1- Name of the Programme:

“Integrated Marketing Communications Management” Thesis and Non-Thesis Master Programme.

2- Objective and Coverage of the Programme:

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) may be defined as a process of planning any decision on products and services of organizations strategically according to customer needs and to communicative dimensions that effect purchasing behaviours, orchestrating them within discipline and creating synergies.

Driving forces of IMC are:

·      The change in power equilibriums of the market.

·      Strong impact of competition.

·      Challenges in customer trends.

·      Globalization and economic changes.

·      Developments in technologies.

·      Decreasing impact of conventional advertising.

·      Challenging expectations of advertisers.

·      Increasing costs of conventional advertising.

·      Ease and decreasing costs of setting up databases.

In the branding process, any contact with the consumer starts a communication process with the consumer on that brand, either direct or indirect. Recent research has proven that the consumer on the advertising side of this process that only watches advertising unconsciously is ineffectively contributing to this. The decrease of reactions on advertising spots made other marketing communication tools invested in more and even more than advertising itself. Advertising as the decisive factor of conventional marketing, is realizing more and more constrained and concentrated missions in consumers’ purchase behaviours. While advertising is taking place in marketing communication strategies to reveal existing needs and to deliver information on specific products and services, other issues concerning the consumer’s purchasing decision processes are completed with other marketing communications instruments such as, public relations, personalized sales, sales promotions, etc.

IMC is more than the coordination of an organization’s outgoing message between different media and the consistency of the message throughout. It is an aggressive marketing plan that captures and uses an extensive amount of customer information in setting and tracking marketing strategy.

In Turkey, the IMC approach is still in an early stage of development because of problems and inaccuracies of its application. Many marketing activities are failing due to this issue. One reason for this is of course the lack of adequate education and theoretic knowledge, as well as the lack professional experience of the IMC approach on the field as a second reason. Basic inaccuracies of IMC may be summarized in two aspects:

1.     Administrative inaccuracies.

2.     Inaccuracies of applications.

To meet requirements of the markets for educated workforce in the IMC field, like many other outstanding universities of the world, the Roosevelt University (http://www.roosevelt.edu/cas/comm/imc.htm) and the Northvestern University (http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/imc/) have developped graduate programmes for IMC  for a lonog time.

Outcome of the Programme

Professionals in the field of IMC work to maximize the impact and efficacy of marketing strategies employed by various organizations and corporations. They accomplish this through the conventional methods of marketing, as well as through the study of the behaviour of their target audience, the effects of the environment in which they are marketing their products, and a wide-ranging understanding of the implications of their marketing methods. As the global economy continues to develop, IMC specialists will continue to be in high demand in the professional marketplace.

Intention of the Programme:

The Integrated Marketing Communications Management Master Programme aims to raise qualified professional human resources for the IMC market. The Programme is developed according to the changing and developing global economic conditions, regarding national requirements, to prepare a scientific infrastructure of the IMC approach. Within this scope, basic skills and knowledge on business management will be delivered, all aspects of IMC will be related to any discipline of mass communication and studied in relation to social conditions and technological developments, and educative knowledge on strategic marketing communications will be delivered. The intention of the Programme is to raise professionals in the field of IMC, that may respond to the professional demand of the IMC market by being a stakeholder of all decision processes of IMC and having a word on all strategic decisions of this field, through a different approach than marketing and business management. Today the mental positioning process of consumers is not only bound with planned messages sent by companies. Therefore the customer-centric strategic realization of any promotional or non-promotional decision made in a company is possible if communication professionals take place on tables where these decisions are made. Because the value of a brand, may only be created and managed by IMC professionals.

3- Admission Requirements:

Any students with a BA degree from social sciences from a four-year university and of a good command of English may apply to the programme within these criteria:

• Minimum 55 points of the ALES Verbal Test or minimum 950 points of the GRE Verbal Test and minimum 3,5 points from analytical writing or minimum 550 points from the GMAT Test.

Minimum 50 points from ÜDS or KPDS Tests.