Explain why international, standardised advertising campaigns – such as De Beers’
“Shadows” campaign – remain unusual? What are the advantages of standardised versus
localised creative execution in international advertising? Explain, using examples, with
reference to issues of cross-cultural communication.
[100 marks]
Question 2
Using illustrative examples to explain your answer, what are the differences between
“strong” and “weak” theories of promotion? Refer to linear information processing models
and also to cultural theories analysing advertisements as texts with elements of
intertextuality, polysemy, symbolism and storytelling.
[100 marks]
Question 3
The Labour and Conservative parties spent £1.25 million and £0.78 million respectively to
pay for advertising on Facebook in the 2019 UK election, a record amount. How can social
media be used by political or commercial brands to communicate brand messages that go
viral? Explain with reference to metrics of targeting, personalisation, engagement, and
measurement of results and link to concepts of the ‘participative economy’ (Jenkins, 2008)
or ‘experience economy’ (Pine and Gilmore, 1999) to develop an argument. Use
illustrative examples of viral campaigns from political or commercial advertising.
[100 marks]
Question 4
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) reflects managerial interest in coordinating
different media channels to optimise the effectiveness of brand marketing communications
programmes. What are the advantages of and barriers to implementing an effective IMC
strategy? Discuss, using appropriate examples of IMC campaigns, while referring to
concepts of media convergence and media fragmentation in your answer.
[100 marks]
BUS223 (2020) Page 3
Question 5
Discuss how media convergence has blurred the boundaries between traditional and nontraditional advertising. How does non-traditional advertising work by publicising rather than
promoting brands? Evaluate the effectiveness of three or more of the following nontraditional advertising techniques: product placement, viral marketing, guerrilla marketing,
ambush marketing, webisodes, content marketing, native advertising, ambient media and
non-advertising promotion.
[100 marks]
Question 6
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity” is a famous quote often attributed to Phineas T.
Barnum the circus and media entrepreneur. Several brand organisations seem to have
benefited from the use of shocking or controversial advertising campaigns such as
Benetton, Diesel, and CK. To what extent do you agree with Barnum? Do you think it is
okay to shock the public in order to get promotional messages across? Use ethical
concepts such as deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, and religious ethics to
evaluate issues that controversial advertising campaigns may raise for advertising
regulation.
[100 marks]
Question 7
Contemporary advertising sometimes departs from the conventional sales narrative to tell
a story that may be only tangentially linked to the brand. For example, UK bank
Nationwide’s 2017 ‘Voices of the People’ campaign did not contain any sales message or
brand information but simply showed ordinary people reciting their poems about everyday
life in videos on TV spots and on YouTube and other video sharing platforms. Discuss the
advantages of brand storytelling over sales-oriented advertising. Pay attention to the
issues of media convergence, advertising as entertainment, consumer engagement, and
weak theories of promotion. You can use other examples to support your points.

Sample Solution