Master of Marketing Communications

This subject will provide a pathway for students to gain familiarity with key issues and debates in the field of marketing communications. Students will develop a critical understanding of concepts and approaches relating to media institutions, texts and audiences. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the complex transformation from the paradigm of broadcast media to contemporary networked digital communications. This new environment of active audience participation and distributed communication has challenged the conceptual underpinnings of a range of practices including advertising, public relations, stakeholder management and marketing campaigns. Students will be introduced to the tasks of identifying and evaluating a variety of marketing strategies, and will have the opportunity to learn, examine and apply strategic marketing decision-making processes in the marketing and communications business environment.

This subject provides students with an advanced understanding of relevant theory and practice in contemporary public relations. Lectures will introduce case studies and practical accounts from industry professionals dealing with public relations functions including stakeholder relations, media relations, government relations, investor relations and issues/crisis management. This will be complemented with theoretical perspectives and examination of ethical considerations to situate the key issues and challenges of public relations in a global context.

This subject provides an introduction to the basic concepts, principles and activities of marketing and how to manage an organisation's marketing effort. Some of the principal topics include value-based marketing, market research, selecting target markets, product and brand management, marketing communications (advertising and promotions, as well as personal selling), management of distribution channels, pricing decisions and marketing ethics. Students are also introduced to the nature of buyer behaviour, including decision-making patterns, purchase behaviours, and customer satisfaction.

This subject provides a strategic understanding of, and practical skills to plan and implement, integrated marketing communications campaigns across a range of media platforms from print to broadcast to social media. It investigates the changing relationship between marketing, advertising and public relations in the context of the emergence of a ‘post-convergence’ media-sphere, and explores the new opportunities and dynamics of social media as a marketing tool. This subject teaches students practical skills in working with the media in developing campaigns, including campaign planning, media liaison, media planning and buying, campaign evaluation and understanding audience research. It also examines the ethical and legal aspects of convergence on the professional practice of marketing communications.

This subject will enable students to develop copywriting skills, including skills in persuasive writing, and the different generic requirements involved in writing for a range of media contexts and platforms. Case studies will be drawn from print, broadcast and online media and exercises will cover different practices including drafting client briefs, producing advertising copy, and developing strategic communications such as public relations releases.

This subject expands students' knowledge of major theories and state of the art thinking in the measurement of marketing performance. It extends students’ understanding of market research methods in covering advanced topics including: product diffusion models and forecasting; measuring customer satisfaction, brand attitudes, and brand equity; understanding the lifetime value of a customer; advertising effectiveness; market sensitivity to promotions and price; sales-force optimisation; calculating the return on marketing investment.

This subject provides an advanced understanding of the contemporary global marketing communications environment. It traces the emergence of the new generation of global media platforms since the 1980s, and examines the growing structural integration of advertising, marketing and public relations firms over this period as a result of this. Through case studies of global marketing campaigns and global brands, it demonstrates the extent to which global marketers must continue to negotiate different cultural and regulatory settings within the media, underlining the continuing importance of national and regional contexts in a global environment.

This marketing subject exposes students to an integrated perspective of the firm, how it interfaces with its environment, and how it creates and sustains value. Value creation occurs through interactions of a firm with its stakeholders (including its customers) and is central to marketing. The subject builds a conceptual framework to examine the choices (marketing) managers face in determining how best to create value, and how these choices may be shaped by key stakeholders including government, society, trading partners, customers, employees and competitors. A key focus of this subject is on value creation as a cross disciplinary and cross firm activity. As such, the focus is on value creation from multiple disciplinary perspectives including marketing, strategy, entrepreneurship, HRM, supply chain management and organisational design.

This subject is intended to provide students who do not have a business background with grounding in the field of strategy. It will expose them to key themes, issues and theories of strategy, with a particular focus on the role of leadership in developing and implementing strategy for business success. There will be a strong emphasis on using theoretical knowledge to solve practical problems, which will be achieved through the use of case studies and discussion of contemporary business problems. Students who complete the subject should have a sound theoretical and applied understanding of the role of strategic leadership in business success. Topics covered will include: the role of strategy in business performance; the impact of environments on strategy; the role of leadership in strategy formulation and implementation; working with multiple stakeholders; strategic decision making; and leadership in corporate social responsibility.

This subject will critically explore the purpose and value of consulting as a practice and as a profession. Through tracing the consulting lifecycle and the examination of client-consultant relationships, students will learn to emulate the requisite soft and technical skills of effective consultants and develop an understanding of what it means to be an external change agent. Using a case-based approach, this subject will introduce various consulting frameworks and tools used to diagnose, analyse and solve complex but seemingly common organisational problems. In the process, students will gain a firm appreciation of the art and science of professional consulting and learn to apply problem-solving approaches that balance methodological rigour with creativity and lateral thinking.

The Applied Syndicate Project in the Master of Marketing Communications is a capstone option. Students will be assigned in small groups (2-4/group) to a Project Organisation operating in the Marketing, Communications and/or Media industries. Working in teams, they will undertake a structured marketing and communications or business development exercise pertinent to their industry. This will be supported by seminar work equipping the students with knowledge of approaches, tools and techniques for completing the task and an understanding of report formats appropriate for conveying the results. During the practicum, in-depth work will be undertaken in identifying the scope, opportunities, constraints and recommendations of the exercise. Students will learn to work with unstructured and incomplete information in real business settings, to develop research and networks to support their enquiry, to work successfully in teams, to present their findings and seek and receive constructive feedback in a range of settings. Students will also be encouraged to plan, reflect and modify their approaches to improve the outcomes of their efforts in managing the business project.

Students enrolled in this subject will be assisted to find a placement in a professional working environment where they will gain direct exposure to professional practice in their chosen field. They will work under the guidance of a senior staff member, with additional support from the subject co-ordinator. As well as taking part in the host organisation's day-to-day work, students will undertake a research project of concrete and practical benefit to the host organisation or the broader industry. The research topic will be negotiated between the student, the organisation's management and the subject co-ordinator. Students seeking to undertake the research internship in their current place of employment must consult the subject coordinator.

Business managers request, assess, purchase and use marketing research to make a wide range of informed decisions about target markets, product offerings and the performance of marketing activities. To be able to do this competently, managers need to know what benefits marketing research can provide, what research methods are appropriate for the different types of problems, and how data should be collected, analysed, interpreted and presented so that it is meaningful to other users. These are skills students will acquire through their participation in a 'real-life' client-sponsored project.

This subject requires students to design and deliver a substantial research project. Students will select an object of study, an appropriate methodology, and tools for analysing and interpreting the data they gather from their sources. Enrolment in the thesis is across two consecutive semesters and students must enrol in the subject in each semester to ensure they are meeting the full 37.5 point requirement for the year-long subject.

Refer to MECM90032 Marketing Communications Thesis Part 1 for details

This subject introduces students to research skills for students planning, researching and writing a thesis in the School of Culture and Communication. Research Principles and Practices explores traditional and contemporary research practices and the differing methodological approaches guiding research practices in the School of Culture and Communication. It explores key research principles and practices including: defining an academic field, establishing a research question, identifying key words and key texts, developing a literature review, preparing and presenting a research proposal. Research Principles and Practices provides students with specific research methodologies and academic practices that will facilitate their research projects. It will also provide information about copyright, ethics and the conduct of ethical research.

Great books teach us how to describe experience, how to evaluate it, and how to imagine its liberating transformation. They deepen our engagement with critical traditions of thought that extend back through time and, by doing this, they enable us to better understand and address key issues facing the world today. Emboldened and impelled by the voices of great thinkers and writers, we gather crucial lessons on leadership, empathy, moral capacity, critical thinking, cultural complexity, social difference, creativity and innovation and arguably the very meaning of being human. Given what we can do in the world today, great books also help us to think about what we should do. This subject provides a critical introduction to ten great works on the basis that answers to the challenges of our era won’t simply come from technical skills, managerial capacity or datasets alone, but from a developed knowledge of the powerful ideas that underpin literature, history and philosophy.

How do we adapt to new cultural settings and function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity? How do we orient ourselves to knowledge that accounts for cultural complexity? This subject addresses these questions by examining cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is concerned not only with producing social and institutional sustainability but the frameworks and practices which enable people to thrive in, belong to and enhance the communities in which they live and work. This subject will examine: management approaches to cultural intelligence, cultural complexity theory, everyday multiculturalism and cultural diversity planning, across a range of sites and case studies including the multi-ethnic workplace, the cross-cultural marketplace, social contract learning, cultural statistics, creative industries, social media and open source intelligence. Introducing the cultural dimensions of organisational strategy, governance and competency, students will learn how cultural intelligence can potentially mitigate cultural complexity.

Students will read a range of fictional and non-fictional serial narratives written in the late 20 th and early 21 st centuries for newspapers, radio, film and television, such as Maupin’s Tales of the City books, Miller’s Mad Max films, or Breaking Bad. Students will analyse these texts with a focus on the relationship between serial distribution and storytelling form, and with particular attention given to historical transformations and new developments. Students will also read critical approaches to serial narrative concentrating on textual forms, genre, criticism, technologies of production and distribution, industrial formations of production and distribution, cultural contexts, and modes of audience engagement. Students will work to devise a concept outline for an original serial narrative for print, audio or screen (e.g. television series or podcast series), and write selected installments.

This subject is only available to students admitted to the Bachelor of Arts Honours (Creative Writing), Graduate Diploma in Arts (Advanced) Creative Writing, the Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing, Master of Global Media Communications, Master of Marketing Communications, or the Master of Arts and Cultural Management.

One outcome of the globalisation of the Australian job market is the increasing need for transcultural communication skills in both the private and public sectors. Transcultural communication typically entails interaction in which one or more of the communicators use a second or third language. Successful transcultural communication requires not only a shared language but also strong intercultural awareness and skills. These include verbal skills such as how and when to use speech and silence as well as non-verbal skills knowing how and when gaze, gesture and body posture may differ across cultures. This subject will provide students with the tools to achieve successful transcultural encounters in professional settings. The delivery of the subject will include lectures with audio-visual materials, discussion sessions to deepen the students' understanding of theories of transcultural communication and their practical implications, and assignments that require an application of presented theories to the analysis of transcultural communication. Sponsored by the School of Languages and Linguistics and the Faculty of Arts' Asia Institute, this subject will focus on transcultural communication at the intersection of cultural, linguistic, ethnic, and religious boundaries. The subject will be taught by sociolinguistic and transcultural communication experts whose expertise ranges from multicultural and Aboriginal Australia, to Asia, the Middle East, Northern and Southern Europe, and the South Pacific.

This subject examines diverse understandings of audiences and introduces research approaches to investigating audience practices and patterns of consumption in a changing media landscape. It provides a detailed understanding of the different ways in which questions of media impact and audience power have been theorised, conceptualised and examined across the history of media research. Students will be encouraged to deepen their understanding of contemporary audience research methodologies from both administrative and critical points of views and to develop critical evaluation skills deployed in relation to these. Approaches examined will include early media effects studies rooted in the behavioural paradigm, and sociological studies of public beliefs and opinion formation, as well as political economy of globalisation and its (re)construction of audiences and approaches inspired by cultural studies that explore audiences as culturally situated and as active sense makers. Students will consider different audiences, media and genres across the course and engage in focused study of selected audiences and processes of reception.

This subject provides students with an advanced understanding of relevant theory and practice in contemporary public relations. Lectures will introduce case studies and practical accounts from industry professionals dealing with public relations functions including stakeholder relations, media relations, government relations, investor relations and issues/crisis management. This will be complemented with theoretical perspectives and examination of ethical considerations to situate the key issues and challenges of public relations in a global context.

This subject examines the strategies used by political actors to communicate with a focus on political, public and government communication. Topics covered include theories of political communication and how news media cover politics, ‘spin’ and PR methods used by politicians to manage the media, political advertising, political oratory, government communication and broadcast political interviews.

This subject will provide advanced practice in the field of marketing and communications delivered by an industry expert (anticipated to be offered by a different expert in each iteration). This subject investigates cutting-edge marketing communications practice through a practitioner-led lecture program. Students will engage with case studies, strategies and topical issues raised by a range of leading practitioners in the field.

This subject will provide advanced practice in the field of marketing communications and will be delivered by industry experts (anticipated to be offered by a different expert in each iteration). This subject investigates cutting-edge marketing communications practice through a practitioner-led lecture program. Students will engage with case studies, strategies and topical issues raised by a range of leading practitioners in the field.

Audiovisual communication is an important sector in today’s transnational digital sphere. The training in key areas of audiovisual production is relevant for various professional areas in the media and communication industry. This subject is designed in a ‘workshop’ approach where students will work in small groups in order to gain experience in various areas of audiovisual production. The subject will familiarise students, for example with techniques of script writing, producing, shooting, and preparation of audiovisual content for online as well as broadcast delivery. Furthermore, principles of collaborative practice, studio directing, camera operation, sound recording, and post-production workflows will also be integral to the subject.

These techniques are delivered through project-related contexts using a project-based approach. It is aimed to deliver student productions online or other media platforms. Given the nature of the teaching of this subject, all students must consult with the subject coordinator prior to enrolment.

This subject will explore a broad range of issues central to management and business communication. These issues will draw on a number of different theories of management including corporate communication with stakeholders, the impact of new information and communication technologies, encouraging employee voice, and informal communication systems in organizations. The subject will evaluate and contrast different cases of management and business communication and explore the communication challenges facing businesses today.

Social entrepreneurs are individuals who establish an enterprise with the goal of solving complex social or environmental problems, including poverty, access to health, homelessness, climate change and food waste. They have been credited with success in disrupting the traditional forms and purpose of business and charity by creating innovative social enterprises that meld the best features of business and the non-profit sector. This subject seeks to equip students with a critical understanding of the social enterprise form and support them in developing a startup social enterprise with the purpose of solving a social and/or environmental problem. Designed and delivered with input from leaders in the social enterprise sector, the subject features lectures and workshops on social enterprise design, business modelling, pitching, social finance and measurement, as well as addressing the difficulties and dark side of social enterprise. In the subject students will develop an idea for a startup social enterprise and develop a business plan which they will pitch to a Shark Tank panel of experts. Prizes will be awarded to the best ideas to help develop these solutions into successful social enterprises.

This subject examines the practices of public relations management. Topics include an introduction to public relations, the evolution of public relations, public relations theory, ethical issues in public relations, public relations strategies and tactics, the various stakeholders/publics that organisations interact with and the issues that they face with their major stakeholder relationships, crisis management, and also an examination of the difference between marketing public relations (MPR) and corporate public relations. Marketing public relations (MPR) is a key focus in the class.

This subject provides an introduction to the basic concepts, principles and activities of marketing and how to manage an organisation's marketing effort. Some of the principal topics include value-based marketing, market research, selecting target markets, product and brand management, marketing communications (advertising and promotions, as well as personal selling), management of distribution channels, pricing decisions and marketing ethics. Students are also introduced to the nature of buyer behaviour, including decision-making patterns, purchase behaviours, and customer satisfaction.

This subject serves as a capstone subject integrating previous knowledge and skills acquired in other marketing subjects. It introduces students to the tasks of identifying and evaluating a variety of marketing strategies and gives students the opportunity to learn, examine and apply strategic marketing decision processes in a variety of business environments. The subject is applications oriented: it makes extensive use of case studies.

This subject focuses on the task of developing and managing brands. It examines the way in which brand decisions may contribute to creating competitive advantage and explains how to analyse industries, make changes in brand strategies over time, and respond to competitive moves. Students also gain an understanding of the issues involved in the development and management of new products, how to manage product lines, and how to measure, develop and manage their brand equity.

This subject aims to equip potential leaders in organisations with current knowledge and tools to compete through the strategic use of service. Suitable industries include consulting, advertising, finance, healthcare, legal, retail, hospitality, transportation and public services to name a few. The management of a service organisation presents unique challenges and opportunities because of the intangible nature of the offering and the critical role of service personnel, customers and technology in service creation and delivery. This subject will focus on the enabling practices, theories and frameworks that help improve the customer/client or citizen experiences for enhanced brand loyalty and organisational success. Subject content includes: developing a service culture; sales training; building trusting relationships; metrics for customer service; blueprinting desirable customer experiences; managing supply and demand of a perishable service; enabling service personnel, IT and customers for superior value creation; designing effective servicescapes; recognising and managing role stress in service personnel; planning for feedback and effective service failure recovery.

This subject concentrates heavily on advertising, but also addresses the issues of internet advertising, public relations, and sales promotions. The emphases will be on understanding the theoretical foundation underlying persuasive communications, promotional strategy selection, integration of communications with other marketing activities, strategy implementation, and budgeting. The subject incorporates both lecture and cases as instructional vehicles.

Social enterprises are businesses that exist with the specific purpose of solving social and/or environmental problems through trade. These enterprises merge the best features of business and the non-profit sector to create innovative solutions that address both social and market gaps. Within these enterprises, success is thus measured in social and/or environmental terms, in addition to financial sustainability.

This multidisciplinary subject has been developed in partnership with Unbound, a Melbourne-based social enterprise leading innovative education programs on social change through entrepreneurship across the Asia-Pacific region. The subject equips students with a critical understanding of social entrepreneurship, and provides them with a practical opportunity to develop their own start-up social enterprise. Groups will be formed according to personal interest and students will work in small project teams to conceptualise, develop and pitch a viable social enterprise initiative. Students are also expected to test their idea in the marketplace in real time, for example, liaise with external organisations to receive feedback on your product/service and/or develop a minimal viable product that can be showcased.

To support the development of ideas, the subject draws from case studies, field trips and guests speakers from the Victorian start-up ecosystem that share their personal experiences and advice as successful social entrepreneurs. Students will also have the opportunity to receive direct support on their idea during a feedback salon with academics, business leaders and social enterprise practitioners.

Upon completing this subject, students will develop a critical understanding of the nature of social enterprise in contemporary society and the practical requirements for developing sustainable social enterprise projects. The subject also uniquely provides students with the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world solutions in real time.

The rise of Asia will be a defining feature of the 21st century and holds the potential to generate a paradigm shift in how we understand public policy, administration and management. Australian policy makers are actively turning their attention to the policy, governance and practice changes required to maintain Australia’s economic and political influence in the region, while broadening and strengthening relationships with Asian nations.

This subject will provide students with the necessary foundations for creating, analysing and implementing public policy in the context of the Asian Century. In the first instance, students will consider what is meant by the Asian Century in relation to shifting economic, political and social power and what this means for international relations and governance. Students will explore what it means to be ‘Asia capable’. In particular, the course will examine how key Asian nations view and action public policy in order to understand key differences and similiarities in the way public policy is conceptualized and acted on from a Western perspective. As part of this, students will explore how key Western-style institutions, practices and orientations which comprise ‘public administration’, ‘public management’ and ‘public governance’ might be limited by or changed within the context of increasing Asian influence in the global and regional public policy sphere.

This highly interactive course will engage important theoretical discussions and translate key concepts into practice through the exploration of case studies from across the Asian region. Students will engage with the ongoing public debate about 'the Asian Century' to explore how it may shape the content (i.e. what does public policy include/exclude), construct (i.e. what are the differences in terms of how public policy is viewed) and conduct (i.e. how public policy is made and realised) of future public policy.

Upon successful completion of this subject, students will be better placed to understand and engage with public policy in the context of the Asian Century.

Performance management and measurement have become cornerstones of how modern public sector organisations account for what they do. Yet as states, societies and economies have grown and developed in ever increasing complexity, since the end of the twentieth century new ways of thinking about the relationship between governments and their citizens have emerged. These developments have in part been a reaction to measurement-based managerial approaches, but also partly reflect a deeper concern regarding the apparent decline in citizens’ attachment to and respect for the practice of politics. This subject aims to provoke a wide ranging discussion about the role of ‘publics’ (citizens, users, clients, stakeholders, communities, etc.) in public policy and public services through critical engagement with an emerging paradigm of citizen-centred governance. Sometimes called Government 2.0, this approach to public policy and public administration is typically described as networked, collaborative and flexible, with service delivery arrangements which are personalised, choice-based and delivered through multiple channels.

This subject will equip public sector leaders with a theoretical understanding and practical toolbox of approaches to managing a major change management exercise in government. A range of case studies will be used to provide a step by step analysis of the challenges in driving major change. Understanding the underlying factors which lead to effective policy, process and program innovation in government is central to the capacity of governments to deliver better policy and better outcomes for the whole community. We will also critically examine the theoretical underpinnings of newer tools in policy making such as behavioural techniques (‘nudge’), randomised controlled trials and big data. This subject will seek to explain what drives public sector innovation and the structures, processes and individuals that promote and obstruct it. There is a focus on the role of government in driving large scale innovation and how to build a national innovation system that promotes technology and high wage economic growth for a nation.

This subject studies the elements of successful communication in business and professional contexts - and these elements also translate into one’s personal communication. We study key skills, both written and oral, and take a resolutely practical approach to communication in all forms, including presentations, copywriting, emailing, project reports, media releases and marketing and public relations. We examine the role of communication within the organisation and develop practical tools for effective communication and negotiation. We use practical examples to develop our ability to build rapport, our presentation skills and our body language.

This introductory subject is designed to induct graduate students into the major issues and current thinking in web-based communication; to familiarize students with the major channels and platforms in use in this field; to develop an understanding of online genres, and teach essential writing and editing skills for online contexts. Students will gain practical experience in writing in a number of different styles and formats and will learn to publish their work on a digital platform.