Course Catalog

Home>Academic Catalog 2018-2019>

ADVANCED BRANDING PRACTICUM (CM5066)

Brands, their creation, their identity and their management derive from a set of disciplines and principles that have been developed over the past 60 years. These disciplines are the architectural underpinnings for successful branding and they apply equally across categories of products and services and geographically across countries. The Branding Practicum will instruct students in these disciplines and principles and ask students to apply them to the creation of a new international brand in a category of their choice. Students will analyze a chosen category, create a new brand proposition for it, develop the branding identity for the new brand including name, logo, selling proposition and more. They will also create a global marketing strategy for the brand.

ADVERTISING PRACTICUM (CM5067)

The development of effective advertising is an intellectual and creative process that has evolved over the past century and includes the disciplines of research, targeting, strategy, strategy derived creative execution and evaluation. Today, the form and content of advertising is changing as the digital age opens new channels and types of messages. The Advertising Practicum will instruct students in the real world creation of effective advertising. Students will learn “the creation process” from start to finish, develop strategies and create advertising campaigns. Finally, they will compete to win an international brand’s advertising account by solving a strategic and creative challenge facing that brand just as it is done in the advertiser/ advertising agency industry worldwide. At the course’s end, students should have completed an advertising exercise that they can present to future employers as an aid to securing a job of their choice.

NGO PRACTICUM (CM5068)

The NGO practicum is a course that prepares students to engage with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field. It will introduce students to several important tools necessary to be reflective and responsible agents of social change. The course includes a series of preparatory sessions, which may include lectures, workshops, visits, and individual research assignments, followed by a period of overseas fieldwork in which students will collaborate with local NGOs to help create various project management tools or media projects.

INTERNAT'L PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICUM (CM5069)

Public relations (PR) is now an integral part of everyday life. From politicians to playgroups, it is an important tool that can mean the difference between success and failure of a project or product. Effective PR is a key requirement of most companies and organisations and this course is designed to provide students with the necessary background knowledge to allow them to begin a career in this area and/or to improve their general business communication skills. The course outlines different types, practices, and principles of public relations. It looks at key frameworks and developments in PR theory and practice, offering a straightforward combination of theory and case studies. In an increasingly global context, it is also imperative to take into account the international and intercultural perspectives of PR.

MEDIA, GENDER & GLOBALIZATION (CM5070)

This class studies in detail the relations between media, gender and sexuality in a complex global environment. We will build on a theoretical foundation of gender in terms of embodiment, representation, consumption and institutions, and apply various methods of analysis to a range of global media. We will examine how gender enters debates around globalization, including anti-globalization movements, and how constructions of gender influence the mediation of global issues such as nationality, war and terrorism, and transnational flows of people, culture and capital.

MEDIA & SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EAST & N. AFR. (CM5073)

This course examines the role of Media in the Middle East and North Africa (primarily Arab countries). It analyzes the different ways in which Media and politics intersect.
It covers the evolution of the Middle Eastern Mediascape, its relation to ideologies, to political and intellectual circles, to the emerging ruling elites, to entertainment and to financial sponsors.
The course discusses as well the emergence of Pan Arab Media outlets (from newspapers to Satellite channels), their impact on the regional media scene, and then the beginning of the digital era or the "democratization" of media with internet, social networks, smart phones, and their roles in revolutions.
Islam, its perceptions, its political impact, and the way some Islamist movements deal with or use the Media are topics to explore.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. To provide students with an understanding of important media trends in the Middle East.
2. To help students reflect on the role of Media in Middle Eastern culture and politics.
3. To assist students think through the roles that traditional and new/digital Media have played in revolutions in the region

FOOD, CULTURE & COMMUNICATION (CM5076)

In this class, we will explore the manner in which people in France and the United States think about and interact with their foods. In so doing we will critically examine: the historical development of nutrition and gastronomic discourses in these countries, their contemporary manifestations (in media and advertising, governmental institutions and guidelines, food production and consumption) and their role in the formation of individual, national, gender and class identities. In so doing, we will critically explore, from a cross-cultural perspective, the concepts (such as health and taste), practices (such as cooking or dieting), places (such as school cafeterias or vineyards) and people (such as nutritional scientists or restaurant chefs) involved in the elaboration, maintenance and reformulation of these discourses. Among the most important goals of this class are: to further develop students' ability to think critically about modern processes and contemporary identities using a range of theoretical approaches; to bring students to an understanding of France and the United States that goes beyond well encrusted clichés; and, to allow students to develop a new appreciation for their foods and a more profound understanding of their relationship to them. The class will include a one-week "terroir and taste" fieldtrip to the Jura Mountains. Note: the tasting of cheese, meat products and wine is an integral part of the Jura trip.

COMMUNICATION & THE GLOBAL CITY (CM5077)

This course looks at the interface between communications and urban space. With the rapid spread of neo-liberalism and the internet, urban theorists see the city as increasingly ‘capsularized’. Across the planet, new forms of human-created environment—the theme park, the free-trade zone, the gated community—are constructed. While urban space has often been carefully designed, well crafted public-relations strategies now situate cities at local and global levels. Thus, within a framework of contemporary urban theory underpinned by case studies, students will reflect on the affective politics of the city, thinking critically about the interplay between mediated communication and urban policy, public space and built form.

MEDIA, GOVERNANCE & DIVERSITY (CM5079)

This course takes up the life of multiculturalism, cultural diversity and pluralism as organizing principles for social relations between the state, communications media and populations. The course is divided into three parts: The first part of the course offers an introduction to different conceptions of society and their relationship to understandings of identity and difference. We will also take a brief look at the relationship between culture and governance, paying specific attention to the issues associated with cultural policy. The second part of the course will engage with the relationship between media, governance and diversity as framed within the context of the contemporary nation-state. The third part of the course looks at a few international and transnational institutions and issues, raising questions about the possible futures of difference and diversity.

VISUAL DESIGN PRACTICUM (CM5080)

This course is an intensive introduction to the basics of design principles for a variety of communications strategies. Through hands-on lab time with step-by-step instruction, students will learn the fundamentals of working with Adobe Creative Suite in order to create their own brand and its accompanying visuals. Presentations by professionals working in various fields of design and communications will familiarize students with their first-hand experience.

Design literacy is essential to all areas of communication, whether in traditional print, digital media, websites or video. This class will focus specifically on the relationship between image and text, providing students with a solid foundation for any further study of graphics or web design they may wish to undertake in the future, as well as training students to interact effectively with professional designers.. The class will be comprised of lecturers on the fundamentals of design, presentations by and workshops with working professionals, and hands-on lab time to learn practical technical skills as applied to students’ individual branding projects.

It suits students who plan to work in advertising, NGOs, branding, global advocacy or any other field of communications. Design literacy is an essential skill, indispensable for the effective communication of any organization’s message. Students will gain appreciation of graphic design; learning how typography color, composition, photography, illustration, etc. work together to produce effective conduits of information.