Rehearsing Campaign Planning at the Start of the Capstone Course: The Inverted Case Study Approach

Abstract

As they conduct the background research necessary to the creation of their own marketing campaign, students in the capstone campaigns course often find the first few weeks the least exciting and realistic of the semester. Layering a case study of a prominent campaign into this period adds back some of the energy of realism. A twist on the case study approach that requires the students to reverse-engineer the case campaign enhances their understanding and appreciation of the work they are engaged in for their own class campaign.

Pedagogical Note

“…If a student demonstrates reasonable responses to discussion questions usually found in the teaching notes that accompany cases based on advertising scenarios and other business concepts learned in advertising classes, this could show a breath of accumulated student experiences valued by potential employers. Most advertising curriculum reviews point out the importance of the advertising capstone course to ensure a place for the integration of theory, applications, and creative skills accumulated through student experiences (Scovotti & Spiller, 2009; Scovotti et al, 2011; Whitlow, 2014; Lee, 2019). Therefore, in addition to a strategic integration of concepts in a capstone advertising course, a series of teaching cases could be integrated into the capstone course to use adaptive learning and demonstrate a breadth of contemporary topics and company experiences.…”

A Team-Teaching Approach to Advertising Campaigns Capstone Course

“…Third, it seeks to prepare students for the opportunities and challenges they will face when they exit university into the real world (Beard, 1997). This class, therefore, is often taught as a practicum exercise (Whitlow, 2014) where the class (or teams) works on developing a full-scale advertising campaign for a real-world client.…”