Jonathan Baldwin

Advertising and branding are popular career options, but are often hidden in misconceptions. Branding, for example, is not about designing a logo or a package, but about developing a personality for a service, product or organisation. It extends to interior design, textile design and far more. Advertising too extends beyond the “artwork”, being a complex process involving a great deal of research, financial considerations and planning.
This module aims to place advertising and branding in to a business context, to help you understand the processes and roles that are involved, and to place these important activities into the overall marketing strategy of clients. It also examines the cultural issues, asking what the social and ethical aspects are of creating desire for products that may be difficult to afford, or unsustainable.
By the end of the module you will have a good understanding of the issues surrounding advertising and branding both from the clients’ and the consumers’ point of view. Taking this module will prepare you for practice within an agency or client company, or within one of the many industries that are used by agencies such as graphic, interior or textile design. The module should also be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about how these important cultural and economic activities operate.

(image copyright Graven Images)

The first block examines the role of advertising and branding within the marketing strategy of a business. You will encounter several common tools employed by marketing managers to understand their companies’ position, and to determine what approaches to take to maintain or improve it.
You will also learn about the role of agencies, the different departments that exist within them, and their relationship with clients. Case studies, presented by both agencies and clients, will help you understand a range of scenarios and see how branding and advertising have been applied in the past.

The second block takes the marketing strategy further and allows you to add more detail. You will learn how different forms of research are used to understand the client’s context and these will include secondary research such as finding out about recent trends and statistics, and primary research such as focus groups, ethnography and interviews.
You will examine how these techniques are used in a range of sectors such as retail design (to develop the layout of stores, for example), product design (to drive innovation) and service design (to solve social issues).

Block three moves in to the production phase. Having developed a strategy and carried out research into your client’s consumers or stakeholders, you will learn how to develop ideas. This will take the form of a creative pitch to a client, supported with a series of tutorials. This block is intended to be intensive and you will need to balance your time with other study commitments carefully. You will also be working in a group and required to demonstrate effective collaboration and leadership skills.

Block four brings the module to a close and slows the pace back down by asking you to step back from the business context and look at branding and advertising from the consumer’s point of view. What are the ethical considerations of branding and advertising? What are the legal ones? Are advertising and branding merely agents for unsustainable consumption and spending, or can they be used strategically to support people’s needs, rather than just feed their wants? A critique is not negative in this block you will see that taking a critical look at the industry brings up many positives. What will your role be in this, both as a consumer and, possibly, a practitioner?

You will be assessed via a combination of short written responses to study material, contributions to seminars, and a group project in which you will collaborate to develop a marketing strategy and proposal for an advertising campaign or a rebrand for a product, service or organisation.

By the end of the module you will

• Explain key stages in the development of advertising and branding strategies
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of key concepts, terms, regulations and principles within advertising and branding
• Engage in appropriate research techniques to develop strategic knowledge of a market
• Produce and present a strategy and visuals for an advertising and/or branding project
• Work under guidance to professional standards
• Work effectively with peers to achieve a planned outcome

• Students from any discipline interested in understanding the business and social issues related to advertising and branding. While many people assume that branding and advertising are related to graphic design, in fact they employ a range of design disciplines (interiors and textiles, for example) and non-design disciplines (psychology, law, business studies etc). While these industries have a large proportion of graduates, only a small minority are from design backgrounds.
• Practicing designers or managers keen to expand their understanding of the business context
• Non-specialists wanting to study advertising and branding for personal interest

This module is accredited at SCQF Level 9.

Books:

• Davies, Melissa, and Jonathan Baldwin. More Than A Name. Lausanne: AVA, 2006.
• McDonald, Malcolm, and Hugh Wilson. Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them. London: John Wiley and Sons, 2011.
• McDonald, Malcolm, and Peter Morris. The Marketing Plan in Colour. London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000.
• McDonald, Malcolm, Leslie de Chernatony, and Elaine Wallace. Creating Powerful Brands. London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010.
• Powell, Helen, Jonathan Hardy, and Sarah Hawkin. The Advertising Handbook. London: Routledge, 2009.

TV Series:

• Mad Men,
• Open University/BBC (2001) The Ad Factor

Magazines:

• Campaign
• Marketing
• Marketing Week