If I were dean...

One of the most difficult administrative jobs in a university or college is the professional task of "dean"* of a college (liberal arts to the professional schools).  Though the job is not listed as "executive" but "administrative" by the Chronicle of Higher Education career search system it seems to have bridged the roles. Dean must for her school must conduct strategic research, plan actions, implement innovations and routines and evaluate success. It is both policy and practice driven.  Historically (at least beginning over 60 years ago) the role of Dean was a role for more senior faculty who had shown some interest in leadership as a department chair, member of the faculty senate, chair of an productive university or college committee or other policy and administrative assignments. The mix of talent is much greater today but all deans must understand the fundamentals and future of higher education as  unique and uniquely critical institutions.

While there is much more to be said in other venues and future blogs, I have worked with over a dozen deans in Management Schools and a Journalism School. Eight of the deans were part of the past 25 academic years of service in the now unusually named Medill School of Journalism Media Integrated Marketing Communications (no commas). From this experience I have noted that the best leaders who see the future of university education (its warts and its glories) are tied by years of professional practice to the faculty and students of  educational institutions, understand the important roles of other institutions including business, government, educational, NGOs and, of course, the global versions of all these entities.

Of course, the leader must also work well with the leadership of relevant (and extensive) stakeholder groups (alumni, diversity, professional, other educational institutions, suppliers, consultancies, individual donors, charities, employers, research institutes and dozens more (easily mapped using stakeholder values). I served as chairman of my department for several of the Medill deans including having served as chairman of a growing and restructured department, With the teamwork of 3 senior faculty and one junior faculty (myself) we renamed with mostly positive effects the "Advertising Department" eventually to the Department of Integrated Marketing Communications. We rebalanced the department to include more junior faculty with doctorates in business (my own degree was a joint doctorate in business and journalism-mass communications).  Our plan was to offer a new generation of graduate students and now to a lessor degree undergraduate students managerial knowledge to create and lead organizations using the increasingly respected field of communications as a leadership strategy.  Management schools I have taught in then and still today have not found a comprehensive model to educate the next generation of professionals and leaders to use communications to consumers beyond one of the so-called 4th "P" (promotion) of traditional marketing or useful but simple tactical methods. Modern professional communications helps an organization lead to reach and help dozens of stakeholders (audiences, publics).

Why do I care?  I am the kid who paid a nickel for a candy bar and the teenager who worked for 90 cents an hour changing tires and who delivered 300 newspapers daily for a lot more per hour in a Rambler American. I am the kid who could work during summer to pay for more than the cost of tuition ($300 per semester) at the extraordinary and global University of Wisconsin-Madison and managed an apartment building to get free housing or lived at home when my middle class family had some financial challenges. I am also a first generation college graduate in my family which still defines me and my concern for continuing first generation college students today. All this means I see university education from a perspective that constantly drives me to consider better ways to deliver that valuable education to each generation and to maintain and develop new definitions of educational excellence and valuation.

I expect to comment on this topic and a range of related topics in the future as I revitalize this blog and other channels of communicaitons open to me. The list grows if you share coffee with faculty or conversations with families saving for their children's college education. Some of the topics and some of the questions I expect to answer include a round number of 10:
1. educating the public and leadership on the true costs of college to lower income and middle income families.
2. identifying more creative scholarship models for lower and middle income students and families.
3. balancing the globalization of U.S. and global university student bodies and faculty for the best possible educational model
4. carefully plan and target curriculum and advising to make 4 year universities a 4 year opportunity to graduate for students, but create awareness of alternative higher education career models.
5. examine orientation programs for global students as well as all students to increase their likelihood of success in class and timely graduation
6. Hiring practices that honor the broadly liberal cultural values of education by insuring due diligence of Constitutional and legal standards for educational role models
7. Beyond contact with alumni on financial target lists design more diligent efforts to reach out to alumni including global graduates, first generation graduates and diverse alumni to keep their life progress associated with their schools and degrees.
8. Celebrate the undergraduate degrees impact on education and a safe educational environment but also celebrate the graduate degree for that special degrees contribution to professional and educational development.
9. Naturally, measure and plan the "newer" mix of educational delivery systems including "distance learning" which I taught to medical professionals more than 25 years ago. I will use Skype as I post this note today for a colleague's class in Florida and then use WeChat tonight with a "think tank" in the PRC. What is the best mix of degrees, courses, instructors, students and contact?
10. Not finally, but in addition, how do we maintain excellence in core areas of knowledge for a civilized, diverse and thoughtful society of educated women and men. What role does fleeting methods of technology really have in higher education?

*dean is defined in late Latin (showing the value of two years of high school Latin at Madison West) as "chief of a group of 10". I might multiple 10 by one or two 10s today.

The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communications (2012) ed. Clarke Caywood, McGraw-Hill: NY.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/26/introducing-the-tuition-is-too-damn-high/
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/obama-and-the-ongoing-expansion-of-public-education/384685/
 

Distance Learning/Teaching - Hybrid Model

For many decades the University of Wisconsin-Madison used distance learning methods as part of their out-reach to rural parts of the state and to reach busy professionals. Experience for several years as a Business School professor with a Medical School Administrative Medicine MBA style degree defined the value of a hybrid program.

Hybrid is defined as using a combination of distance technology learning and face-to-face teaching. The model used contact via available relevant technology (from slow scan video in the 1970s, digital voice and video conference calls in the 1980s, web-based text and video in the 90s and 3-D in the past decade). It also used stone and glass classroom bookends of class start-up and closing. Graduation was an option of in person or by distance.

While some classes may be taught purely at a distance; the very high cost and challenges of many professional degree classes would seem to demand a mix of more face-to-face networking through direct human interaction. I would suggest a mix of 80 percent distance with 20 percent interpersonal in a classroom.

While many universities and corporations use various forms of distance learning for certificates, degrees http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/imc/imconline.aspx and even simple meetings (see www.Gronstedtgroup.com), the discussion is still open on the success of pure and hybrid models.  Even if a program used only distance learning technology; as a student or participant I would be very tempted to plan a face-to-face meeting during the program and before graduation.
 Clarke L. Caywood, Ph.D. Professor, Northwestern University

PR will far outstrip Advertising and Promotions in job market according to Feds

The reknowned Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports in an updated study from 2009 to late 2010 that public relations (PR) will far outstrip "advertising/ promotions" in creating new managerial jobs. In fact, advertising-promotions management will decline -1.7 percent and fail to even replace the positions openned due to retirement. PR will grow 12.9%. More entry level and tactical jobs as "PR specialists" will grow 24%. A number of PR related jobs in writing will also grow (tech writers 18.2%, writers and authors 14.8%). The report will remind some readers of a popular book nearly a decade ago: Ries and Ries The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR in 2002.

The good news for communication professionals in PR and journalism in the first two decades of the 21st century is the growth of PR according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It may be surprising that even branding does not give advertising the lift some expected while corporate branding (reputation) and marketing PR for products and services branding will grow.

The negative 1.7%. means that growth in advertising and promotions management is projected to be zero from 2008 to 2018 and even jobs that exist will not be filled 100%. However, to put this BLS employment category of advertising, marketing, promotions, PR and sales management in perspective, the employment size of sales management will continue to be 6-7x that of PR and marketing management will be 3X that of PR. PR will continue to be 27% greater number of jobs than advertising and promotions and increase to 45% more by 2018. (T. Alan Lacey and Benjamin Wright Occupational Employment Projections to 2018)

For young professionals this does not mean that some of the skills and knowledge of advertising is dead but that the institution of advertising may be in decline. The same can be said for journalism. Some of the institutions of journalism may be dying but the values and skills of journalism may not be dead. In fact, the allignment of PR and journalism has long been a professional track for journalists using their gifted writing and communication skills. More on this in a future blog. At the Medill School I have offered and am planning classes to address this gap in employment and thinking. My graduate and undergraduate classes include topics in PR and marketing to cross train advetising students and journalism students. Also, remember that despite the lack of general opportunities in some fields there is always room for talented and well-educated and trained professionals in any field.
http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/faculty/imcfulltime.aspx?id=128377
http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Advertising-Rise-PR/dp/0060081988/denominatorbo-20

Guest Blog on Culpwrit Blog February 22, 2011

Prof Offers 20 Tips to Land Internships Reprinted from www.culprit.com
February 22nd, 2011 · 1 Comment

Clarke Caywood

As a teacher I have spent 20 years helping hundreds of graduate students secure over $3 million in tuition and fees from companies, agencies and NGOs. Through this experience of matching students with organizations, I have learned a few lessons that might help students and teachers work as teams for securing residencies as we call them.

1. Contact the human resources department or internship program directors, but personal contacts with professionals in the field are critical.
2. Use Linked-In, professional association memberships, class speakers and other contacts.
3. Write finely honed resumes, Linked-In and Facebook listings of client-based projects from courses, summer internships and previous work experience.
4. Give the company a choice of candidates (but not too many) since using resumes will make the process manageable for them and the internship team (professor and student).
5. Rely on experienced staff with relevant contacts at the university who can manage the critical details that professors seem to lose track about.
6. Build a website about the program and maybe an old fashioned brochure to allow the agency, company or NGO to show the quality of the school program to others.
7. Produce a strong video interview on YouTube, Yahoo video or Flickr as a link.
8. Use interview skill training for internship candidates.
9. Academic credit can be helpful if the professor is involved for a syllabus of expected work to evaluate the internship and intern.
10. In school-managed programs students should agree to go to the first company choosing them to avoid traditional market job competition.
11. Students should only apply and be matched to organizations that they are willing to work for.
12. For 10 weeks students should expect to work like any other employee without special requests for summer time off, weddings, etc. Work early and work late to show your willingness and passion to solve the organization’s problems.
13. Having a job description prepared by the faculty and team in advance will allow the student to get to work more quickly.
14. Treat all staff including administrative assistants with great respect–they can facilitate your productive time.
15. Seek out mentoring and learn about the organization over cups of coffee on a break or modest lunches.
16. Be prepared to do more than the assigned work when they find out you are not the typical intern even if you think you might not want to work there.
17. Plan the end of the internship carefully so that you don’t leave any work undone.
18. After you return to school send your contacts an occasional article or reading from your courses that might interest them and keep them aware of your pending graduation date,
19. Write a paper on your experience and use of course knowledge for internship credit or for publication in a trade journal.
20. When you have established your career reciprocate with internships for the next generation! Finally, I don’t believe in in “free” internships. Any company or agency can afford to pay some amount to at least cover your expenses. School programs should include securing payment for at least the course tuition. Good luck!

Clarke Caywood is Director of the Graduate Program in Public Relations in the Medill Graduate School at Northwestern University where he teaches crisis management, communications management, marketing and public relations.

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Tags: Advice from a Pro · Guest Post · Job Search
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1 Jesse Davis // Feb 22, 2011 at 11:08 am

To start this is some great information. However, I am a college senior majoring in public relations and I am currently looking for an internship. I have been rather successful in finding the right person to talk to or take out to coffee, but I don’t know how to begin a conversation with them without looking like all I want is a job. Do you have any advice to begin to ask people if they are willing to take time out of their day to have a conversation about their job?

Another question I have is that I really like the idea of a YouTube interview video to separate myself from the rest of the applicants, but how creative or casual should you get with the video to show personality while maintaining a professional image?

Thanks for posting this blog!
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2 Clarke Caywood, Ph.D. // Feb 22, 2011 at 12:53 pm

Jesse thanks for being alert to this important blog site. Watch my Twitter site for more clues about PR at IMCPROF. People in our field seem naturally inclined to help mentor the next generation. As long as you are respectful in your request, ask interesting questions (based on your classes and readings) most PR pros will try to be helpful. The creator of this blog, Ron Culp, taught me that meeting young professionals pays off in the long run as you may have an opening for them at some point in the future. They know you want a job or internship. You know they know so just be transparent. “Do you have an opening or can you help advise and direct me toward a career in PR?" is a fair question. On Flickr or YouTube (other sites as well) I would use a digital image, on a tripod (to avoid Blair Witch Project look) with a friend (swap out). Casual but not sloppy is fine, look into the camera and say something interesting about yourself and something interesting about the field from your studies. You might mention your findings on a class project for a client. 3 minutes is enough. You might rotate the video or have two titled for a choice. See IMC residencies on YouTube though they are bit dated. Good luck!

Someone asked where do IMC students go after graduation?

IMC (Advertising Department) used to send almost 100% of the graduates in the late 1980s and early 1990s to marcom agencies advertising, PR and direct marketing. When these firms were merged under holding companies they still hired out students in IMC but also hired MBAs for the corporate offices.

After teaching MBAs for over a decade I found that they would and could work in any industry doing almost anything. Look around your office or room and ask if you are willing to sell anything you see and work for a firm that sells it. The inclination may define an some of the 265,000 MBAs who graduate each year. There are two attactions to hiring IMC students: 1. they use communications as a primary and unique strategic advantage to conduct business. 2. they like to work in the communications industry (agencies, media, publishing).

The 15 month degree is also a bit cheaper than some private school MBAs. All individuals considering graduate should seriously consider "running the numbers" or calculating the return on investment of the degree. You will need to search this blog site for help but also ask the schools 1. all direct costs (tuition, books, travel for classes) 2. housing costs in area as more or less costly than your current costs, 3. estimate loss of income from leaving work to return to school, not working while in school and how long it takes to find a job after graduation (a serious issue in this economy since it can be 6 months or more). What is the cost of borrowing and finally what will be the estimated increase in your salary based on earning a new degree (demand details here). Naturally you can add less economic factors like the value of pride of a graduate degree, meeting your life partner in school, taking time off from work, etc. But, please run the numbers to show that you are a business person with your own decisions.

However, at NU IMC students are educated and trained to be able to apply their in-depth knowledge of communications which is not taught in MBA prograsms to any type of company in B2B and B2C and NGOs and even government. They work in "marketing services", public relations, employee relations, branding (with some distinctions), investor relations, issues management and strategic planning and more.

While many MBAs are hired to work in brand management in consumer goods companies; IMC students are better suited to work on communications (rather than pricing, logistics and product issuues) of branding. There is some confusion in this hiring arena by HR professionals since MBAs may have taken only one or even no course on advertising and promotion, no courses on PR, media analysis and none on database customer analysis. Still, MBAs dominate the brand management hiring.

Of course, IMC students are just as entrepreneurial as as MBAs. They are able and willing to form their own companies (usually with a communications advantage). Search for IMC at Northwestern for a more comprehensive insight to the degree.http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/imc/default.aspx. If you want more information on the salaries, employers, careers of IMC students contact the school for details.

Sample Syllabus for review by colleagues, current students and readers

For 2011 Draft Integrated Marketing Communications Department

Clarke L. Caywood, Ph.D.

Integrated Communications

 Formerly known as Communication Skills and Persuasive Messages

IMC 454, Section 20-21 9 a.m-11 a.m. Noon -2 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, Wednesday Labs 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.  Winter 2011

I.          Class Schedule and Instructors

Lecture at MTC 3-127 and Forum Room, Sections 20/21

9-10:50 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays or 12:00-1:50 p.m., Lab depending on your assigned section

Laboratory teaching and assignment work in Fisk Basement Wednesdays Labs a. 9 a.m.-10:30, b. 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon 12-12:30 lunch 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. d.  2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.  e. 3:30 – 5 p.m.

George Harmon

      Office hours: Wednesdays or by appointment

      3-139 McCormick Tribune Center

      847 491-2092 (office), 847/446-1189 g-harmon@northwestern.edu

Clarke Caywood

Office hours: Wednesdays or by appointment and before and after class c-caywood@northwestern.edu

      3-101 McCormick Tribune Center

      847 491-5011 Office phone. Or 847 4915011

Rachael Mersey Office hours: Wednesdays or by appointment and before and     after class rdmersey@northwestern.edu

      3-114 McCormick Tribune Center  

      Phone:  847-491-2196 

II.         Course Description, Goals and Objectives

From a very senior communications executive of a top branded company:  “Let me offer up Walker’s Law: The greater the amount of communication, the less valuable bad communications and the more valuable good communications. Here’s how I got there. Today, many of us communicate essentially from the moment we wake up until we turn out the lights at night, sixteen hours or more. (If you include passive one-way communication, like radio and TV, that number goes even higher.)  This is far more than our grandparents or their grandparents communicated. With sixteen hours of communications a day, only the good stuff cuts through the clutter and gets noticed.

The quickest way to the top in any organization is to be able to express your thoughts concisely and compellingly. Especially for those just starting out, it provides a way to set yourself apart and show your potential in a very tangible and noticeable way.  I continually remind those on my team: “If this e-mail (or memo or presentation or elevator conversation) was the only thing a top executive had to judge you by, are you OK with that?” Often it is what they will be judged on. As a result I advise every professional, but particularly those starting out, to put communication at the top of the list of things to work on. Communication matters.”

Integrated Communications (Communication Skills and Persuasive Messages) is an IMC course designed to improve students’ skills in developing and delivering traditional and newer technological communications. The course emphasizes knowledge of the how communications can contribute to policy, and strategy. It also provides the rationale or explanation of why communications is needed or a particular tactic would be productive. 

The course will improve your skills in writing for business, skills in oral presentation, interpersonal skills in business environments, and, when needed, persuasive messages. The course builds on the title of the degree and your personal orientation and commitment to communication. In the professionally competitive spirit on NU’s campus, we would like to say that our goal is to make you 20 percent better communicators than your peers enrolled in the Kellogg School of Management.

This course is designed to give you an overview of the role of communications for a wide range of stakeholders relevant to Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). We will address the “C” in IMC as a policy and strategic advantage for marketing and management leaders. The strategic elements are unique to communications. They include an audience based 4 step process from the international work of IMC faculty and consultants.

It also contains rich theoretical concepts that have been tested time and again to provide the argument why a particular strategy or tactic would be useful for solving organizational problems.  Several strategic research and data tracking methods for communications will be introduced for your use to help you defend your recommendations.  Most managers will not have the specific knowledge you will possess from this class and the IMC curriculum – you must be prepared to prove the value of your suggestions.  You will learn that in this class.  

We seek to:

1.    Write fundamental and more advanced types of IMC messages and know the basic elements of each type.

2.    Write clear, brief and accurate pieces of communication that employ correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, usage and context.

3.    Edit our own writing for basic errors and correct them by using proper editing symbols.

4.    Write and edit fast enough to be able to complete assignments under deadline pressure in a corporation, in the field, on the way to the meeting or on the podium.

5.    Use Associated Press (AP) style as followed by businesses and other organizations.

6.    Apply judgments to sets of facts and then synthesize those facts into openings that are concise and writing that is organized and coherent.

7.    Know when to attribute information in order to avoid editorializing, and know how to handle attribution smoothly and quotations properly.

8.    Gather facts and transfer them accurately.

9.    The strategic process used by hundreds of businesses trained by the faculty gives the tactical methods above a means to be measured and rewarded.  To evaluate the tactical activities above we will learn about general communications audits, digital database audits, readability studies and competitive message analysis software. 

IV. Assignments / Projects

You will have many manageable assignments in this course. Assignments are due on the dates in the outline, but many of the assignments can be completed in the weekly lab with a writing teacher and coach supporting you. For all assignments, emphasis is on quality of writing and presentation. The intent is to constantly improve your skills.  

The course imitates the standards of professional communicators and marketing communicators and researchers in corporations, agencies and consulting firms. This is not just a class but a simulation of your ability to produce communications clearly, accurately and quickly. Like the writing examinations corporations, consulting firms and agencies are administering to job applicants; we expect you to be able to write and speak intelligently about your field with grammatical and rhetorical precision.

Class participation

You should always be prepared to contribute to class discussions, demonstrating preparation by asking questions and by integrating the vocabulary and concepts from the readings into class comments.  You will complete a self-evaluation for attendance and class participation at the mid-point with the help of Searle Teaching Center and at the end of the quarter.  Your effective class comments may address questions raised by others, integrate material from this and other courses, draw on real-world experiences and observations, or pose new questions to the class.  We encourage your thoughtful contribution from your reading, experience and inspired class discussion.

High-quality participation involves knowing when to speak and when to listen.  Comments that are repetitive, disrespectful, or lacking sufficient foundation are discouraged.  Students will have the opportunity to post relevant news articles via Twitter and to elaborate on their relevance in the class

Mid-term Subject Examination

There will be a one 90 minute mid-term exam in class. The exam will consist of several short essay questions about the readings and lectures. You will be given the reading before the exam and will be expected to apply the content from class to answer the questions. Some suggested topics will be part of the review session before the day of the examination.

Final Subject Examination

There will be a 110 minute final exam in class. The final exam will also consist of several short essay questions about the readings and lectures. You will be given the readings before the exam and will be expected to apply the content from class to answer the questions. Some suggested topics will be part of the review session before the day of the examination. 

Final Editing Examination

You will also take a final editing examination in your final laboratory session.  The exam will be your “post” editing exam to demonstrate your graded improvement from the class entry “pre” editing examination.

Peer and Personal Evaluation

Also, please note that you will be asked to complete a peer evaluation of each of your lab partners. In addition to quantitatively evaluating the contribution of each team member (including yourself), you will offer developmental feedback for each teammate as well.  You and your peers will evaluate your own contributions to the progress and success of the class. The expectation is that you will share in the success of the class with your participation.

 

V.        Evaluation

Grading:

There are four cases, 6 editing assignments, 2 oral assignments, two examinations on content (reading, lectures, panels, and cases), discussion, Twitter site usage, peer evaluation, pre and post editing examinations

                        

All work in the course contributes to your final grade. This includes in-class assignments and lab homework, quizzes and examinations. In keeping with the proud Medill tradition, you must rewrite any assignment with a √- or a grade of C+ or below. Your grade on a rewrite will combine with the original grade for an average grade on the assignment. There is the tradition of a “Medill F” where you misspell the names of the people, company or product/service in the IMC work.

VI. Honesty, Plagiarism, and Cheating

This course follows the Northwestern University code of student conduct as described in the NU student handbook and the Medill code of ethics. Questions of academic dishonesty, cheating, plagiarism, and other violations, their terms and conditions are all listed in the Student Handbook. The Student Handbook outlines the contract between the student, the instructor, and the University. Please read this and familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions.

The headline from Medill is: You cannot cheat in any way. It can cost you your graduate degree.

VII.      Labs

Please attend your assigned lab. There isn’t space for extra students in the lab rooms. Unless you arrange to shift to another lab with another student and notify the instructor in advance, the instructor may give you a zero on your work that day.

VIII.     Course Outline

The 10 Week 19 lecture/discussion classes would include the following topics:

1.   Stakeholder Targeting and Mapping (1) (supported with video) Readings and theory related to: Eckhouse: Rhetoric and Competitive Advantage. Organization and Competitive Messages

·         Mainstreaming: TV's ability to pull people to a common understanding of an issue.

What is freedom of speech for corporations? Politically oriented corporate messaging?  How can we have a common understanding in a diverse nation? If it works in China should we use it in the U.S. and vice versa?”

·       Technological determinism: Media communication and the technology it uses help shape the society in which we live. 

What is the real effect of a wildly popular magazine in this age such as People Style Watch? What is our perception of our society? Is it the medium or the message again? How does any important issue, product or service become successful in a high tech age?

2.   Applied Rhetorical Communications Theory in IMC and Journalism 1  Read  Competitive Communications Eckhouse Classical Argument and Modern Business and articles on specified communication theory 

·         Uses and gratifications: People use media to fill personal and social needs.

Can the newer cable media go too far with Fox and MSNBC?  Is this the new propaganda age?

·         Agenda melding: People join groups by "melding" agendas.

What about Chinese on-line buying clubs for building commercial communities? Can we integrate business and society with common green agenda?

·         Dissonance: When confronted by new information, people experience mental discomfort and they work to limit or reduce that discomfort.

Do I buy gas from the local BP dealer? Should I give my fiancé a diamond (possibly conflict source)?

3.   Applied Communications Theory in IMC and Journalism 2 (see video for  review)  Eckhouse: Refutation Argument as Inquiry, Strategic Disposition,

·         Parasocial relationships: People establish social relationships with media personalities.

Q scores with Fox, Good Morning America and micro channel hosts. What is the ROI value of “fame”?  Is trustworthiness and branding related?

·         Framing: To make sense of events, we categorize them.

“Progressive is the new liberal”. Who uses the term?  The President’s talking about stakeholders. Who defines the context of business and society?

·         Knowledge gap: The more information in the social system, the more the higher SES groups will gain in knowledge compared to those in lower SES groups.

Food deserts, environmental racism, hourly wages from non-union shops - What is sustainable for whom? And, who decides?

4.   Applied Communications Theory in IMC and Journalism 3 Eckhouse: Ethics in Argument – Classical Fallacies, Managing Ethos – Argument and Credibility

·         Adoption: Adopters pass through five steps--awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, adoption. 

Is the old model too linear as some IMC experts claim? Isn’t adoption even more important in a widely growing technological, entrepreneurial and innovative economy?

·         Cultivation: People who are heavy viewers of TV tend to believe that the "real" world is more similar to the world seen on TV than do light viewers.

What are the marketing and policy ethical issues? What about product alignment with the gullible or less cynical viewers (children, elderly, undereducated)?

·         Symbolic Interaction: People give meaning to symbols and then those symbols control peoples' behavior. 

Why aren’t graphics and imagery more important in IMC? What has happened to semiotics in the classroom and research programs of IMC?

5.    Reputation Case Study in Communications, Paul Argenti book. Case brief and discussion.  

§  Two-step flow: Certain members of society are active consumers of media and become opinion leaders who influence others.

Does this include bloggers, tweeters, those who are linked or use retweet or Bitly or Tinyurl?

6.   Executive Panel on the Role of Communications in Leadership - Best Communication Practices in IMC. Senior managers of communications who participated in design of this class.

7.   Authentic Storytelling Structure and Delivery 1 (supported with video/lab)

·         Spiral of silence: Public opinion consists of those opinions you can express in public w.o socially isolating yourself. 

Will we be allowed to blog about work? Can we be too transparent?

8.   Storytelling Structure and Delivery 2 (Presentation of best examples from lab practice)

·         Social learning theory: Children learn behaviors by watching them, including watching them on TV. 

What balance should IMC put into the system?  What greater damage can advertising do to marketing? Can advertising refocus its power? Doesn’t transparent PR gain in stature?

9.   MARCOM Case Studies in Communications, Argenti, Brief and discussion

·         Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Persuasive messages can be processed using either the central (recipient is motivated) or peripheral routes (recipient is not motivated).

Voting compares to which purchases? Is digital buying central?  How do we process increasing numbers of messages, over increasing numbers of channels?

10.                Midterm Examination on readings and lectures to-date

11.                Advanced Writing and Editing 1 (supported with video/lab) Eckhouse: Managing Ethos: Conciseness; Word Choice, Syntax, Punctuation, Grammar.

AP Manual of Style and Dunsky Chapters 1-4

12.                Advanced Writing and Editing 2 (corporate standards for employment)

AP Manual of Style and Dunsky Chapters 5 to conclusion

13.                Communication Metrics 1,  How communications is measured, Eckhouse:  Electronic Ethos - Computer Revision,

14.                Communication Metrics 2, Simple to sophisticated metrics  Kellogg Advertising and Media, Caywood and Diermeier Chapters

15.                Media Presentation Practice and Theory (supported with video/lab)

·         Agenda setting: The media don't tell people what to think; they tell them what to think about. 

Who is setting the industrial policy level agenda? What about extreme cable as product endorsers. Does it make sense?

16.                Media Case Studies in Communications,  Argenti

17.                Global  and Cross Cultural Communications

·         Cross-cultural Theory and experiences

18.                Global/Cross Cultural Case Studies in Communications, Argenti

19.                Executive Panel on the Role of Global Communications   in Leadership

20.                Comprehensive Final Examination

 Communication Coaching and Labs 10 sessions

Lab sessions for coaching and editing, rewriting would be held weekly for 1.5 hours in groups of around 18 students. The five sessions would meet from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in a dedicated writing lab.

Writing and Editing 6 assignments from IMC field: The assignments would depend on your background education, experience and testing with your peers. It would continue to include advertising, public relations, direct marketing and general business assignments. All work would be evaluated on progress in performance.

Oral Communications Delivery 4 assignments:  Each student will prepare two 2-3 minute presentations that will be videoed and critiqued.  Some will be presented to the entire student body. 

Trade Mark Decision Relies on Study by Gronstedt and Caywood for Ruling

The case is a mark infringement case
Hearing: Mailed:
December 16, 2009 June 11, 2010
Bucher
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
________
National Pork Board and National Pork Producers Council
v.
Supreme Lobster and Seafood Company
________
Opposition No. 91166701
against Serial No. 76574162

One quote of many praising the research.

The preponderance of this
evidence convinces us that this slogan, THE OTHER WHITE
MEAT, has become part of the fabric of popular culture in
the United States. We find especially compelling the
evidence from the Northwestern Study of 2000 showing that
only four other consumer slogans in the United States had a
greater degree of recognition than THE OTHER WHITE MEAT.
[Ex. 338] This finding supports a conclusion that
opposers’ mark is extremely well recognized by a broad
spectrum of consumers, and that this degree of recognition
among the general consuming public of this famous mark also
supports the conclusion that dilution by blurring is likely
upon the introduction of applicant’s slogan into the
marketplace.


Northwestern Study of 2000
As noted above, applicant objects strongly to
opposers’ submission of a study conducted in the year 2000
by outside academics at the School of Integrated Marketing
& Communications at Northwestern University (the
“Northwestern Study”). Applicant argues that this study
should be excluded inasmuch as the working papers for the
survey were inadvertently disposed of during an office move
well before this litigation arose, because the methodology
for the survey was flawed, and because the time frame of
the survey allegedly renders it irrelevant and
prejudicial. We disagree.

A brief on the case will be forthcoming along with a 2010 replication of the research.

Watch out! Pedestrian and Passenger Train Safety - Communication Challenge

Comments from a presentation on railroad safety for passengers and pedestrians. NU program June 22, 2010. Recent increase in crossing gate deaths in Lake Forest IL and 5000 deaths reported by the Federal RR Administration gave momentum to the program with about 60 attendees sponsored by the Transportation Center at Northwestern University. Three E's were on the agenda: enforcement, engineering and education/communication. On communications some notes:

Point 1: How many of you are under age 35? (about 15 percent of the hands went up). The rest of us are not the target of education and communications for the most part. The learning behavior of over 60% of the population is unlike our experience. If you grew up where teachers, coaches, police officers and members of Congress were your friend. You are in the older 40%. You may know "stop drop and roll" and "look listen and live". You saws PSAs, watched network TV, read ink on paper news. We did not try to simultaneously task everything all the time. Today we have new channels, new media new messaging customized to the new ways people learn and behave.

Point 2: Risk communications teaches us that if only 5% of the 5000 deaths reported by the Federal RR Administration has occurred in a single accident; the press, the Congress, the industry would have reacted much more directly and quickly to this still significant problem. When the crashes are isolated and are statistically more dangerous the public and media do not respond. We need new means to capture the attention to the importance of this issue with its higher risk to passengers and pedestrians.

Point 3: Federal grants do not ask for policy or significant communications about research on this or related topics: an academic article is not significant communications for a policy issue. We need more demands for education and communications.

Point 4. Stay on message: "How do we convince people to recognize the fatal consequences of being distracted around railroads" is accurate but not memorable or pithy enough to be repeated easily.

Point 5: Who is credible. Research can tell us this. It is not the President (or any recent President of the U.S.) or corporate leaders, government leaders. It may be NGOs or cartoon characters - seriously.

Point 6. We need to motivate and coordinate other institutions with billions of dollars of resources and investment in the risk of losing their employees.

1. employers who equip their highly educated and distracted professional with iPhone, Blackberries and laptops must help
2. families must be motivated to have designated safety directors (as we did with green issues and stop smoking issues in families).
3. Cell phone manufacturers and service providers need to accept (as liquor sellers) their contribution to the distraction and death of users beyond the auto
4. We need to link up with other more know programs in auto safety and instruction,
5. We need to organize all the RR, communities along the tracks and those with employees who depend on RR commuting

Let's go to the groups for your ideas.

[The talk was followed by a modified nominal group brainstorming session producing 60 ideas from 10 people in 45 minutes.]