The Ohio State University
Fisher College of Business
M&L 7208 – Digital Marketing
Spring 2014
T 6:00 – 9:15 PM
Gerlach Hall 0275
Professor:
Dr. Rebecca Naylor
Email:
naylor_53@fisher.osu.edu
Office:
538 Fisher Hall
Phone:
(614) 247-6433 (office); 614-961-8987 (cell)
Office hours:
Monday 1:00-3:00 PM and by appointment
Course Description
This course examines the digital marketing industry as a whole by specifically assessing
Resource’s strategic approach. Resource is a nationally renowned digital marketing agency
headquartered in Columbus, OH. This course:
was co-developed by Fisher’s Innovation Initiative and Resource (named by Ad Age as a
top, "A-List Agency"),
showcases Resource’s approaches, frameworks, and processes to their work for some of
the world's leading brands,
is based upon the strategic platform of "The O.P.E.N. Brand" by Resource's CEO, Kelly
Mooney, and Dr. Nita Rollins, Resource’s futurist, and
is delivered by a cross-section of Resource's leadership and domain experts.
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Learning Objectives
This course provides students with an understanding of how to manage a cross-section of digital
marketing assets in order to develop strategies and execute tactics associated with effective
cross-channel marketing in the digital era. Specifically, you will:
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Understand the cross-channel branded consumer experience and the role that digital
assets play in these experiences,
Understand how to utilize, activate, and leverage particular touch-points,
Identify the components of a multi-dimensional presence and capability and the interdependency and relationship between each touch-point,
Assess a company’s “openness” and have the ability to make recommendations on
improving a brand’s positioning and offer, and
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Analyze and evaluate various techniques related to research, strategy formulation, design,
development, and assessment of various digital marketing deliverables (i.e., websites, ecommerce, social, mobile, etc.).
Course Approach and Policies
This course is a hybrid course. "Hybrid" or "Blended" are names commonly used to describe
courses in which some traditional face-to-face "seat time" has been replaced by online learning
activities. The purpose of a hybrid course is to take advantage of the best features of both faceto-face and online learning.
We will have only three in-person meetings during the course of the term (these are called
synchronous, in-class days on the course schedule): one at the beginning of the term (to
introduce the course and to form teams for the project), one in the middle of the term where each
team will meet with the instructor for a team meeting), and one at the end of the term (to present
and evaluate each team’s project). Attendance is required on all synchronous in-class days.
The remainder of the class will be asynchronous online learning that you will do individually and
with your team, by watching online video content, reading cases and other online content, and
participating in a team discussion forum. There will also be a final exam, which will be a
synchronous online activity (meaning you will all take it at the same time, but you will do so
online, rather than in a classroom).
Late assignments will not be accepted. The only exceptions are for documented emergencies.
Communication
The best way to reach me outside class is via email. I access my email many times a day – much
more often than I check my phone messages. If you cannot attend my officially scheduled office
hours, you can also always email me to set up an appointment at a different time that works with
your schedule. I will use Carmen’s email system to contact you individually or as a group about
the class (e.g., changes in the syllabus, assignments, etc.). It is your responsibility to make sure
that emails sent via Carmen reach you at an email address you check on a regular basis.
Course Readings
The readings for each week are posted on Carmen (in the “Objectives and Assignments”
document). Some readings you will be required to purchase, others are available for free from
the OSU library website, and others are available via free links.
For the first week of class, you are required to read The OPEN Brand: When Push Comes to Pull
in a Web Made World by Kelly Mooney, CEO Resource, and Nita Rollins, Ph.D., Resource.
Please purchase this book online. It is available via Amazon in both a Kindle and a paperback
edition.
Subsequent weeks include a mix of cases available for purchase via Harvard Business Online,
articles available for free via the OSU library website, and free articles provided via links in the
“Objectives and Assignments” document.
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You can order cases from Harvard Business Online at the following link:
http://hbr.org/store. Please use the detailed citation provided in the “Objectives and
Assignments” document to ensure you are ordering the correct material.
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For articles available through the OSU library website, I recommend you go to the
“Research and Databases” link (http://library.ohio-state.edu/screens/databases.html), then
to “Business Source Complete” and search from there.
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For articles that are available for free online, I have tried to provide you with a working
link in the “Objectives and Assignments” document. If the link does NOT work, try
Googling the citation or try searching for the article on the library website. If you still
cannot access a reading after trying all of these options, please let me know ASAP.
Honor Code
Academic integrity is essential to maintaining an environment that fosters excellence in teaching,
research, and other educational and scholarly activities. Thus, The Ohio State University and the
Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM) expect that all students have read and understand
the University’s Code of Student Conduct and that all students will complete all academic and
scholarly assignments with fairness and honesty. Students must recognize that failure to follow
the rules and guidelines established in the University’s Code of Student Conduct and this
syllabus may constitute “Academic Misconduct.”
The Ohio State University’s Code of Student Conduct (Section 3335-23-04) defines academic
misconduct as: “Any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of the University,
or subvert the educational process.” Examples of academic misconduct include (but are not
limited to) plagiarism, collusion (unauthorized collaboration), copying the work of another
student, and possession of unauthorized materials during an examination. Ignorance of the
University’s Code of Student Conduct is never considered an “excuse” for academic misconduct,
so I recommend that you review the Code of Student Conduct, specifically, the sections dealing
with academic misconduct.
If I suspect that a student has committed academic misconduct in this course, I am obligated by
University Rules to report my suspicions to the Committee on Academic Misconduct. If COAM
determines that you have violated the University’s Code of Student Conduct (i.e., committed
academic misconduct), the sanctions for the misconduct could include a failing grade in this
course and suspension or dismissal from the University.
In this course, it is also expected that each student will behave in a manner that is
consistent with the Fisher Honor Statement, which reads as follows:
“As a member of the Fisher College of Business Community, I am personally committed to the
highest standards of behavior. Honesty and integrity are the foundations from which I will
measure my actions. I will hold myself accountable to adhere to these standards. As a future
leader in the community and business environment, I pledge to live by these principles and
celebrate those who share these ideals.”
If you have any questions about the above policy or what constitutes academic misconduct in
this course, please contact me.
Students with Disabilities
Any student who feels she/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability
should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Office for
Disability Services at 614-292-3307 in room 150 Pomerene Hall to coordinate reasonable
accommodations for students with documented disabilities. It is your responsibility to discuss
this with me well in advance of any assignments/exams, not, for example, the day before or day
of an exam.
Assessment
As required by Fisher policy, grading will be based on relative rather than absolute standards.
The average grade in this course will be a 3.6 or lower. A “B” (3.00) average in core courses and
overall is required to earn a Fisher MBA degree from The Ohio State University.
Sometimes cases of academic misconduct arise due to apparent confusion over the degree of
collaboration allowed on assignments. This has the potential to be particularly problematic in a
hybrid course. University policy clearly states that it is each student’s responsibility to resolve
issues that appear ambiguous directly with the faculty members.
However, to help create clarity and avoid potential misunderstandings, the following letters
indicate the amount and type of collaboration allowed on each assignment:
N: No Collaboration of Any Kind Allowed
T: Collaboration Only with Teammates Allowed
A: Collaboration with All Fellow Students Allowed
U: Unlimited collaboration with All Fellow Students and Other Parties Allowed
There are 200 possible points to be earned through assignments for this course. Points are
allocated as follows:
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Contribution to Team Discussion: 60 points (U, collaboration with all fellow students),
Value: 30% of overall grade.
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Team Assignment/Group Project: 80 points total includes impact of peer assessment
(see below) (T, team only), Value: 40% of overall grade.
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Final Exam: 60 points (N, no collaboration), Value: 30% of overall grade.
Team Discussions:
There are a set of questions posted on Carmen for each week (in the “Objectives and
Assignments” document) that you, as an individual, should read before beginning the week’s
assignment. You should then make notes about each question as you read and view the
associated materials.
As a team, determine “ownership” for each question. Most weeks have five questions, which
means that if your team has five members, each of you should take a question. Some weeks have
fewer or more than five. It is up to the team to decide who gets a week off or who gets a second
question in these situations. All discussions must be complete by Sunday at 11:45 PM (each
new week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday; the new content for the week will
generally also be available on Sundays). See below for details on what a “complete” discussion
looks like.
The “Owner”
Each of you is now the “owner” of at least one question (on most weeks). As the “owner” you
are responsible to:
1. Ensure that each member of your team is actively participating in your question for
discussion. (Each team has its own forum discussions for each question within the set of
questions. Only your team and your instructor have access to these Team Forums).
2. At the conclusion of your discussion (i.e., you are satisfied that all have participated and
you feel comfortable that all aspects of the question have been addressed), you are ready
to craft a team response for the Course Forum.
3. Post your conclusion to the Team Forum discussion board so that all participants can read
and agree with the team post. Your team can decide internally when this is due.
4. Post the response for your team to the appropriate Course Forum Discussion Board
by Sunday at 11:45 PM. This marks a completed discussion.
5. Read the instructor’s comments (which will typically be posted on Monday afternoon of
each week).
“Participant”
For all questions that you are NOT the “Owner,” you are a “Participant.” As a “participant” you
are responsible to:
1. Having read and watched all appropriate materials, use the notes that you took to add to
the discussion begun by the “owner.” Expand on the areas already shared. Add additional
sources that make your team’s statements stronger.
2. If you feel that the discussion is going in a direction with which you do not agree, it is
your responsibility to raise any issues by offering your ideas and supporting them with
information from the presentations and/or readings.
3. Read the conclusion post, make any suggestions for edits, and finally give your approval
that the post be shared with the entire learning community.
4. Read the instructor’s comments (which will typically be posted on Monday afternoon of
each week).
Your Contribution to Team Discussion grade will be determined by:
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Quality of the Team Responses you create when you “own” a question
Quality of the comments you make in your private team discussions (note that I will not
read all of these, but will spot check for quality throughout the term)
Frequency of participation (in terms of posts read and posts made)
Team Assignment/ Group Project
Working as a team of 4-6 members and utilizing learning from the course, I would like you to
select a major brand and company whose digital processes you can evaluate in light of the
theories and practices as taught in the course and The O.P.E.N. Brand.
Consider this brand your client and describe how the selected company could and should
employ specific digital processes and practices in order to increase and improve awareness,
loyalty, and revenues.
In other words, I’d like you to conduct an O.P.E.N. assessment of a brand of your choice.
Conduct secondary research into the company’s structure, leadership, culture, and operations.
Review and ultimately cite published accounts of the organization’s approach to digital
marketing and commerce, analysts’ reports and/or other published opinions and perspectives
regarding the competitive nature of the organization’s offer, its strengths and weaknesses, etc.
Utilizing frameworks, models, and philosophies from the course, explain how your client could
leverage these theories and tools in order to more successfully leverage the digital space on
behalf of shareholders and consumers/customers.
The Consumer Decision Journey will be of particular importance in identifying
where/when/how you should leverage digital strategies most effectively.
Please also discuss how the recommendations you make for your client can create
SUSTAINABLE POINTS OF COMPETITVE DIFFERENTIATION (i.e., how your
recommendations can assist the brand in increasing long-term sustainability and viability).
Each team will present its assignment and will be strictly limited to 10 minutes, followed by a
five minute Q&A period. It is your choice whether you would like to present your project
“live” in class on the presentation day or to show a digital version of your presentation. If
you choose to create a digital presentation rather than presenting “live,” keep in mind that the
production quality of the digital presentation will be factored into how your project is evaluated.
The instructor and each student will rate your presentation and evaluate the quality of your
submission. A scorecard/evaluation form is posted on Carmen. Please review this document
so that you know how your project will be evaluated. Evaluating all presentations is required;
not doing so will result in a points deduction on your individual project grade.
The formal team deliverable will be a print out of your power point presentation (no more than
25 pages in length) due on the same day you present (or a link or flash drive with your digital
presentation). Each team member will be assigned the same points. Following the delivery and
presentation, you will be asked to assess your own and your team members’ individual
contributions to team efforts. The outcome of the assessment can cause an individual’s score
to be raised or lowered. Completing these assessments is required; not doing so will result in a
points deduction on your individual project grade.
COURSE SCHEDULE
The readings and discussion questions for each week are posted on Carmen (in the “Objectives
and Assignments” document). It is very important that you start each week by reviewing this
document! You will want to get the readings and divide up “ownership” of the discussion
questions immediately. Please note that because this is a hybrid course, we have only three inperson class meetings.
Week 1 (January 7 – 12): Course Introduction and Introduction to the O.P.E.N. brand
• First in-person, synchronous in-class meeting on Tuesday, January 7th at 6:00 PM
featuring guest speakers from Resource. The authors of "The O.P.E.N. Brand,"
Resource's CEO, Kelly Mooney, and Dr. Nita Rollins, Resource’s futurist, will be
speaking, so it is to your advantage to have read The O.P.E.N. Brand book before this
class session so that you can ask questions and be prepared to answer them.
• After we hear from Resource, we will also use this class session to form teams of
approximately five members for the final project and weekly team discussions. Please go
over the syllabus carefully so that you understand how team discussions will work and
are prepared to ask questions about the team final project. Everyone will be in a team
when they leave class! All teams will also have a team number. Knowing your team
number is important, as your team discussion forums will be labeled with your team
number.
• See Carmen for details on asynchronous online content.
• Discussions must be complete by Sunday, January 12th at 11:45 PM.
Week 2 (January 13 – 19): Customer Experience Journey
• See Carmen for details on asynchronous online content.
• Discussions must be complete by Sunday, January 19th at 11:45 PM.
Week 3 (January 20 – 26): Digital Commerce Overview and Digital Commerce Delivery
• See Carmen for details on asynchronous online content.
• Discussions must be complete by Sunday, January 26th at 11:45 PM.
Week 4 (January 27 – February 2): Digital Media Overview and Paid Media
• All teams have a mandatory team meeting with me during our class time this week
in our officially scheduled classroom (Tuesday, January 29th) using the following
schedule. If your team would like to switch times with another team, you are welcome to
coordinate this among yourselves.
Team 1 – 6:00 PM Team 5 – 7:20 PM
Team 2 – 6:20 PM Team 6 – 7:40 PM
Team 3 – 6:40 PM Team 7 – 8:00 PM
Team 4 – 7:00 PM Team 8 – 8:20 PM
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See Carmen for details on asynchronous online content.
Discussions must be complete by Sunday, February 2nd at 11:45 PM.
Week 5 (February 3 – 9): Social Media (Earned) and Mobile
• See Carmen for details on asynchronous online content.
• Discussions must be complete by Sunday, February 9th at 11:45 PM.
Week 6 (February 10 – 16): Measurement & Analytics
• See Carmen for details on asynchronous online content.
• Discussions must be complete by Sunday, February 16th at 11:45 PM.
Week 7 (February 17-20): Team Presentations
• No asynchronous online content for this week.
• Teams will present their projects during an in-person, synchronous session on
Tuesday, February 18th beginning at 6:00 PM. Representatives from Resource will be
present to evaluate your presentations. This session will likely last the entire class period,
so come prepared. All students are expected to stay the entire time in order to evaluate all
presentations. Not doing so will result in a points deduction on your own final project
grade. Teams will present in numerical order, starting with team 1.
• Self and team peer evaluations are due to the Carmen Dropbox by 5 PM on
Thursday, February 20th (last day of classes for term 1).
Exam: The exam will be held during the scheduled exam time for this course (TBD; exam will
be an online, synchronous exam, meaning you will complete the exam online but will all do it at
the same time).