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The Reed College of Media and College of Creative Arts will merge to form the new WVU College of Creative Arts and Media as of July 1, 2024. Get details.

Audience Insight

IMC 512

This course is required in:

Top Three Course Takeaways

  1. How to create more effective communications strategies based on internal or psychological influences that impact consumer decision-making.
  2. How to create more effective communications strategies based on external or sociological influences that impact consumer decision-making.
  3. An appreciation for the importance of ethnography as a research method to better understand consumers and the ability to create an ethnography proposal.

Course Topics

  • Buying, Having and Being / Consumer and Social Well-Being / Practical Ethnography and Theory
  • Perception / Learning and Memory / Ethical Ethnography
  • Motivation and Affect / The Self / Managing Private-Sector Ethnography and Clients
  • Personality / Lifestyles and Values / Attitudes and Persuasive Communications / Ethnographic Tools and Reporting
  • Decision Making / Buying, Using and Disposing / Ethnographic Sampling and Fieldwork
  • Groups and Social Media / Income and Social Class / Ethnographic Analysis and Beyond
  • Subcultures / Cultures

WORKLOAD:   (8-10 hours per week)

Take an in-depth look at consumer behavior and its role in IMC. Examine consumer behavior in terms of internal influences, external influences, the consumer decision-making process and consumers and culture.

Course Learning Outcomes:

  • Describe the importance of audience insight and understanding of consumer behavior on developing an integrated marketing communications strategy.
  • Examine ethnographic research practices, ethical considerations of conducting ethnographic research, and the components of an ethnographic report.
  • Analyze the role emotional branding plays in designing persuasive marketing messages and how a consumer’s values and cultural characteristics influence their decision-making process.
  • Illustrate how each aspect of the buying experience affects the consumer decision-making process and explain the theories related to influencing consumer attitudes toward a product or service.
  • Create a comprehensive proposal for a private-sector ethnography research project.

View Full IMC Course Listing

Audience Insight Instructors

Directory
Caserta headshot
Christopher Caserta Chief Executive Officer, Ascension Living
cnicely1@mix.wvu.edu Read More: Caserta
Muetzel headshot
Matthew Muetzel Director of Digital and Marketing Operations at Aimmune Therapeutics
mmuetzel@mix.wvu.edu Read More: Muetzel
Oechsler headshot
Will Oechsler Strategic Business Executive
wioechsler@mix.wvu.edu Read More: Oechsler
Pressgrove headshot
Geah Pressgrove Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at WVU Reed College of Media
Geah.Pressgrove@mail.wvu.edu Read More: Pressgrove