https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5463-600X
Since the start of the global pandemic in late 2019, the world of marketing communication has undergone a disruptive step change, providing a unique natural experiment to observe pre- and post-lockdown attitudes and behaviours as much of the global population shifted from ‘in real life’ interaction to online. While research has focused on changes in consumer behaviour and even the marketing communication process, the new realities for marketing communication education have been largely unexplored. Until now …
First steps in a step change
The intent of this Special Issue is to bring together thought leaders to envisage the future of marketing communication education. We start with our own research (A Step Change in Marketing Communication Education) and take three steps.
The first step, what we knew before COVID 19, investigates the historical evolution of marketing communication education as environmental, societal, and technological advancements challenged old knowledge and practice, and gave rise to new ways of educating the next generation of thought leaders.
Step 2 explores what we know now, based on a case study and the limited research on university education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask whether current educational practices are ‘fit-for-purpose’ in a post-COVID-19 world, in which technology-mediated interactions between students, students and educators, and students and learning materials have become ubiquitous and student expectations and experiences have been significantly disrupted. We reinvent the Biggs 3P Model as an integrated learning experience.
The final step explores what we urgently need to find out, delivering a research agenda for marketing communication education. Research in this area is imperative as marketing communication education should reflect contemporary practice; it should frame the learning and the mindsets of future practitioners; as well as energizing the forward thinking and insights of academics and researchers, affirming our value and paying our salaries. Read all about it in the first article in our special issue, immediately following this introduction.
Next steps in marketing communication education
The next step is to ignite collective thinking on the footprint we want our marketing communications to leave behind. Looking at this step change from the perspective of the students, the industry view, applying what we teach, examining differences in developing countries and even accelerating the pace using AI, we offer some next steps towards understanding the future of marketing communication education in the following six articles in this Special Issue.
Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT: exploring Current and potential future roles in marketing education
After confirming that the authors did actually write this paper (just joking), we begin the special issue with a look at what education might become. It is essential reading, delivering a brief overview of AI and exploring the utility and dangers of AI in the marketing communications industries and education. Recognizing both our frustrations as academics and our mission as stewards of learning and shapers of our disciplinary future, the authors conclude, ‘Fighting AI in education is a hopeless battle. Finding ways to better integrate it and enhance students’ literacy about the issues surrounding AI is of critical need’.
The power of synergy to reinvent IMC education
This paper demonstrates the power of synergy by showing how collaborative thinking can produce great value and perhaps an even better future for IMC education. Bringing together the insights of IMC leaders from the US, Europe, Asia and Australia, plus the collaboration of IMC academics in a thought-provoking ideation session, the power of synergy escapes the textbook to reimagine and reinvent IMC education.
A new framework for IMC planning
This paper imagines what the ideal IMC planning framework for both teaching and industry might look like. It synthesizes the most important aspects of IMC, building on theory and simulating industry conditions in an educational context. The new planning model is result of good planning in itself, with well-known IMC academics collaborating with industry leaders to build a model that serves both parties.
A ’Covid Bump’ in communication course evaluations: implications for future assessment
By exploring how student evaluations changed during COVID, this paper provides opportunities, mechanisms and processes for teaching, assessment and evaluation in our current practice. Comparing communications students with whole-of-university results, the researchers found that communication students were more open to change, adaptable to new environments and sympathetic to the difficult situations that lecturers faced during the COVID transition. All good qualities for future marketing communication professionals.
Marketing communications in developing countries; post pandemic insights from India and South Africa
Little research has considered the implications of the pandemic on higher education in developing nations. With a focus on South Africa and India, this research documents how the forced movement of classes online amplified the geographic and temporal reach, heightened cognitive engagement, optimized temporal and physical resources and empowered superior learning outcomes. However, technology also heightened inequality through its inaccessibility, especially in South Africa. The results of this step change in marcom education presents a new theory of marcom education for developing nations.
Competitive advantage for life: an industry view of marketing communication education
The competitive advantage of this paper is that it takes a strong industry focus. Inviting an industry CEO to ask (what every student would like to know) about the value of marketing communication education and its response to disciplinary changes in practice. This incites a literature review of existing research on marketing communication education and employs a new method of Collective Intelligence to address the unanswered questions. Leading industry thinkers interact and share ideas, revealing key insights into necessary skills sets, both in terms of the competitive advantage it brings to relevant professions and what it offers to one’s life in general.
Conclusion
Each paper in this Special Issue embodies a new step forward in marketing communication education. From new IMC frameworks to student evaluations, industry views, ideas from academic thought leaders, experiences from developing countries, and the potential of AI to change everything. Step-by-step, in the pursuit of the best teaching and learning in the domain of marketing communication, we are likely to be running by the end of this special issue. Because together, as integrated and strategic as the best marketing communication campaign, we can make a step change for the better.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).