Element Assessment Assignments-Format: Static Imagery

MSM – Fall A 2020

Element Assessment Assignments

To be effective in their construction, assessment, and revision of marketing communications,

marketers must have a strong understanding of marketing communication elements and how they play

a role in achieving the various marketing communication goals (e.g., inform, remind, persuade,

connect, and others). These element assessment assignments have been designed to help you develop

your understanding of marketing communication elements in the context of their various formats (e.g.,

static visual imagery, dynamic visual imagery, music, speaking, static text, etc.), as well in

consideration of their various presumed purposes.

For each element assessment, you will select a marketing communication (typically an ad) that

employs a particular communication format as its primary source of communicative

information. You’ll then complete the assignment sheet instructions below for each of the

assigned format(s) for that week using an associated template as a guide. For some of the

formats, you will choose from among a set of ads provided by your instructors. For others, you

will be required to find an appropriate ad or other marketing-related communication. In some

cases, several of the elements to assess may be provided for you whereas in other cases, you will

select all of the elements to assess. NOTE: You cannot use an ad/communication used as an

example for the course.

Note that there is no page limit to your responses. The more thorough you are in your responses, the

more likely you’ll gain better skills in evaluating marketing communication elements within this

particular format. Remember that the focus of the assignment series is not to deliver descriptions,

evaluations, and recommendations at a highly conceptual level, but to do so at the

micro/elemental level. You’ll be tempted often to discuss “meaning” when what you’ll need to do

instead is focus on how the various elements, and how they’re used/portrayed/displayed/etc. will either

help or hinder the proposed communication objectives.

For each assessment, you’ll deliver the following:

1a. Communication Piece – Whenever possible, provide a high-quality, large image of the marketing

communication you are assessing within your document, as well as the URL. For video content,

provide only the URL.

1b. Target Audience, Marketing Goals, Communication Objectives – Briefly discuss what you feel

is/are the target audience(s) for this communication piece. Then discuss what you feel would be the

general marketing goals of the communication, as well as the specific communication objectives

2. Element-focused Description – Provide a detailed description using elements that are pertinent to

its structure, design, appearance, etc. of the focal communication format. You are encouraged to

broaden your description (and be creative) by using elements that typically are not associated with this

particular format. Your focus on this section should be only on describing the communication piece in

terms of the design elements found within the communication piece (but you also can include a

description of the overall design, structure, and appearance if you would like). IMPORTANT: In this

section, do NOT evaluate or assess the communication elements or provide recommendations. This

section is merely descriptive and must be focused on describing how each element is portrayed and/or

how the communication has been constructed with this element in mind.

3. Element-focused Evaluation – Using the context of what you feel are the target audience(s), the

marketing goals, and the communication objectives, you can now, apart from your description,

evaluate the effectiveness of the elements that you described previously. Are they effective from a

general communication perspective and from the specific perspective of the proposed communication

objectives? Does each design element, as portrayed in the communication, help or hinder the

achievement of the communication goals? These element-focused evaluations can be conducted in the

context of the entire message, the target audience, the brand image, the assumed marketing

communication objectives, the higher-level marketing objectives, the concepts of cognition and

emotion, the underlying purpose of persuasion, etc. (it’s your choice). In all cases, your focus must be

on evaluating the effectiveness of the design elements found within the communication piece (but you

can also assess the overall design, structure, and appearance if you would like).

4. Element-focused Recommendations – Suggest multiple ways in which the focal communication

format could and/or should be designed in order to be more effective. Focus your recommendations on

the specific design elements that you have described and evaluated, and how changes in the design

elements (for the focal communication format) could potentially enhance or change the efficacy of the

message (via attention, delivery, understanding, retention, emotion, direction, etc.). Provide rationale

for each of your suggestions.

5. Referenced Elements – For each of the at least five or more elements that you used in completing

this assignment, list a reference source from one of the design books assigned for our course, one of

the assigned readings regarding music, written/spoken word, voice, etc., or from any other source. For

each, include the source (book and page number, article title, URL, etc.).

GRADING

As for all assignments in the course and program, grades of “A” are reserved for outstanding

performance. Meeting and even exceeding the minimum requirements for the assignment will not

guarantee “A” grades. For each communication format, at least five relevant elements must used to

describe the ad/communication, with the same five (or more) being evaluated for effectiveness, and

then at least some subset of the five (or more) receiving recommendations for improvement. As

always, spelling, grammar, etc. will assessed as well.

Although a template will be provided for each of the eight communication formats, you can determine

the final structure of the submitted assignment as you desire, but please label each section clearly.

• • •

Element Assessment #1 – Format: Static Imagery

Select a marketing communication (not merely a brand logo) that employs a static image as its primary

source of communicative information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your

assessment on the static imagery only and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #2 – Format: Dynamic (Video) Imagery

Select a marketing communication that employs dynamic (video) imagery as its primary source of

communicative information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your

assessment on the video imagery only and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #3 – Format: Music

Select a marketing communication that employs music and/or sound effects as a key source of

communicative information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your

assessment on the music and/or sound effects only and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #4 – Format: Static Text

Select a marketing communication that employs static (non-moving) text as its primary source of

communicative information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your

assessment on the static text only and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #5 – Format: Moving Text

Select a marketing communication that employs moving text as a key source of communicative

information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your assessment on the

moving text only and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #6 – Format: Speaking

Select a marketing communication that employs speaking as its primary source of communicative

information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your assessment on the

speaking only and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #7 – Format: “Other”

Select a marketing communication that employs a type of communicative information that is not part

of the previous six formats. It cannot be focused on visual or auditory formats. This leaves touch,

smell, taste, proximity, etc. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions, focusing your

assessment on this “other” format category and using the template as a guide.

Element Assessment #8 – Format: Silence/Nothingness/Emptiness

Select a marketing communication that employs silence, nothingness, emptiness, etc. as an

instrumental source of communicative information. Then complete the assignment sheet instructions,

focusing your assessment on the silence/nothingness, emptiness, etc. aspect and using the template as a

guide.