Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory.

First term
Monday from 14:00 to 16:00 at 43 Botanique 3

English

Several skills particular to this course will be necessary to develop:
- The student will be expected to know the elements of a corporate press release.
- The student will be able to identify a company's vision, mission, values and objectives (as expressed by corporate communicators).

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This course provides an analysis of the practice of corporate communications and public relations. It will cover how major companies provide information on their activities, defend their issues and spin their image. Attention will be given to a major current trend of the greening of the corporation (critics call it green-wash).

The main topics of the course are:

- Corporate culture and the role of the communicator,;
- Distinctions between PR and Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, lobbying…
- Our green narrative: CSR and sustainability;
- Elements of the Corp-Com department: Investor Relations, Internal, External, Product, Web and Environment Communications as well as Science, Risk and Crisis Communications;
- Marketing, the media and communicating the corporate message.

Attention will be paid to ethical issues around exuberant corporate spin and the dangers therein.

Lectures supported by text-book and support materials to cover the main contents.

Companies will be analysed on their messages in press releases, annual report, publicity campaigns and websites. Students will select a company to follow during the course and consider how the communications principles have been applied in that context. They will share their observations of the communications tools with other classmates on the forum (collaborative learning).

Students will be expected to have followed the communications activity of a company they have chosen during the course. Their collaborative contributions will be worth 25% of the course mark. An oral exam will cover the main concepts within the context of the student's particular chosen company. They will need to critically assess how the company communicated in a situation (50% of the course mark). During the oral exam, a further random general question on the course themes will be posed (25% of the course mark).

- Oliver, Sandra, Public Relations Strategy, London : Kogan Page 2007 
- Parsons, Patricia, Ethics in Public Relations, London: Kogan Page, 2004
- McCusker, Gerry, Tailspin: Public Relations Disasters, London: Kogan Page, 2005
- Michaels, David, Doubt is their Product, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

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