Companies spend $560 billion on advertising worldwide and a great deal of it is wasted. This class is designed to teach students to be stronger critical thinkers with an emphasis on developing more effective advertising across traditional and digital channels. Created for client-side managers tasked with advertising responsibilities as well as general managers overseeing communications, the class tackles both advertising strategy and execution. In a rapidly evolving marketing ecosystem, it's never been more important to have a strategic lens. This course emphasizes the development of the central nucleus of any advertising strategy- the creative brief- to manage and guide relationship with your creative partners. The first half focuses on general advertising strategy - creating meaningful goals; selecting an attractive target for advertising, uncovering actionable insights, and developing an effective brand position. The remainder of the course examines the strategic planning of the tactical execution- understanding media, evaluating creative, and measuring effectiveness. The emphasis of the class is on practical application. As such, the courses analyzes advertising challenges through real-life examples. Students review cases weekly, complete several case assignments, tackle a current company's situation in a group assignment, and complete a take home final comprised of mini-cases.