24210 Integrated Marketing Communications
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · Spring 202624210 Overview
- University of Technology Sydney
- Spring 2026
- Marketing
- Pre-recorded lectures and weekly tutorials
- Assessed by four coursework tasks
What the subject is about
Integrated Marketing Communications at the University of Technology Sydney teaches the personal and non-personal forms of marketing communication that businesses and governments use to make customers and stakeholders think, feel or do something, and, above all, how to integrate and coordinate them within one IMC plan so the program is more effective and efficient.
- Assessed by A creative brief pitch (20%), a Critique Report (20%), a group campaign video (30%) and an individual in-class Q&A (30%).
- Hardest step Keeping every section of the campaign consistent with one audience insight, which the group video rubric rewards.
- Do first Learn the paired distinctions: advertising and publicity, paid and earned media, central and peripheral routes.
- Watch the clock The group video is due at 11.59 pm on 7 October, and Part B runs in your Week 11 or 12 tutorial.
How 24210 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Creative brief pitch (Individual) | 20% | Pre-recorded pitch of 4 to 5 minutes on YouTube with the presenter visible; six sections from project background to timeline. Due 11.59 pm 3 September (Week 6). |
| Assessment 2: Critique Report (Individual) | 20% | Report of at most 800 words with no buffer: an Indigenous stakeholder consultation action plan and a reflection. Due 11.59 pm 17 September (Week 8). |
| Assessment 3 Part A: Pre-recorded project presentation (Group) | 30% | Group IMC campaign video on YouTube, at least 1 minute per person or section and at most 10 minutes. Due 11.59 pm 7 October (Week 10). |
| Assessment 3 Part B: In-class project Q&A (Individual) | 30% | Individual questions from your tutor on any component of the group’s plan, in your allocated tutorial in Week 11 or 12; no short extensions. |
Each weight is printed on its Canvas assignment page and matches the assessment overview in the Week 2 tutorial slides. Those slides also set the pass rule: an overall grade of at least 50%, with every item of coursework, group work included, completed or submitted by its due date. The project proposal due in Week 4 is required for the project but does not count toward the grade.
Assessment structure
Current 24210 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 18 August, 11.59 pm | Project proposal due (group, not graded) | Week 4; submitted by the group convener after the tutor approves it in Tutorial 3. |
| 3 September, 11.59 pm | Assessment 1: Creative brief pitch due | Week 6; submit the public YouTube link. |
| 17 September, 11.59 pm | Assessment 2: Critique Report due | Week 8; at most 800 words, word count on the cover page. |
| 7 October, 11.59 pm | Assessment 3 Part A: group video due | Week 10; one group member submits the link. |
| 12 or 19 October | In-class Q&A (Assessment 3 Part B) | Weeks 11 and 12, in the tutorial your tutor allocates. |
Dates are as published in the Canvas assignment pages, the project proposal page and the Week 2 tutorial slides for the Spring 2026 offering. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What 24210 covers
24210 runs over twelve Spring 2026 weeks. Weeks 1 and 2 define IMC and its tools, Weeks 3 and 4 cover consumers, positioning and the communication process, Weeks 5 to 7 develop a campaign through planning, search, creative strategy and media planning, and Week 8 compares the media and advertising. A separate module covers engagement with Indigenous consumers. The mark comes from four tasks weighted 20%, 20%, 30% and 30%.
IMC Foundations: Planning and Evolution
what IMC is, the disciplines it combines, the planning model, the four stages of IMC, digital disruption and AI (Week 1)What IMC is
Lecture 1 defines integrated marketing communications as a planning concept that judges what advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing and sponsorship should each contribute, then combines them for clarity, consistency and maximum impact.
How a plan is built
The planning model moves from reviewing the marketing plan and analysing the promotional situation, the communication process and the budget, to an integrated program with objectives for each tool, then implementation, monitoring and control.
How the idea grew
Four stages widened integration from one look and one voice in the 1980s to strategic, organisational and finally connected, stakeholder-centred integration, while digital channels added programmatic buying, data, targeting and interactivity along with fragmentation, measurement problems and fraud.
- IMC as a planning concept
- Six communication disciplines
- The IMC planning model
- Four stages of IMC
- Digital disruption and AI
- The #LikeAGirl checklist
IMC Tools, POEM Media and Strategic Consistency
advertising, public relations, publicity, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, sponsorship, integration, say, do and confirm, congruity (Week 2)The tools
Lecture 2 defines advertising, public relations, publicity, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling and sponsorship by who pays, whether the sponsor is identified and whether the contact is personal.
Integration and consistency
Integration is how organisations manage the flow of communication into stakeholders’ minds, through message, strategic and organisational integration.
- Seven tools of the IMC mix
- Advertising versus publicity
- Three types of integration
- Say, do and confirm
- Paid, owned and earned media
- Congruity theory and endorsers
Consumer Decision Making: Stages and Psychology
decision stages, evoked set, cognitive dissonance, motivation, perception, learning and multiattribute attitudes (Week 3)The decision process
Lecture 3 follows consumers from problem recognition through information search, alternative evaluation within an evoked set, the purchase decision and postpurchase evaluation, where satisfaction, dissatisfaction or cognitive dissonance follows.
The psychology behind it
Each stage is driven by a psychological process: motivation, perception, attitude formation, integration through decision rules, and learning, both behavioural and cognitive.
Attitudes you can change
Multiattribute models weigh beliefs about each attribute by its importance, and four attitude change strategies show where communication can move the result, while empowerment and the AI-driven paradox shape how much consumers trust what they see.
- Consumer empowerment and the AI paradox
- Problem recognition and its sources
- Search, the evoked set and criteria
- Purchase decision and dissonance
- Perception and selective processes
- Multiattribute attitudes and change
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
segmentation bases, buying groups, perceptual maps, positioning strategies and choosing a target (Weeks 3 and 5)Segment
The STP process starts by dividing the market. Consumer markets are segmented on geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural bases; business markets on geography, demography, product type and buying situation.
- The STP process
- Consumer and business segmentation bases
- Segmenting by buying group
- Profiling and selecting target markets
- Perceptual mapping
- Seven positioning strategies
The Communication Process: Persuasion and the ELM
source to receiver, semiotics, noise, response models, cognitive responses and the elaboration likelihood model (Week 4)The process
Lecture 4 traces a message from a source that encodes it, through a personal or non-personal channel, to a receiver who decodes it and responds, with feedback closing the loop and noise interfering throughout.
Meaning and noise
Messages carry literal and symbolic meaning; semiotics separates the object, symbol and interpretant.
- Source, encoding, channel and receiver
- Semiotics: object, symbol, interpretant
- Four sources of noise
- Response models and their limits
- Cognitive responses to ads
- The elaboration likelihood model
IMC Planning, Objectives and Consumer Insight
inside-out and outside-in planning, zero-based planning, SMARTT objectives, the IMC audit and consumer insight (Week 5)Planning
Lecture 5 defines planning as deciding now what to do later, and IMC planning as the process that links organisational direction to IMC decisions and tactics, starting with a review of the marketing plan.
Models and objectives
Inside-out planning starts from what the marketer wants to say; outside-in starts from the customer.
- Reviewing the marketing plan
- Inside-out and outside-in planning
- Six steps of zero-based planning
- RTTT and SMARTT objectives
- The IMC audit
- Account planning and consumer insight
Analytics and Search: Paid and Organic Routes
analytics, Google Ads Quality Score and Ad Rank, organic search pillars and a blended search approach (Week 5)Analytics
Lecture 5 defines analytics as finding and interpreting meaningful patterns in data, the basis of evidence-based marketing.
- Analytics and evidence-based marketing
- The marketing stack
- How Google Ads ranks an ad
- Organic search and SEO
- Relevance and authority
- A blended search approach
The Creative Brief: Its Sections and the Creative Process
the sections of a brief, features and benefits, the USP, Wallas and Young on the creative process (Week 6)The brief
Lecture 6 defines the creative brief as a roadmap that sets out a creative project’s strategy and bridges concept and execution, written by an account or project manager and pitched to the client and the creative team for approval.
The six sections
Project background with goals, features and benefits; the target audience; positioning with a perceptual map and an audience-side problem; the key message and USP; deliverables; and a timeline.
- What a creative brief is for
- Who writes and receives it
- The six sections of the brief
- Features, benefits and the USP
- Defining creativity
- Wallas and Young on the creative process
Message Strategy, Appeals and Execution Styles
the big idea, rational and emotional appeals, execution techniques and evaluating creative work (Week 6)The big idea
Lecture 6 calls the big idea the campaign’s central idea, turned into messages that grab attention and stay distinctive and memorable, more than a slogan and hard to find.
Appeals and execution
An appeal is the approach that attracts interest and shapes feelings; an execution style turns it into a message.
- The big idea
- Appeal versus execution style
- Five rational appeals
- Emotional appeals
- Ten execution techniques
- Guidelines for evaluating creative work
Media Planning: Reach and Frequency Trade-offs
media terms, reach and frequency, GRP and TARP, effective reach, continuity, flighting and pulsing (Week 7)Terms and objectives
Lecture 7 defines media objectives, strategy, medium, vehicle, reach, coverage and frequency, and gives objectives such as putting the message before 60% of the target at least three times within six months.
Weight and effectiveness
Planners trade reach against frequency.
- Media planning vocabulary
- Writing media objectives
- Reach versus frequency
- GRP, TRP and TARP
- Effective and average frequency
- Continuity, flighting and pulsing
The Media Mix and Advertising
digital, television, radio, print, out-of-home and cinema compared, advertising functions, demand and agencies (Week 8)The media compared
Lecture 8 sets out the strengths and limits of digital, television, radio, magazines, newspapers, out-of-home and cinema, from targeting and coverage to production cost, lead time and clutter, and the trends reshaping each.
Advertising
Advertising is now defined as paid communication, carried by a medium from a recognisable source, that aims to persuade.
- Strengths and limits of each medium
- Future trends in the media
- Old and new definitions of advertising
- Functions and types of advertising
- Agencies and their functions
- Interactive and retail media
Indigenous Engagement: Consumers and Stakeholders
AIATSIS principles, free, prior and informed consent, the Telstra case, brand activism and a consultation plan (Module 0)Why it matters
Module 0 teaches ethical engagement with Indigenous peoples in marketing and supports the Critique Report.
- Diversity of Indigenous Australia
- The Telstra case
- Six AIATSIS principles
- Free, prior and informed consent
- The engagement spectrum
- Brand activism quadrants
Lectures are pre-recorded with slides, tutorials begin in Week 2, and each week groups prepare answers to discussion questions from the main textbook by Belch, Belch, Kerr, Powell and Waller.
How the weeks build
The first two weeks define IMC, trace its four stages and set out the tools, from advertising and public relations to sponsorship, along with paid, owned and earned media and Duncan and Moriarty’s say, do and confirm triangle.
Weeks 3 and 4 turn to the audience: the consumer decision process and its psychological drivers, segmentation, targeting and positioning, and the communication process with the elaboration likelihood model. Weeks 5 to 7 develop a campaign through planning and objectives, analytics and search, the creative brief, appeals and execution, and media planning with reach, frequency, rating points and scheduling.
Week 8 compares the media and examines advertising, and a dedicated module covers ethical engagement with Indigenous consumers and stakeholders.
How you are assessed
Every task belongs to one IMC project for a brand of plant-based meat alternatives sold in Australia.
An individual creative brief pitch is worth 20%, an individual Critique Report on Indigenous stakeholder consultation 20%, a group pre-recorded campaign video 30% and an individual in-class Q&A on the whole plan 30%. To pass you need at least 50% overall and every item completed or submitted by its due date.
Worked example · free
Find the open position on a coffee-chain perceptual map
- 1Group the rivals: Kiosk Co and Daily Grind sit at low to mid price with low to mid quality, Bean Stop is high price with below-midpoint quality, and Brew Lab is high price, high quality.
- 1Look for empty space: no brand sits at mid price with high quality, around (5, 8), between Daily Grind and Brew Lab.
- 1Propose the position as a price or quality claim: Brew Lab quality at a mid price, a value-for-quality position the map shows is unoccupied.
- 1Check before committing: research whether buyers actually value that combination, because an empty space on a map can mean no demand rather than an opportunity.
Key terms
- Integrated Marketing Communications
- A planning concept that judges what each of several communication disciplines should contribute and combines them for clarity, consistency and maximum impact.
- Synergy
- The extra effect produced when several tools deliver one consistent message, so the combined result is larger than the parts added together.
- Strategic Consistency Triangle
- Duncan and Moriarty’s model of what a brand says, what it does and what others confirm about it.
- Earned Media
- Publicity and word of mouth produced by third parties rather than paid for or owned by the brand.
- Evoked Set
- The group of brands a consumer considers capable of meeting a need and compares before deciding.
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Doubt or psychological tension a buyer feels after a purchase decision, which reassuring information can reduce.
- Perceptual Map
- A two-dimensional chart of how buyers see competing brands on chosen attributes, used to find a position.
- Elaboration Likelihood Model
- A model of persuasion in which involvement sends a message along a central route of argument or a peripheral route of cues.
- Zero-Based Planning
- Communication planning that decides which tasks need doing and which tools to use from scratch, setting the budget after the objectives.
- Quality Score
- Google Ads’ rating of an ad’s expected click-through rate, keyword and ad relevance and landing page experience.
- Creative Brief
- A document setting out a creative project’s strategy, from background and audience to message, deliverables and timeline.
- Unique Selling Proposition
- The point where the core insight or key message meets the brand’s distinctive advantage over competitors.
- Gross Ratings Points
- A measure of a schedule’s weight, calculated as reach multiplied by average frequency.
- Free, Prior and Informed Consent
- The principle that Traditional Owners give or withhold consent through genuine consultation before decisions are made.
24210 FAQ
How is Integrated Marketing Communications at UTS assessed?
Four coursework tasks make up the whole mark: an individual pre-recorded creative brief pitch worth 20%, an individual Critique Report of at most 800 words worth 20%, a group pre-recorded campaign video worth 30%, and an individual in-class Q&A with your tutor worth 30%. All four are built on the same IMC project, and the tutorial slides set a pass rule of at least 50% overall.
What brand does the IMC project focus on?
Groups choose a plant-based meat alternatives brand that is available and actively marketed in Australia, either Australian or international. The proposal must justify the choice on competitive positioning, market relevance, opportunities and challenges, and audience fit, and the campaign should run for at least one business season of about six months.
What is the difference between paid, owned and earned media?
Paid media is any marketing activity the brand pays for, such as trailers, billboards or paid influencer posts. Owned media is any channel the brand controls, such as its website and social accounts. Earned media is publicity and word of mouth generated by third parties, which the lecture calls the most credible form.
What does the elaboration likelihood model say?
It says involvement decides how a message is processed. Consumers who are motivated and able follow the central route and weigh detailed arguments; low-involvement consumers follow the peripheral route and respond to cues such as image or celebrity. Low involvement is more common, but the lecture describes the central route as more effective.
What should a creative brief pitch contain?
Six sections in order: project background with goals, features and benefits; a profile of the target audience; positioning against competitors with a visual such as a perceptual map and a problem written from the audience’s side; the key message and USP; project deliverables; and a timeline, for example a Gantt chart.
How are GRP and TARP calculated?
Gross ratings points multiply reach by frequency, so a schedule that reaches 50% of the audience an average of three times delivers 150 GRP. TARP counts only the target audience: the number of target people the buy reaches, divided by the potential target audience and multiplied by 100.
Can generative AI be used in the assessments?
The briefs allow it to support creativity and refine ideas, with conditions: include an appendix of your prompts, declare the use in APA format, and keep search history, drafts and notes for four months. You may be asked to discuss and defend your work in a viva, so the documentation matters.
Questions students ask in each 24210 chapter
- Which tools does IMC combine?
- Lecture 1 lists six disciplines whose roles an IMC plan weighs: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing and sponsorship. The point is not to use all six but to give each tool a defined role so the combination delivers clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact. Chapter 01 · IMC Foundations: Planning and Evolution
- What separates advertising from publicity?
- Both are non-personal. Advertising is paid for by a sponsor the audience can name, while publicity is coverage such as a news story or editorial that the organisation did not directly pay for or openly sponsor. If the brand bought the space, the lecture would class it as advertising however editorial it looks. Chapter 02 · IMC Tools, POEM Media and Strategic Consistency
- What are the five stages of consumer decision making?
- Problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, the purchase decision and postpurchase evaluation. The lecture pairs each with a psychological process, from motivation at the start to learning at the end, so communication aimed at a stage should work through the process that governs it. Chapter 03 · Consumer Decision Making: Stages and Psychology
- What bases can a consumer market be segmented on?
- Lecture 3 lists geographic, demographic, psychographic and behaviouristic bases for consumer markets, and the Assessment 3 brief asks for demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural variables when you profile your audience. Business markets swap psychographics and behaviour for product type and buying situation. Chapter 04 · Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
- What are the elements of the communication process?
- A source with information to share, encoding into symbols, a message carried by a personal or non-personal channel, a receiver who decodes it, a response such as awareness or a sale, and feedback to the sender. Noise can interfere at any point, and overlapping fields of experience help meaning survive the trip. Chapter 05 · The Communication Process: Persuasion and the ELM
- What is the difference between inside-out and outside-in planning?
- Inside-out planning starts from the marketer’s own agenda, its preferred message, timing and media, which the lecture calls the traditional approach of mass marketers. Outside-in planning starts from the customer and works back to the brand, which suits the audience-first logic of the creative brief. Chapter 06 · IMC Planning, Objectives and Consumer Insight
- How does Google Ads decide which ad appears first?
- Advertisers bid on keywords in an automated second-price auction, and Ad Rank combines the maximum bid with the Quality Score and the effect of ad extensions. Because searchers are primed to think the first result is best, a higher Quality Score can win a better position without a higher bid. Chapter 07 · Analytics and Search: Paid and Organic Routes
- What is the purpose of a creative brief?
- Lecture 6 gives three: guidance, by giving the creative team clear direction; alignment, by putting every stakeholder, the client included, on the same page; and efficiency, by setting clear expectations. It is pitched to the client and the creatives before any creative work begins. Chapter 08 · The Creative Brief: Its Sections and the Creative Process
- What is the difference between an appeal and an execution style?
- An appeal is the approach used to attract attention or interest and influence feelings toward the brand, such as a price appeal. An execution style is the way that appeal is transformed into a message, such as a demonstration or humour. The Week 6 tutorial asks you to analyse several ads on both. Chapter 09 · Message Strategy, Appeals and Execution Styles
- What is the difference between reach and frequency?
- Reach is the number of different audience members exposed to a message at least once in a given period. Frequency counts how often each of those people sees or hears the vehicle during that period. With a fixed budget, the planner trades one against the other. Chapter 10 · Media Planning: Reach and Frequency Trade-offs
- What are the main strengths and weaknesses of television?
- The lecture lists mass coverage of all demographics, high reach quickly, the impact of sight, sound and motion, high prestige and a low cost per exposure. Against that sit low selectivity, a short message life, high absolute and production costs, clutter, and channel surfing and ad skipping. Chapter 11 · The Media Mix and Advertising
- What does the Critique Report ask you to produce?
- Two components: an Indigenous stakeholder consultation action plan, with a suggested structure of objectives, stakeholders and methods, feedback integration, and timeline and evaluation; and a reflection on what you learned and how it will change your practice. It is worth 20% and limited to 800 words with no buffer. Chapter 12 · Indigenous Engagement: Consumers and Stakeholders
How to prepare for the assessments
Study in teaching order and attach each week’s idea to your own group’s campaign as soon as you learn it, because every assessment draws on the same project.
Keep a one-page sheet of the paired distinctions that questions turn on: advertising and publicity, paid and earned media, a purchase decision and a purchase, the central and peripheral routes, an appeal and an execution style, reach and frequency, and average and effective frequency.
Before the pitch, rehearse the chain from feature to benefit to audience problem to key message and USP, and time yourself to stay within five minutes. For the Critique Report, plan the four parts of the consultation action plan first and keep a running word count against the 800-word limit.
For the group video and the Q&A, list every claim the campaign makes and agree the theory and evidence behind each, so that anyone in the group can explain any section. Rework the media numbers, reach, GRP, TARP and effective reach, from fresh figures until you can explain what each result means. When a step will not click, ask Sia to walk through it one stage at a time or to test your reasoning against the rubric wording.
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