Rasmussen College Module 5 Integrated Marketing Communications Project

Although our focus for this course is on public relations and advertising, we’ve learned that they should be part of a larger integrated marketing communication (IMC) campaign. We also learned that the IMC campaign should be cohesive and consistent and should combine the right elements of the promotion mix (which may include PR, advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and digital marketing), delivered via a seamless collection of online and offline media outlets. Because the focus of the course is PR and advertising, we will focus on these elements of the promotion mix for this assignment. Just keep in mind that, in reality, there would likely be other promotion mix elements used in an effective IMC campaign.

You previously identified the publics and target audiences you plan to reach with your PR and advertising campaigns. You also identified the online and offline media outlets you could use to reach your publics and target audiences. In this assignment, you will complete the remaining steps in the IMC process.

To prepare for this assignment, review the following:

• Review your previous course project submissions and the feedback you received from your instructor. Remind yourself of the publics and target audiences you plan to reach. Also remind yourself of the online and offline media outlets you chose and your rationale for using them.
• Review (or complete, if you haven’t already) your initial post for this module’s discussion forum. (Your initial post will be a great starting point for developing your “key message” for this assignment.)

To complete this two-part assignment, do the following.

Part 1 – PR and Advertising Samples

For this part of the assignment, you will create a PR sample and an advertising sample that could fit into a larger IMC campaign.

1. Public relations sample:Create a public relations sample to influence key stakeholders to believe that your company has the crisis under control. For your PR sample, you may create any one of the following:
   • Press Release / News Release
   • Public Service Advertisement (create a storyboard or .mp4 video file)
   • Press Conference Speech (write the speaker’s script)
2. Advertising sample:Create an advertising sample to persuade the target audience to believe that your company is still the right choice for the target audience. For your advertising sample, you may create any one of the following (Note: your advertising sample must include both images/visuals and copy/text!):
   • TV ad (create a story board or .mp4 video file)
   • Magazine ad
   • Tri-fold brochure
   • E-newsletter

Conduct an Internet search to find samples of the PR or advertising tactics you select so that you can get some ideas for the format and layout.

Part 2 – Explanation

For this part of the assignment, you will explain your PR and advertising samples. To complete this part of the assignment, do the following in a minimum of 5 pages (not including title and reference pages):

1. Explain each of your samples, including the rationale behind your choices for the message, advertising appeal, layout, etc. Be sure to incorporate concepts from the course to support your rationale.
2. Critique your PR and advertising samples. How effective will they be at reaching your intended publics and target audiences? Explain your answer.
3. Of the online and offline media outlets you identified in previous project assignments, which do you feel would be the most effective for distributing the samples you created and why?
4. Determine which additional promotion mix elements should be used if you were to create an IMC campaign for your company (for example, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and digital marketing). Using information you have learned, explain how you would use at least two additional promotion mix elements.

Include a title and reference page formatted according to APA standards.