Integrated Marketing Communications

Analyze an integrated marketing communications campaign of your Week 2 mentor

COMPANION TO THE WEEK 5 COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE AND THE DISCUSSION FORUM GUIDES | PREPARED

As A Self-Contained Writing Resource

The Week 5 written assignment, “Integrated Marketing Communications,” is anchored to Weekly Learning Outcomes 1 and 3 and to Course Learning Outcomes 4 and 5. It asks you to analyze the integrated marketing communications — IMC — of the mentor company you selected in Week 2 for the Global Marketing Plan Part 1. The paper has two parts: in Part 1 you identify and analyze a single IMC campaign across at least four media; in Part 2 you identify a different, non-advertising communication activity and compare it to that campaign. It is worth 7 points, is due on Day 7 (Monday) by 11:59 p.m., and is submitted through Waypoint. This guide takes the assignment apart directive by directive, decodes the grading rubric so you can see where the 7 points actually sit, lays out a research plan, and ends with a working outline and a model thesis. It is a companion to the Week 5 Comprehensive Study Guide: that guide teaches the Chapter 13–15 concepts; this one converts them into the paper. The Prompt, Restated Read the assignment’s instructions as a two-part checklist. The prompt is explicit that you must complete all of Part 1 before moving on to Part 2.

• Part 1 — Analyze an IMC campaign. Identify an IMC campaign for your mentor company; choose at least four examples of that campaign across different types of media; choose at least one print and one digital media source; provide a copy of the image or URL link to the ad; analyze the ad in each medium; describe how each medium’s unique characteristics are used; and explain which elements unify the campaign across media to make it count as an IMC.
• Part 2 — Compare a non-advertising activity. Identify another marketing communication activity from your mentor company other than advertising (sales promotion, sponsorship, product placement, personal selling, or direct marketing); describe its details; provide a link to a visual component of it; compare it to the IMC campaign; discuss to what extent they are aligned and would tell the same story for the brand; and discuss one strength and one weakness of this activity.

The paper must run 4–5 double-spaced pages (excluding the title and references pages), follow APA Style, open with an introduction that ends in a clear thesis, close with a conclusion, use academic voice, and cite at least two scholarly or credible sources in addition to the textbook.

paper.

The single most important fact about this assignment is stated on its own Canvas page: it “will be incorporated into your Week 6 Global Marketing Plan Part 2 final paper.” The faculty video for the week, featuring Dr. Avisha Sadeghinejad, the Program Chair for Marketing Programs, reinforces the point — it directs you to apply the promotion theory of Week 5 to the mentor company you have been building since Week 2. Two consequences follow. First, the work you do well now is reusable: a thorough IMC analysis written this week becomes the promotion section of the Week 6 plan, while a thin one has to be rebuilt later under more time pressure. Second, the company you must use is already chosen — it is your Week 2 mentor company. There is no new selection decision; the decision that matters now is which campaign of that company to analyze. Treat the 4–5 pages you write here as a finished component of the final paper, not a throwaway exercise.

is not the hard part. Watch the video and download its transcript before you begin; it walks through the assignment’s logic step by step.

The whole paper turns on one concept, so fix it before choosing a campaign. Integrated marketing communications is the coordination of all of a firm’s communication tools — advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing — so that every channel delivers one consistent message and the brand tells a single story. An IMC campaign is a specific, time-bounded effort that does exactly that across multiple media. The word the rubric and the prompt keep returning to is unify. A set of ads is an IMC campaign only if something holds it together across the media it runs in. The unifying elements are typically: A consistent message or theme. The same core idea or promise carried through every execution.

• A consistent slogan or tagline. A recurring line that signals the campaign across formats.
• Consistent visual identity. Shared logos, colors, typography, imagery, and tone.
• A consistent call to action or hashtag. The same response the campaign asks for, wherever it appears.
• A consistent target audience and positioning. The same people addressed with the same brand promise.

When you choose a campaign in Section 4 and analyze it in Section 6, this list is your test. The campaign you pick must visibly share these unifying elements across its four media examples — because Part 1’s final directive asks you to explain exactly which elements unify it.

You cannot choose the company — it is your Week 2 mentor company — but you must choose the campaign, and that choice decides how easy the rest of the paper is. The assignment requires four examples across different media, including at least one print and one digital source, so the campaign you pick must be one that genuinely ran across multiple channels and is welldocumented.

Part 1’s final directive asks what unifies the campaign. A campaign with an Has a clear unifying idea obvious theme, slogan, and visual identity makes that directive straightforward. You must provide images or URLs of the ads and cite credible sources. A Is well-documented campaign covered by advertising publications such as Adweek leaves a clear evidence trail. A recent, named campaign is easier to source and to find media examples for Is recent enough to research than a decades-old one. How to Find the Campaign Follow the faculty video’s method. Search the web and major advertising publications — Adweek is named in the assignment’s own hint — for articles about your brand’s ad campaign. Search the company’s YouTube channel, its social-media accounts, and its newsroom for recurring ad messages. The hint tells you what to look for: “unified ads across various media.” When you find a named campaign that appears in print, on television or video, on social media, and in digital display — all carrying the same idea — you have your campaign.

choose a different campaign.

The paper has two parts, and they ask for two different things. Part 1 looks inward at one campaign — it dissects a single IMC campaign across four media. Part 2 looks outward to a second activity — it identifies a non-advertising communication tool and compares it back to the Part 1 campaign. The prompt is explicit: complete all of Part 1 before moving on to Part 2.

Choose four examples across different media (1+ print, 1+ digital). Describe the details of that activity. Provide a copy of the image or URL link to each ad. Provide a link to a visual component of the activity. Analyze the ad in each medium; describe how each medium’s characteristics are used. Compare the activity to the IMC campaign from Part 1. Explain which elements unify the campaign as an IMC. Discuss how far they are aligned and tell the same brand story; give one strength and one weakness. The two parts are scored as separate clusters of rubric criteria, so keep them clearly separated in the paper — ideally under signposted headings. The most common structural error is letting Part 2’s activity be another advertising example; the prompt requires Part 2 to be a communication tool other than advertising. Section 7 returns to this.

Part 1 is the analytical core of the paper. After you name the campaign, you must gather four media examples and treat each as a real paragraph of analysis — not just a screenshot with a caption. For each of the four examples, do three things the prompt names. For Each Media Example

• Provide the evidence. Include a copy of the image or a URL link to the ad. The rubric scores this directly — every example needs its visual or link.
• Analyze the ad. What is the ad communicating? What appeal, message, and creative execution does it use?
• Describe how the medium’s characteristics are used. Each medium has unique strengths — explain how the ad exploits the ones of its medium. This is the directive students most often skip.

What Each Medium’s Characteristics Are The directive asks how a medium’s “unique characteristics” are used. Have the contrasts ready:

A static, lasting image; room for detailed copy; a considered, lean-in reading Print experience. Targeting, interactivity, and clickable calls to action; measurable response. Digital display Sharing, conversation, and user engagement; the audience can amplify the message. Social media Large scale and location; brief, bold messaging for an audience in motion. Out-of-home / outdoor The Unifying-Elements Directive Part 1 closes by asking you to explain which elements unify the campaign across these four media — the test from Section 3. After analyzing the four examples separately, step back and name what they share: the message or theme, the slogan, the visual identity, the call to action, the audience. This is the directive that proves the four ads are one campaign, not four unrelated ads — and it is what makes the analysis an IMC analysis rather than a list.

material.

Part 2 widens the lens from advertising to the rest of the promotion mix. It carries significant rubric weight — including the single heaviest criterion in the paper — so give it real space. Part 2 performs five moves.

• Identify a non-advertising activity. Choose one communication tool that is not advertising. The prompt names the options: sales promotion, sponsorship, product placement, personal selling, or direct marketing. Pick one your mentor company genuinely uses and that you can document.
• Describe its details. Explain the activity concretely — what it is, how it works, who it reaches.
• Provide a visual link. Include a link to a visual component of the activity, just as Part 1 required visuals for the ads.
• Compare it to the IMC campaign. Set the activity beside the Part 1 campaign and compare them — message, audience, brand identity, tone. This is the heaviest-weighted directive in the rubric.
• Judge alignment, then give a strength and a weakness. Discuss to what extent the activity and the campaign are aligned and would tell the same story for the brand; then state one clear strength and one clear weakness of the activity.

What “Tell the Same Story” Means The alignment directive is the IMC principle applied as a test. A brand practicing integrated marketing communications wants every tool — an ad campaign and a sponsorship, say — to reinforce one consistent brand story. So the question “to what extent are they aligned?” is asking: do the campaign and the activity carry the same message, target the same audience, project the same identity, and aim at the same positioning? Your answer can be “strongly aligned,” “partly aligned,” or “misaligned” — what the rubric rewards is a reasoned judgment with evidence, not a yes-or-no.

beats a shallow list of several.

The Waypoint rubric divides 7 points across fourteen criteria. Knowing the split tells you where to spend effort. The ten content criteria are worth 5.75 points; the four written-communication criteria are worth 1.25. Note where the weight concentrates: the single heaviest criterion is the Part 2 comparison.

Provides at least four examples across different media Part 1 0.50 Provides a copy of the image or the URL link to the ad Part 1 0.25 Analyzes the ad in each medium / how the medium’s characteristics are Part 1 0.75 used Explains what elements unify the campaign as an IMC Part 1 0.50 Identifies another marketing communication activity other than advertising Part 2 0.25 Describes the details of the identified activity Part 2 0.50 Compares the activity to the IMC campaign Part 2 1.00 Discusses to what extent they are aligned / tell the same story Part 2 0.75 Discusses one strength and one weakness of the activity Part 2 0.75 Written Communication: control of syntax and mechanics Whole paper 0.25 Written Communication: APA formatting Whole paper 0.25 Written Communication: page requirement Length 0.25 Written Communication: resource requirement Sources 0.50 Two observations. First, weight your effort toward Part 2: its five criteria are worth 3.25 points combined — more than Part 1’s 2.50 — and the single “Compares” criterion at 1.00 is the largest in the paper. A thorough comparison is the highest-value paragraph you will write. Second, the 1.25 points in mechanics, APA, page length, and sources reward following instructions, not insight; the resource criterion alone is worth 0.50, so cite at least two qualifying sources and do not give that away.

This is an analytical paper built on evidence. You need two things: the media examples themselves (images and URLs of the ads and the Part 2 activity) and at least two scholarly or credible sources beyond the textbook. For the Media Examples The faculty video and the assignment hint point the way. Search advertising publications such as Adweek for coverage of your brand’s campaign; search the company’s own YouTube channel, social-media accounts, and newsroom for the recurring ad messages that signal an IMC campaign. Capture an image or a working URL for each of the four examples and for the Part 2 activity — the rubric scores the presence of these directly. For the Two Required Sources You need at least two scholarly or credible sources in addition to the textbook. Articles from advertising and business publications about the campaign are credible sources; the UAGC Library’s OneSearch can supply trade-press and scholarly coverage. The assignment links a “Quick and Easy Library Research” tutorial precisely because the library is the reliable route to qualifying sources. What Counts as a Credible Source The assignment’s source guidance distinguishes scholarly, peer-reviewed, and credible sources. Credible is the broadest tier: trustworthy, verifiable sources including reputable trade publications, established news organizations, and the company’s own official communications. At least two qualifying sources beyond the textbook are required; your instructor has the final say on whether a given source qualifies, so when in doubt, ask.

the sentence it backs.

Four of the fourteen rubric criteria reward nothing but compliance. Run this checklist before submitting.

• Length. 4–5 double-spaced pages, not counting the title and references pages.
• Title page. A separate APA title page, in title case: the paper’s title in bold, with a space between the title and the rest of the information, then your name, the institution (The University of Arizona Global Campus), the course name and number, the instructor’s name, and the due date.
• Introduction and thesis. An introduction paragraph that ends with a clear thesis statement indicating the purpose of the paper.
• Conclusion. A conclusion paragraph that synthesizes — no new information.
• Academic voice. Third person; no contractions; no colloquialisms; measured, evidence-based claims.
• Sources. At least two scholarly or credible sources in addition to the course text.
• APA citations. In-text citations for everything drawn from a source, and a separate, properly formatted references page.
• Visuals included. Images or URLs for the four campaign examples (Part 1) and a visual link for the Part 2 activity.
• Submission. Submit through Waypoint using the Assignment Submission button.

The Thesis — What the Assignment Wants The assignment asks the introduction to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of the paper. For an analytical paper like this one, that is a purpose-style thesis: a sentence stating what the paper does — that it analyzes a named IMC campaign of the mentor company across multiple media and compares it to a second communication activity. A model appears in Section 12.

The outline below distributes the paper so both parts are fully developed and the page requirement is met without padding. Pages are approximate and exclude the title and references pages.

~½ page Introduce the mentor company, IMC, and the chosen Introduction campaign; end with the thesis/purpose statement. ~2–2½ pages The four media examples, each analyzed; then the Part 1 — IMC campaign analysis unifying-elements explanation. ~1½–2 pages The activity described; the comparison to the campaign; Part 2 — Non-advertising activity the alignment judgment; one strength and one weakness. ~⅓ page Synthesize the analysis and the comparison; no new Conclusion information. 1 page Textbook plus at least two scholarly/credible sources, References APA; separate, not counted. The proportion matters: Part 2 should be nearly as long as Part 1 because its criteria carry more rubric points. If the paper runs short, the fix is almost always more depth in the Part 2 comparison — not more words in the introduction.

Below is a model thesis statement and a skeleton of the paper, with a model opening sentence for each part. This is scaffolding, not a paper to submit — the bracketed cues are yours to fill, and the analysis and sources must be your own. Use it to see how the pieces connect. Model Thesis Statement (last sentence of the introduction) “The purpose of this paper is to analyze the integrated marketing communications of [Mentor Company] by examining its [named campaign] across four media and comparing that campaign to the company’s use of [non-advertising activity], in order to assess how consistently the company communicates a single brand story.” Part 1 — The IMC Campaign [signposted heading] “[Mentor Company]’s [named campaign] is an integrated marketing communications effort that appears across television, print, digital, and social media…”  ·  Example 1 (television) — “In the television execution, the ad uses sight, sound, and motion to…”  ·  Example 2 (print) — “The print execution relies on a static, lasting image and detailed copy to…”  ·  Example 3 (digital) — “The digital display ad adds targeting and a clickable call to action…”  ·  Example 4 (social) — “On social media the campaign invites sharing and conversation…”  ·  Unifying elements — “What unifies these four executions as one campaign is…” Part 2 — A Non-Advertising Communication Activity [signposted heading] “Beyond advertising, [Mentor Company] uses [sales promotion / sponsorship / product placement / personal selling / direct marketing], specifically… Compared with the [named campaign], this activity… The two are [strongly / partly / weakly] aligned in telling the same brand story because… A clear strength of this activity is…; a clear weakness is….” Conclusion “Taken together, [Mentor Company]’s campaign and its [activity] indicate that the company’s integrated marketing communications are… — a synthesis of the analysis, with no new evidence introduced.” Replace every bracketed cue with your own researched content, name and cite your sources, include your media examples, and write in your own voice. The skeleton shows structure only; the substance — and the grade — comes from your analysis.

• Switching companies. The paper must analyze your Week 2 mentor company — it feeds the Week 6 final paper. Do not start over with a new company.
• A campaign with no print example. The assignment requires at least one print and one digital source among the four. Confirm a print execution exists before committing.
• Captioning instead of analyzing. Each of the four examples needs real analysis — the ad and how the medium’s characteristics are used — not just an image.
• Skipping the unifying-elements directive. Part 1 must explain what makes the four ads one campaign. Without it, the analysis is a list, not an IMC analysis.
• An advertising example in Part 2. Part 2 must be a communication activity other than advertising — sales promotion, sponsorship, product placement, personal selling, or direct marketing.
• A thin comparison. The Part 2 comparison is the heaviest criterion at 1.00 point. Compare message, audience, identity, and tone — thoroughly.
• A yes/no alignment answer. “Are they aligned?” wants a reasoned judgment with evidence, not a one-word verdict.

• Listing strengths and weaknesses. The prompt asks for one strength and one weakness — chosen well and explained, not a shallow list.
• Missing the cheap points. Page length, two sources, APA, and clean mechanics are 1.25 points that reward only compliance — do not give them away.

Day 7 (Monday) by 11:59 p.m. Submitted through Waypoint. Due 4–5 double-spaced pages excluding title and references pages; APA; title page; Length & format introduction with thesis; conclusion; academic voice. The mentor company selected in Week 2 (Global Marketing Plan Part 1) — the Company same one carried into the Week 6 final paper. Identify an IMC campaign; four media examples (1+ print, 1+ digital) with images/ Part 1 URLs; analyze each ad and the medium; explain the unifying elements. Identify a non-advertising activity; describe it; provide a visual link; compare it to Part 2 the campaign; judge alignment; give one strength and one weakness. At least two scholarly or credible sources beyond the textbook; UAGC Library Sources OneSearch, advertising and business publications such as Adweek. Content 5.75 (Part 1 2.50 + Part 2 3.25); written communication 1.25. Heaviest Points split criterion: the Part 2 comparison at 1.00. Integrated marketing communication; marketing media; advertising publications; Competencies social media. Companion to the BUS 622 Week 5 Comprehensive Study Guide and the Discussion Forum guides. Prepared as a selfcontained writing resource for the Week 5 written assignment. Verify all dates, rubric details, and source information against Canvas and Waypoint before submission.