The Assessment Task

The purpose of this assignment is to review your ability to demonstrate your commercial awareness within the context of the creative industries using research from academic and practitioner sources.

You are required to build a portfolio of evidence that shows your understanding of what’s going in the creative industries. You will create a portfolio, relevant to you, based on several job roles that you are likely to apply for in the future. You need to demonstrate that you understand aspects of your industry within marketing and advertising, what the trends are and how organisations are addressing trends based on academic and practitioner viewpoints.

Your portfolio takes the same process as a potential job interview: If you were asked to talk about the industry, what do you know and what do you think will happen (trends). You start broad with information on the creative industries which you could update as you move through your career, then you focus on your area of interest.

Your entries should include infographics/mindmaps, trend analysis, practitioner viewpoints, evaluations of solutions faced by marketing and advertising organisations, a personal reflection and be visually appealing. Both visual and text – diagrams, charts, images of campaigns, should be used within the text in this section.  Each created visualisation ‘counts as 100words’.

Your portfolio must consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of six entries, submitted as one PDF document – make sure you reference your work and include an appendix (see below).

You can use any layout as this is your portfolio. Below are suggestions to support you.

Layout suggestion 1:

• A brief introduction to the portfolio, yourself and the creative industries (and your chosen area).
• Role of organisations involved in the marketing and advertising, within the UK creative industries
  • Visualisation of the principal actors /stakeholders involved in the creative industries in the UK
• Current trends impacting organisations involved in the marketing and advertising industry
  • Key trends impacting your area of choice (within creative industries and/or marketing&advertising)
• At least 2 practitioner viewpoints on the identified trends
• Evaluation of solutions to identified challenges (use trends to support you) faced by marketing and advertising organisations
• Conclusion/ Reflection on portfolio and how you see the future
  • (The reflection can be written in first person, everything else should be in third person.)
• References
• Appendix

Layout suggestion 2:

• A brief introduction to portfolio
  • Introduce yourself and explain what are the creative industries
• a) Demonstrate an understanding of the operations and functions of organisations involved in the creative industries /marketing and advertising (consider your chosen job role)
  • Create a collage or mindmap of the key organisations in your area/sector
  • A visualisation of the principal actors/stakeholders involved in the creative industries in the UK
• b) Identify and analyse trends impacting organisations involved in marketing and advertising // c) Demonstrate an understanding of discussions of current trends in appropriate practitioner sources and academic literature
  • Explain what are the current trends impacting organisations in the marketing and advertising industry
  • Explore key trends impacting your area of choice (within creative industries and/or marketing & advertising)
  • Include at least 2 practitioner view points on the identified trends
• d) Critically evaluate current real-world solutions being applied to identified current internal and external environmental challenges impacting on marketing and advertising.
  • Evaluate solutions to identified challenges/trends faced
• Conclusion/ Reflection on portfolio and how you see the future
  • (The reflection can be written in first person, everything else should be in third person.)
• References
• Appendix

You must include an appendix.

Appendix

• Attach three potential job roles you might apply for (please supply a screen shot)
• Your visual CV
• Your ‘standard’ CV

Suggested sources include:

• Fill& Turnbull (2019) Chapter 7: Marketing Communications; discovery, creation, and conversation is an essential read. Full reference: Fill, C., & Turnbull, S. (2016). Marketing Communications. Pearson Higher Ed.
• Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Promotion Management for academic discussions
• Marketing Week and Campaign may help you understand the practitioner discussions
• Industry and UK Government reviews and trend forecasts for the creative industries will give you an industry perspective.

Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes that are being assessed in this assessment are:

Subject-Specific Knowledge, Understanding & Application

1. a) Demonstrate an understanding of the operations and functions of organisations involved in the creative industries of marketing and advertising
2. b) Identify and analyse trends impacting on organisations involved in marketing and advertising
3. c) Demonstrate an understanding of discussions of current trends in appropriate practitioner sources and academic literature

Employability & Changemaker Skills

1. d) Critically evaluate current real-world solutions being applied to identified current internal and external environmental challenges impacting on marketing and advertising.

Your grade will depend on the extent to which you meet these learning outcomes in the way relevant for this assessment. Please see the grading rubric at the end of this assessment brief for further details of the criteria against which you will be assessed.

Word Limits (where appropriate)

The maximum word limit for this assessment is 2000 words.  This excludes references, diagrams and tables.