Parsons The New School for Design
Communication Design Department
Advertising & Marketing
Spring 2012
Parsons 2 W 13th 1102 6:00 pm - 8:40 pm Wednesday
Tom McManus
dumcmanust@newschool.edu
917 533-4110
by email
Course Description Few industries have been so transformed like advertising; yet even the newest outlets for reaching current and future customers rely on the age-old process of persuasion. This course focuses on and deconstructs this process of persuasion by stripping away the technology, the media, and the computer and focusing first and foremost on the product. What is it about the product that will differentiate it from its competitors? What will differentiate it that will resonate with consumers? Once this differentiation is determined, students focus on how to communicate that difference, no matter how small or how great, in a way that will incite the consumer to act.
How to be a New Media Storyteller
The marketing industry has seen more changes in the last two years than in the previous 100. This course will help you prepare for this complex and changing world. You will learn how to come up with concepts for print campaigns. But most importantly, you will learn how to create 360 campaigns that are media agnostic. You will become idea writers.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Concrete and proven methodologies will be taught that will enhance your creativity. In this class you will not play with words. You will play with ideas. You will be given conceptual tools that will push your creativity and prepare you for this most competitive industry.
Ugliness does not sell.
During the last four weeks the emphasis will be on design. Two campaigns that are approved by the teacher will be art directed to industry standards. Emphasis will be placed on students finding their own voice when it comes to design.
If you want to be challenged then this class is for you.
Course Outline
| WEEK 1 | Jan 25 | Marketing and Advertising Introduction. The business and art of our craft. • How to make a comp. • Planning a brief. • The product ladder of the mind. The leader, challenger, niche players. How to write a tag line for each one. • How to craft a campaign and write for the consumer. • Tone and manner. Demographics, Psychographics. • How planning is integral to the creative process. | Read: Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition Due: Week 3 Create a campaign for “Krazy Glue” Due: Week 2 |
| WEEK 2 | Feb 1 | “Krazy Glue” Concrete creative tools: a. Cause and Effect b. Demonstration c. Hyperbole d. Understatement e. Reversal f. Irony g. The High Ground h. The Stupid i. The Vernacular j. The Truth k. The Red Herring | Create a campaign for “Sci Fi Channel” Due: Week 3 |
| WEEK 3 | Feb 8 | “Sci Fi Channel” How to create a campaign based on a brand truth. No puns, no word plays. Work with ideas. How to make your ideas bigger. Be bigger than the category. | Read: Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising Due: Week 5 Create a campaign for “Juicy Fruit Gum” |
| WEEK 4 | Feb 15 | “Juicy Fruit Gum” How marketing can create a product difference where there is none. | Create a campaign for “Smart Car” |
| WEEK 5 | Feb 22 | “Smart Car” Positioning for a niche service. | Create a campaign for “Norton Anti-Virus” Due: Week 6 |
| WEEK 6** | Feb 29 | “Norton Anti-Virus” Administer Mid Term Evaluations **on or about this date (see notice for each semester) | Create a campaign for “Trek Bikes” Due: Week 7 |
| WEEK 7 | March 7 | “Trek Bikes” How to construct a 360 campaign. | Create a campaign for “Paul Reed Smith Guitars” Due: Week 8 |
| WEEK 8 | March 21 | “Paul Reed Smith Guitars” | Create a campaign for “Greece” Due: Week 9 |
| WEEK 9 | March 28 | “Greece” | Create a campaign for “Busch Gardens” Due: Week 10 Read: OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT SHOULD I DO? Due: Week 11 |
| WEEK 10 | April 4 | “Busch Gardens” | Create a campaign for “Skip Barber School of Racing” Due: Week 11 |
| WEEK 11 | April 11 | “Skip Barber School of Racing” . Determining which are the two best campaigns you have to go into design. | Design one of your campaigns approved by the teacher. Due: Week 12 |
| WEEK 12 | April 18 | Go over design of one of your campaigns approved by the teacher: The postcard vs. The letter design. The Japanese Rock Garden and what we can learn about designing ads from it. How to design from your own personal relationship to the subject matter at hand. How to go beyond dujour design. | Design the second of your campaigns approved by the teacher. Due: Week 13 |
| WEEK 13 | April 25 | Go over the design of the second of your campaigns approved by the teacher. “To suggest is to create, to describe is to destroy” lecture. Inspired simplicity. Rigorous production standards. How to take your photography to a different level. | Further explorations of the design of your two campaigns. Due: Week 14 |
| WEEK 14 | May 2 | Fine tuning of your designs. Prepare your portfolio for final presentation. | Print your portfolio as case studies. Prepare final presentation. |
| WEEK 15 | May 9 | Final presentations of your work. A top professional of our industry will help me critique your work. How to promote yourself to get a job in advertising. Creating the “Super Portfolio”. Former students of this class will tell how they landed great jobs in advertising. | |
Learning Outcomes
By the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Understand positioning of brands and develop tag lines.
2. Create print campaigns based on a tag line.
3. Create 360 campaigns that are media agnostic.
4. Learn how to design for both “letter and postcard” ads.
5. Put their portfolios together and how to market themselves as art directors.
Assessable Tasks Students will need to complete 2 campaigns by week 11. Design of the campaigns will need to be finished by week 15. Presentation skills will be graded too.
Final Grade Calculation
Concept: 50%
Design: 30%
Class participation: 10%
Attendance: 10%
Required Reading
Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition [Paperback] Jack Trout
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising (Adweek Series) [Paperback]
OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT SHOULD I DO? (English version) [Paperback]
Recommended Reading
The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era (Advertising Age) by Teressa Iezzi
Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning [Hardcover] Jon Steel
Resources
Materials and Supplies Magic markers, paper and a good internet connection
Grading Standards
F
Failing grades are given for required work that is not submitted, for incomplete final projects or for examinations that are not taken (without prior notification and approval). Make-up work or completion of missed examinations may be permitted only with the approval of the instructor and the program director.
D
This is for two campaigns that are below average in concept, marketing insight and design. A D+ is offered when one of these attributes are good. Presentation skills are inadequate and awkward. Little active participation and little knowledge of reading assignments
C/C+
This is for two campaigns that are average in concept, marketing insight and design. A C+ is offered when one of these attributes are excellent. Presentation skills are adequate but not impressive. Somewhat active participation and some knowledge of reading assignments
B/B+
This is for two very good campaigns that have at least outstanding concept, marketing insight or design but not necessarily all three. B+ work would have at least two of these attributes. Presentation skills are important and can make the difference between a B and a B+. Active participation and knowledge of reading material is required.
A
This is given for work that is outstanding for conceptual rigor, marketing insight and superior design. The work must look like actual ads and the presentation for two 360 campaigns must be flawless. Class participation and the critiques of other ads and campaigns must be insightful, cogent, and articulate. Presentations must be organized, succinct and persuasive. Active participation and knowledge of reading material is required. Grasp of additional reading assignments can make the grade an A+.
I
A grade of I (Incomplete), signifying a temporary deferment of a regular grade, may be assigned when coursework has been delayed at the end of the semester for unavoidable and legitimate reasons. Incomplete grades are given only with the written approval of the instructor and the program director. The Request for an Incomplete Grade form must be filled out by the student and instructor prior to the end of the semester.
For undergraduate students, if a grade of incomplete is approved, outstanding work must be submitted by the seventh week of the following Fall semester (for Spring and Summer courses) or by the seventh week of the following Spring semester (for Fall courses). Otherwise, a grade of I will automatically convert to a permanent unofficial withdrawal (WF) after a period of four weeks. For graduate students, the maximum deadline for completion of an incomplete is one year though a shorter period may be imposed at the discretion of the instructor.
Divisional, Program and Class Policies
● Responsibility
Students are responsible for all assignments, even if they are absent. Late papers, failure to complete the readings assigned for class discussion, and lack of preparedness for in-class discussions and presentations will jeopardize your successful completion of this course.
● Participation
Class participation is an essential part of class and includes: keeping up with reading, contributing meaningfully to class discussions, active participation in group work, and coming to class regularly and on time.
● Attendance
Faculty members may fail any student who is absent for a significant portion of class time. A significant portion of class time is defined as three absences for classes that meet once per week and four absences for classes that meet two or more times per week. During intensive summer sessions a significant portion of class time is defined as two absences. Lateness or early departure from class may also translate into one full absence.
● Blackboard
Use of Blackboard may be an important resource for this class. Students should check it for announcements before coming to class each week.
● Delays
In rare instances, I may be delayed arriving to class. If I have not arrived by the time class is scheduled to start, you must wait a minimum of thirty minutes for my arrival. In the event that I will miss class entirely, a sign will be posted at the classroom indicating your assignment for the next class meeting.
● Academic Integrity
This is the university’s Statement on Academic Integrity: “Plagiarism and cheating of any kind in the course of academic work will not be tolerated. Academic honesty includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of instructors and other students). These standards of academic honesty and citation of sources apply to all forms of academic work (examinations, essays, theses, computer work, art and design work, oral presentations, and other projects).”
It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.
Every student at Parsons signs an Academic Integrity Statement as a part of the registration process. Thus, you are held responsible for being familiar with, understanding, adhering to and upholding the spirit and standards of academic integrity as set forth by the Parsons Student Handbook.
Guidelines for Written Assignments
Plagiarism is the use of another person's words or ideas in any academic work using books, journals, internet postings, or other student papers without proper acknowledgment. For further information on proper acknowledgment and plagiarism, including expectations for paraphrasing source material and proper forms of citation in research and writing, students should consult the Chicago Manual of Style (cf. Turabian, 6th edition). The University Writing Center also provides useful on-line resources to help students understand and avoid plagiarism. See http://www.newschool.edu/admin/writingcenter/.
Students must receive prior permission from instructors to submit the same or substantially overlapping material for two different assignments. Submission of the same work for two assignments without the prior permission of instructors is plagiarism.
Guidelines for Studio Assignments
Work from other visual sources may be imitated or incorporated into studio work if the fact of imitation or incorporation and the identity of the original source are properly acknowledged. There must be no intent to deceive; the work must make clear that it emulates or comments on the source as a source. Referencing a style or concept in otherwise original work does not constitute plagiarism. The originality of studio work that presents itself as “in the manner of” or as playing with “variations on” a particular source should be evaluated by the individual faculty member in the context of a critique.
Incorporating ready-made materials into studio work as in a collage, synthesized photograph or paste-up is not plagiarism in the educational context. In the commercial world, however, such appropriation is prohibited by copyright laws and may result in legal consequences.
● Student Disability Services
In keeping with the University’s policy of providing equal access for students with disabilities, any student with a disability who needs academic accommodations is welcome to meet with me privately. All conversations will be kept confidential. Students requesting any accommodations will also need to meet with Jason Luchs in the office of Student Disability Services, who will conduct an intake, and if appropriate, provide an academic accommodation notification letter to you to bring to me. At that point I will review the letter with you and discuss these accommodations in relation to this course. Mr. Luchs’ office is located in 79 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor. His direct line is (212) 229-5626 x3135. You may also access more information through the University’s web site at http://www.newschool.edu/studentservices/disability/.
Tom McManus
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