Structure of the Advertising System-2025 | Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Structure of the Advertising System

Credits: 4

Code: 9272

Course: 3

Term: Second semester

Type: OB

Module: Audiovisual Creation Techniques

Matter: Estructura del sistema audiovisual

Main language of instruction: Catalan

Other languages of instruction: Spanish

Teaching staff

Head instructor:
Dra. SÁEZ LINERO, Carolina - csaez@uic.es

Office hours:

Tutorials available on request. Time to be arranged.

Introduction

This course is an approach to the advertising industry, a modern industry that moves billions of euros around the world.

You will acquire a global vision of how the advertising industry works and, above all, what the processes, systems, and involved subjects: advertisers, advertising agencies, media centers, conventional and unconventional advertising media, consumers, research, etc.

Likewise, you will know the different professional profiles that participate in this business and what their functions are. In this way, you will have enough information to envision the direction you would like your professional career to take since it requires different training and talents for profiles with well-differentiated skills.

Broadly speaking, what this subject intends is for you to get closer to a sector that lives in constant change. And to understand it, it is important that you know its beginnings and its evolution until it reaches its current situation.

Pre-course requirements

There are no prerequisites.

The subject is part of the set of subjects that train students to train for professional practice in the advertising sector, either in advertising agencies or in the communication departments of advertising companies.

Objectives

Understand the historical evolution of the advertising activity and the agents involved.
Understand the uniqueness of different media sectors.
Meeting the 'disruptive' factors of media industry and new entrants.
Knowing the Spanish market with a certain depth (actors, audience and environment).
Knowing the major global players in the industry of advertising.
Approach the current situation of the advertising industry and the new needs of the environment.

Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme

07 - The ability to work in a group
10 - The ability to develop an ethical attitude
26 - The ability to coordinate yourself and /or work together to / with a team
48 - The ability to understand and apply the expressive possibilities of new technologies
53 - The ability to design and critique an audiovisual or media product
63 - Knowledge and mastery of the national and international tools of professional projection
67 - Knowledge and mastery of the digital culture
80 - Relational ability to establish a competent interaction between advertiser and agency
81 - Ability and capacity to perform the duties carried out by the media department
92 - The ability for analysis, synthesis and critical judgment

Learning outcomes of the subject

To understand the media as an industry and its recent changes.
To get a critical and placed in an adequate context view of the different areas of the Spanish advertising industry, according to an objective criteria and in contrast to many other countries.
To be able to perceive accurately how to oversee and catch prospective trends in the sectors of communication.

Syllabus

The advertising industry: origins, evolution and current context. Advertising as an economic and cultural industry within the communication system.
Evolution of the advertising system: agency models, the shift from product advertising to brand advertising, and from mass communication to digital communication.
Key actors in the advertising system: advertisers, advertising agencies, media agencies, consumers, and new actors within the advertising ecosystem.
The advertising market: structure of the Spanish market, advertising expenditure, advertising sectors, and main trends.
Types of agencies and internal structures: agency models, departments, professional roles, and project-based working practices.
Professional profiles in the advertising sector: traditional roles, new digital roles, and professional competencies.
Advertising as a business: the agency’s business logic, remuneration models, and major communication groups.
The strategic and creative process in advertising: research, insight, briefing, creative development, and campaign production.
Digital transformation and advertising effectiveness: changes in media consumption, platforms, new touchpoints, metrics, and KPIs.

Teaching and learning activities

In person

TRAINING ACTIVITY	ECTS CREDITS
Lectures. In lectures, lecturers/professors not only transmit content or knowledge, but also, and above all else, attitudes, motivation, skills and values, etc. They also ensure that participants can express their opinions and arguments to the other students.	1.8
Seminar. This activity will consist of taking an in-depth look at specific up-to-date topics in a monographic manner-in some cases these topics will have been debated socially-, via active work in small groups.	1.6
Coaching. Monitoring how students learn the content of the subject, either individually or in groups. In the coaching sessions, mistakes will be corrected, queries answered, and exercises and activities to achieve the established objectives will be suggested.	0.2
Peer learning. The aim of this activity is to ensure that students gain the ability to analyse and be critical. One way of achieving this is by correcting their peers' exercises and results, etc. Each student will be evaluated twice: as both a recipient and a transmitter of critical knowledge.	0.2
Focused Praxis. Handing in occasional exercises to learn theory through practice.	0.2

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person

The assessment of the course combines continuous assessment, a group final project, and an individual final examination. The final mark is calculated according to the following weightings:

Individual continuous assessment: 30%
Group final project: 30%
Individual final examination: 40%

Continuous assessment is based on in-class activities carried out throughout the semester. These activities cannot be retaken or replaced.

The final project is completed in groups and includes an oral presentation and a written or visual support.

The final examination is individual and assesses overall understanding of the course contents.

All assessment components must be passed in order to calculate the final mark and pass the course.

In accordance with UIC regulations, in the second assessment period the examination accounts for 100% of the final mark.

Bibliography and resources

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

Balayan, A. A. & Tomin, L. V. (2020). The Transformation of the Advertising Industry in the Age of “Platform Capitalism”. A IEEE Communication Strategies in Digital Society Seminar (ComSDS) (pp. 133–136). IEEE.
Bhavsar, R. (2018). The Burgeoning Digital Media Consumption: A Challenge for Traditional Television and Advertising Industries – An Analysis. Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies (AJMCS), 8(1).
Caro, F. J. & Fernández, J. D. (2016). Empresa publicitaria. Administrar y emprender en publicidad. Sevilla: Advook Editorial.
Castellblanque, M. (2006). Sujetos de la actividad publicitaria. Barcelona: UOC.
Ferrer Lorenzo, I. & Medina Aguerrebere, P. (2013). Gestión empresarial de la agencia de publicidad. Barcelona: Ediciones Díaz de Santos.
Holtzhausen, D. R., Fullerton, J. A., Lewis, B. K., & Shipka, D. (2021). Principles of strategic communication (1st ed.). Routledge.
Victoria Mas, J. S. (2005). Reestructuras del sistema publicitario. Ariel.