The course objective is to acquire a basic knowledge of the main mechanisms used to make an advertisement distinctive, memorable and effective. The students will try to learn and master these mechanisms through practice exercises in order to express their abilities according to their inclinations and interpretative talent.

The course is both theoretical and practical. The theoretical part will show, through structural considerations and a variety of examples, what creativity means when it is bound to a precise objective: in our case, the message. This very ample topic takes into consideration language and images, exploring their capacity to produce an effective communication when they interact in specific ways. We will mainly analyze traditional advertising methods (television and radio commercials, print ads and bills) according to symbols and storytelling. We will discuss about copywriting and visual invention, with a special focus on copywriting. The general topic is creativity in advertising and its logics, so we won’t talk about accessory elements, such as graphics, packaging, typography and so on.

The practical part consists of some exercises that will be assigned in the classroom. The students will return their works within the deadlines fixed by the teacher. Some exercises will be performed in class, other will be executed and/or completed at home and taken back on the next lesson (approximately after two weeks) for discussion and corrections. Delays in the delivery of exercises are not allowed.

If the number of students attending the course is not too high, the last workshop (4 hours) will be entirely dedicated to the individual correction of the exercises done in the whole course.

Exercises are relevant for the global evaluation, so they have to be presented on the final examination. We recommend the students to accurately prepare their compositions, also paying attention to graphic elements and to how papers are presented (no loose or handwritten papers). This kind of negligence is a clue that some fundamental topics of the course have not been acquired.

Moreover, orthographic and syntactical errors are not allowed. These are elements of evaluation.

The exam consists of an oral part, focused on the theoretical matters tackled during the course and on the suggested bibliography, and of a practical part, the exercises.

- Testa A., La trama lucente, Rizzoli, Milano, 2010

- Barry P., The advertising concept book, Londra, 2008

- Fiorani E., Grammatica della comunicazione, Lupetti, Milano, 2006

- Bisutti D., La poesia salva la vita, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2009

- Munari B., Codice ovvio, Einaudi, Torino, 2008

- Munari B., Da cosa nasce cosa, Laterza, Roma, 2010

- Arnheim R., Arte e percezione visiva, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2002

- Pirella E., Il copywriter mestiere d'arte, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 2002

1.    Knowledge and comprehension skills: basic concept of copywriting and attitude to the creative thinking.

1.1  Students attain basic knowledge through lessons, bibliography, exercises.

2.    Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension: ability to face an advertising brief.

2.1  Skills acquired through exercitations in the classroom

3.    Ability to judge: specific communication problems to solve, with focus on classic advertising media such press, TV, and radio.

3.1  This ability to judge will be applied during the lessons, the exercises, in the classroom with the professor and colleagues.

4.    Communicative skills: students will have to interact with the professor and colleagues asking questions and exchanging opinions, in order to prepare little presentations regarding their own exercises.

4.1  This ability is trained by moments of discussion with students (treatments?) and exercitation in the classroom.

5.    Learning ability: students are requested to learn a method of learning that include critical skills and ability to connect theoretical competence with empirical analisys, in order to acquire an indipendent point of view.

5.1  Ability to be empowered through dialog with the professor and colleagues.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

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Attendance

It will be a compulsory attendance ¾ of the lesson time.

For part-time students attendance of the lectures is not mandatory. Students who will not attend at least the 50% of the lectures will have to contact the teacher.