Promotional Media: PR, Advertising and Branding
Entry requirements
A level
Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject specific modules
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
With three Higher Level subjects at 655
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
Scottish Higher
T Level
Each application will be considered on its individual merits. Where the T Level subject area does not directly match the degree programme being applied for, the personal statement and reference will be particularly important in demonstrating interest, enthusiasm and suitability for the subject.
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
**Examine the rise of the promotional industries, and their relationship with media, both in the past and in contemporary society.**
Today, native advertising, advertorials, and new online practices have blurred the boundary between promotional content, and factual or fictional content. This programme allows you to study developments from a uniquely theoretical and practical perspective, integrating creative and critical analytic thinking.
By bringing together theory and practice, this degree covers a broad spectrum of critical perspectives on promotional media and introduces a range of contemporary promotional media practices. It offers a solid basis of practical experience in promotions-based media production, and a critical understanding of the complex relationship between the media and promotional industries.
We provide an experience in which theory and practice elements inform each other to produce original and critical work, and teach independent learning skills for use in a rapidly changing industry.
**Why study BA Promotional Media: PR, Advertising and Branding at Goldsmiths**
- Explore a range of promotional media practices, from planning and launching media campaigns, to web design, writing for the media, pitching and presentation, research skills, and learn about key aspects of digital and visual culture.
- Come into regular contact with people who work in this sector, including on practice modules taught by industry professionals, thanks to the department’s close links with the media world.
- You'll be able to take a compulsory work placement in your final year, allowing you to gain valuable experience in a professional setting.
- Study a variety of critical approaches to advertising, branding, public relations and marketing, including their increasing convergence, and learn about global and transnational approaches.
- Study and evaluate the cultural, sociological, economic, and political impact of promotional activity, and explore the growth of the promotional industry both historically and in a contemporary context.
- Gain a critical perspective on the promotional industries and their relationships with media industries, and learn about a range of promotional media practices and key roles in promotional organisations.
- Evaluate the impact of promotional activity on culture, society, the economies, and politics.
- The Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies has been ranked 2nd in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 12th in the world (2nd in the UK) in the 2022 QS World Rankings for communication and media studies.
Modules
In your first year, you will be taken on industry visits, learn web design and presentation skills, as well as how to develop pitches. In year two, you will be set ‘live’ briefs, and learn visual storytelling through moving images and photography. In year three, students will undertake work experience and will develop their professional portfolio.
This programme will help you develop your knowledge and understanding of:
The key approaches to advertising, branding, public relations, and marketing
The relationship between promotional practices and wider activities of the media
The relationship between different media (art, photography, video, storytelling, digital life), and promotional media
The relationship between the development of new technology and the growth of the promotional industries
The relationship between social, cultural, and economic processes and the development of the promotional industries
Changes in the practices of the promotional industries and their interrelationships
The growth of promotional media and the development of the self
Year 1
Introduction to Promotional Media: Histories, Contexts, Theories
Introduction to Marketing
Writing For The Media
Media Arts
Culture and Cultural Studies
Web Design
Year 2
The Promotional Industries: Convergence and The Digital
Visual Storytelling
Understanding Advertising
Creative Collaborations
You will also take 30 credits worth (1 or 2) of option modules offered by the Department of Media Communications and Cultural Studies.
Year 3 Compulsory Modules:
Visualising and Analysing Data
Work Placement (Media)
Final Project
You will also take 60 credits worth (2 to 4) of option modules offered by the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies department.
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
Assessment methods
You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework assignments such as extended essays, reports, presentations, practice-based projects or essays/logs, group projects and reflective essays, as well as seen and unseen written examinations.
The Uni
Goldsmiths, University of London
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
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Only a small number of students study courses within this catch-all subject area, so there isn't a lot of information available on what graduates do when they finish - bear that in mind when you look at any stats. Marketing and PR were the most likely jobs for graduates from these courses, but it's sensible to go on open days and talk to tutors about what you might expect from the course, and what previous graduates did.
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Media studies
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