Seminar in New Trends in Advertising

ADV 4930

Study Abroad in France

Summer 2009

Instructors

Tom Mueller, Weimer 2039-D, tmueller@ufl.edu

Paula Rausch, Weimer 2038, prausch@ufl.edu

Course overview

This course is an introduction to new trends in advertising. It is a special topics course offered by the Department of Advertising, involving subject matter not typically covered in the general curriculum. This three-credit course will count toward the block 2 elective requirements of advertising majors. However, students of any major can take this course.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are to:

• Describe and give examples of trends in new media and advertising
• Expose you to discussion about nontraditional forms of advertising, including blogs, wikis, podcasts, viral marketing, and others.
• Encourage you to think critically about and integrate these new forms of media and advertising into projects for this course, other classes, internships, and future jobs.

How the class works

This class meets for less than a month while we are abroad, so the course requires you to do work both before we depart and after we return. This spring semester before we leave, you should purchase and read the two (2) required texts. These are listed below, and you can purchase them through any online book seller. Links to these books on Amazon.com are also posted on www.drweigold.com.

Read both texts completely before we leave the U.S. When we arrive in France, we will begin to meet regularly as a seminar group to discuss the books and address how the information contained in them can be applied now and in your future career. Some out-of-class exercises will be assigned. When we return, we will email you a final paper topic that will provide an opportunity to demonstrate that you can integrate what you have learned through the readings and seminar discussion in order to be able to critically analyze new forms of advertising and create arguments for your point of view.     

Course materials

• Required texts

Brand Hijack: Marketing Without Marketing (2006), by Alex Wipperfurth

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly (2007), by David Meerman Scott.

• Course Web Site

A class e-Learning site will be established, and grades and some other course materials will posted there. Log into E-Learning at http://lss.ufl.edu using your Gatorlink name and password.

Grading

Grades in this course are based on:

• Attendance: You are expected to attend every class we are abroad, no exceptions.
• Participation: The class is a seminar course, so your participation is vital. Your ability to summarize the key points from your readings and apply them to your life and future career is an important determinant of your grade. To achieve a high grade, expect to make regular, insightful contributions during class. In addition, you must participate in class exercises.
• Assignments: Out-of-class assignments must be completed by the assigned deadlines.
• Final Paper: When we return to the US, we will email you a final paper topic. The paper will require you to integrate the readings and seminar discussions and apply them to real-world situations. Papers tend to average 15-20 double-spaced pages in length. The deadline for the paper will be emailed with the topic, typically 30 days after the topic is emailed.