats, services, personalities, and images. It applies marketing theory and tactics to radio, television, cable, and new technologies. As a part of the Department of Telecommunications' commitment, a major objective for the course will be to cultivate critical thinking and reporting and writing skills. It is a part of the Industry and Management sequence in the Department of Telecommunications The course's specific objectives are to: 

Familiarize students with the promotional and marketing strategies currently used by television and radio stations, networks, cable systems, program syndicators, other telecommuniations services, and new technology.

Provide a theoretical framework for understanding marketing effectiveness that will explain what particular marketing strategies are intended to do and why some are effective and others less likely to be so;

• Give practical experience in planning and presenting a promotional activity.

 
• Direct thinking about the changes in broadcasting/cable promotion opportunities that will result from new technologies.

PREREQUISITES: T207 or consent of instructor.

METHOD:
This course includes lectures and presentations, screening of videotapes, readings, web site work groups, independent observations of promotion, participation in promotions, publishing on the WWW, electronic journal (Oncourse), and a comprehensive project. Guest lecturers will provide current industry practices. 

TEXTBOOK:
S.T. Eastman & R.A. Klein, Promotion & Marketing for Broadcasting , Cable, and the Web 4th ed., Focal Press 2002. 

To accommodate the rapid changes in the industry, this book will be supplmented by class discussions, guest lectures by industry professionals, readings, and handouts published on the couse web site, including the glossary. [Prof. Eastman published this textbook as an outgrowth of teaching this course (R378/T347).] 

COURSE SCHEDULE
The schedule for the course is published on the course web site and is also linked from Oncourse. All dates, topics, and assignments are subject to change, so check with the schedule on a regular basis. Outlines of class lectures in PowerPoint are linked from the Schedule published on Oncourse and on the course website: http://www.indiana.edu/~t347.

ATTENDANCE (10%)
Attendance will be recorded at each class session. Students are given credit for all the sessions they attend (20 out of 30 sessions would equal 66% of your 10% - or 6 out of 10 points toward a total of 100 points for the course). There is no provision for "excused absences" but the AI will note reasons for absences that are reported. 

ONCOURSE DISCUSSION FORUMS (20%):
Each student will be responsible for posting an entry each week in the discussion forums on "In Touch" section of  T347 ONCOURSE of his/her own observation of media promotion: outdoor advertising, print advertising, on-air promos, etc. ONCOURSE can be accessed on the WWW from any campus cluster or from off-campus. (Do a search for ONCOURSE from the IU Knowledge Base for additional information.) 

PROMOTION ACTIVITY (10%):
Each student will be required to participate in a promotional activity and submit a written summary of the activity via the Oncourse drop box (in the In Touch section). The activity should be related to broadcast, cable, entertainment, or athletics -- i.e., be an audience promotion. It can be related to existing employment, on-going campus activity commitment (IUSF, Union Board, chapter, residence hall, etc.), or a volunteer commitment for a single event. Some opportunities will be offered to participate in WTIU during its on-air fund drive and commercial radio promotional or programming activities. Students are responsible for lining up, scheduling, and completing an activity, but on occasion opportunities for promotion activities will be posted in the announcements on ONCOURSE.

WEBPAGE PROMOTION (10%):
The class will be divided into ten groups (approximately seven students in each) to develop three FICTITIOUS (radio station, television news, special event) multiple page promotional web sites. 

The pages should be published on the web account of one of the team members. Each team will present its pages to the class during Workshop sessions as "works in progress," and the pages will be graded (S/U) at the end of the semester. 

SEMESTER-LONG ADOPTION PROJECT--PROMOTION/COMMUNICATIONS IN ACTION (10%)
At the start of the semester, students identify a network, a series, or a program that they can follow attentively throughout the semester, identifying its target market, keeping track of its promotional strategies, how it is performing in audience numbers, etc. At the end of the semester, they submit a tightly written report.

GRADING

Just 'Do It'--50%:

Class participation/attendance 10% 
Oncourse Discussion Forum entries 20% 
WWW Page Creation 10% 
Promotion Activity 10% 

Final Project: Adoption Project 10%
Unit Examinations (10% ea.) 20% 
Final Examination 20%