Professor
Paolo OdoardiLearning outcomes
Learning outcomes The course aims to provide students with an overall vision of the digital scenario and its socio-economic implications in relation to the world of communication and marketing. Particular attention will be paid to the social aspects of digitalisation and their impact on marketing strategies, with an all-round opening on the most current topics in the sector conferences. The exam will be based on the students' ability to research and update themselves on new trends, with the aim of making them autonomous in quickly delving into a topic they don't know, so as to build an operational mode for constant updating: key activities in context of contemporary digital marketing, which is constantly changing. Specifically, curiosity and in-depth analysis of the innovative "case studies" that are already setting the pace in various sectors will be stimulated, with constant support in the process of research and understanding of new trends.
The course aims to provide students with an overall view of the digital scenario and its socio-economic implications in relation to the world of communication and marketing. Particular attention will be paid to the social aspects of digitization and their effects on marketing strategies, with an all-round opening on the most current topics in industry conferences.
The exam will be based on the students' ability to research and update themselves on new trends, with the aim of making them autonomous in quickly deepening a subject they do not know, so as to build an operating method for constant updating: key activities in the context of contemporary digital marketing, in continuous change.
Specifically, curiosity and in-depth study of the innovative "case studies" that are already setting the pace in various sectors will be stimulated, with constant support along the path of research and understanding of new trends.
Course contents
Course contents
The course provides an overview of the main trends of the digital world:
Ecommerce, trends and platforms
Digital Advertising, the personalization revolution, data driven creativity
Marketing Automation, methods and tools
New Retail, Retail 4.0, Phygital
Omnichannel strategies
Chatbots, conversational interfaces, voice interfaces
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, predictive analytics
Data Analytics, cookies, data and privacy regulations
Smart speakers, Wearables and IoT
Search Engine Optimization, SEO Copywriting
Reading/Bibliography
Reference texts/bibliography
The slides made by the students/groups in the workshops/seminars are made available as handouts. The teacher will also provide specific instructions or handouts, which will be delivered in PDF electronic format, containing articles and research available on the web; these will be an integral part of the course programme.
It is necessary to take notes in the workshops/seminars in a systematic way, collecting them in an orderly, precise and systematic way, studying them together with the slides, and integrating them with the related topics covered in the books.
Texts for the exam:
Cioffi, A. (2024). Digital strategy. La trasformazione delle vendite tra posizionamento digitale e nuove opportunità. Con ebook. Con espansione online. Italia: Hoepli.
Reading the "Digital Strategy" manual is considered a prerequisite and must be done within the first two weeks of the course.
Teaching methods
The basic methodological idea of the course is to replicate a contemporary digital marketing event within the time of the lessons, with workshops/seminars prepared and held by individual students. During the course each student will practice, alone or in a group, on concrete case studies from the leading sectors of e-commerce today, such as fashion, luxury, design, travel.
Given that the field of digital marketing is vast and changing, textbooks are by their nature often not sufficiently updated. The lessons therefore assume a crucial role and serve above all to offer up-to-date stimuli and ideas also for personal research on topics not covered by the textbooks.
The nature of the course will be highly applicative with a view to offering professional training on contemporary communication applied to digital media. Case study analysis, group work, personal study, analysis of marketing tool consoles will be preferred.
Assessment methods
The exam assessment is divided into parts.
Presentation/seminar that the student will present to the class: 50% of the final mark.
Personal research argumentative paper (thesis), which will be carried out at the end of the lessons: 50% of the final mark.
The personal research project (thesis) will be structured as follows:
Each student will have to choose a personal research topic on which to elaborate an in-depth study. The topic must in any case be agreed with the teacher during the 30 hours of the course, in the reception, or by communication via email. It must have a length that can vary between a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 pages, of 2000 characters each.
The thesis will be developed independently by the student and will be examined only during the evaluation for the exam. The essay will be developed by the students during the home study hours, and delivered within deadlines that will be communicated during the course. A mandatory moment of presentation of the contents to the class in the form of a workshop is foreseen in a phase prior to delivery.
The choice and reading of an exam text is considered mandatory, to be carried out according to the topic of the thesis.