class act

Course: ADV 4300 Media Planning
Teacher: Chang-Hoan Cho

Cracking the media equation

What does media planning teach that students can’t learn in other courses?

Students learn how to purchase media vehicles to deliver messages to their clients. After taking my class, they take advertising campaigns. So what they learn from my class is then developed in campaigns.

What do you hope to accomplish with this course?

My goal is to prepare my students to get a job in media planning, either as a planner or even a salesperson. It’s getting harder to get a job at an advertising agency because there are not many people graduating with a sophisticated understanding of media planning.

How difficult is this course?

It depends on how much you are interested in media planning because it does involve some calculations and some mathematics. But it’s not complicated. It is simply adding, dividing, subtracting, and some percentage calculations.

Some students who really do not like mathematics come in and are intimidated before they take the class. The difficulty level at the beginning of the semester is pretty high, but by the end of the semester it’s easy because I make it very simple.

At the beginning of each semester, I ask the students who actually want to be a media planner, and maybe two raise their hands; but at the end I’ll ask and maybe six or more raise their hands. That’s my ultimate goal.

How much work does this course require?

It’s a lot of work, and sometimes students complain about it. Students think this is just an easy prerequisite.

I know it may be demanding, but at the end of the semester I think they appreciate it.

How is this course structured?

The first couple of weeks I emphasize a brief overview of media in the United States because without media there would be no advertising.

So, I think we need to understand the media systems.

Then, we talk about integrated marketing communications.

Without understanding the promotional and marketing aspects of media planning, it just doesn’t work.

Sometimes, students understand media but they don’t know how to bridge to other marketing concepts.

We also learn how to read different sources and how to integrate those sources into media planning.

What is your teaching style?

I make media planning as friendly as possible to students, so they don’t think this is something they can’t or don’t want to do.

I use simple, real-world examples in class, and it really helps students to understand the concepts.

What are the assignments?

They have two tests and several assignments and a final project.

How has this course changed over the years?

Media planning involves dealing with numbers and current data, so every semester the data change and I have to update this course.

In 2002, I integrated the Internet into the course content. Every semester I change the client the students work with so we get new data each time.

Does this course require a great deal of reading?

It requires some reading. It emphasizes critical thinking and analytical skills. The textbook provides background.

In using it, students need to apply the concepts. I like to give more hands-on experience than what the book can provide.

If students come to class every session, do all the assignments, then at least they’ll get a 70 percent or more.     

  —Angie Orth