Syllabus: MBA 604 Marketing through New Media: Fall 2000

The links on this syllabus will take you on divergent paths. I don't expect any of you to read -- or to need -- all of it. However, if you're going to progress towards the course objectives, I do expect all of you to read -- and to need -- much of it. It's up to you to balance your learning style against these resources.

We have 18 class sessions. For 9 of them, you will be making individual and group presentations. One near the end will be a trouble-shooting workshop. For the other 9, I will lecture for the first hour and we will have hands-on computer skills building for the second hour.

Schedule at a Glance

Teacher presentations

October 31	Introduction to E-Commerce, Business Models, and Disruptive Technologies
November 2	Marketing Research and The 4 P's on the Web
November 7	Marketing Webs: Business Models and Features
November 9	Marketing Plans; Reading a Marketing Web Site
November 14	TBA
November 30	TBA
December 5	TBA
December 7	Open Marketing in the New Economy
December 21	TBA

Student presentations

November 21, 28	Marketing Site Features Tours
December 12, 14, 19	Marketing Techniques on the Web
January 2, 4	Site Maps
January 9, 11	Prototype Webs

Skills

I expect that you have the basic webmaking skills and FrontPage prototyping skills from MBA 600. Now you need to consolidate some of the fine points and move on to some more complicated stuff.

web management: directory structure, file names, file types, directory names

page management: DOM (document object model); no font tags; validated HTML; no repeated nbsp; head tags, especially consistent metatags; bookmarks (Name attribute of A tag).

I hope to find class time early in December to talk about a technique called DHTML combining JavaScript with style sheets according to the DOM. If there's sufficient interest, we can have a couple of Saturday morning sessions to help in a more organized way. The following dates look good: December 16, 30, January 6. More later.

Resources

news

This annotated list of URLs will take you to sites that have current news stories. Their archives are terrific for recent events and most of them have search features.

hubs

This annotated list of URLs will take you to sites that have articles about marketing topics that you should explore.

email newsletters

I recommend that you subscribe to all of these newsletters, which will summarize the new articles at the various sites. By reading the summaries every day, you can get a quick overview of what's going on. Then go to the web sites and read only the articles that interest you.

If you're going to read only one, I highly recommend ClickZ, now part of the Internet.com group. It's as close as this course comes to a textbook. The list on ClickZ's left-side nav bar has three dozen topics from affiliate marketing to start-up marketing. You should read some regularly.

Please send me proof that you are subscribing by either forwarding a recent issue or copying and pasting the header into an email message. As in the example below, the first five lines are sufficient.

Subj: Behavioral Targeting: Is That Cool?
Date: 4/20/00 7:14:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: ClickZ-gtmail@gt.clickz.com (ClickZ Today)
Reply-to: HelpMe@clickz.com
To: Doug@RicciStreet.net

Night-by-Night

October 31

Computers as theater. For marketing, the Web is more than better paper. It's an opportunity for interactive community-building.

Incunabula (in-cu-NAB-u-la, from the Latin for cradle): the first 50 years of books after Gutenberg's first. The Web sites we have now are the Internet's incunabula.

Speaking of cradles, I couldn't believe how far back Dr. Wilson and I go. Look what I found. Hardly looks like us at all, does it? I was even shorter then. Maybe we should ask what happened to his goatee?

Introduction to E-Commerce

Business Models

Disruptive Technologies

to do

November 2

Marketing Research

The Four P's on the Web

to do

Roundtable TBA. I'm hoping to hear ideas arise during the first two class nights that we can pursue on the Roundtable. So for the moment, hold off. I haven't even set up the Bistro forums yet.

November 7

Marketing Web Features

Sellers in any market thrive on convenience and imperfect information. That's how airlines, hotels and booksellers price their products. The Internet obliterates the companies' information advantage and hands it over to the consumer. That's what e-commerce is really about: crushing the pricing power of anyone selling a commodity product, which includes most goods and services in this country.

November 9

The leadership of a world superpower is affected by a well-intentioned form designer. Florida state law says that the holes need to be to the right of the name. The machine that will read them expects to find the holes in one column. However, Palm Beach has a lot of senior citizens who don't see well.

The user-centered (but short-sighted) design solution is make the text larger. But then the names don't fit. The solution to that problem is to create a butterfly ballot, alternating the names around the central column. The law says that the candidate of the current governor's party gets listed first and the other major party candidate second. Wo who's second in this butterfly set-up? Democrat or Reform?

Gore's is the second name, but the third punch-hole. You punch the second hole for the second name. Then you realize your mistake, so you punch the third hole. Almost 20,000 such ballots were thrown out Tuesday night. The difference between the two candidates late Thursday afternoon was less than 400 votes, not counting the several thousand absentees expected to arrive by U.S. mail in the next few days. Read more about ...

I wish I'd been able to keep track of all the statistics ka-ka I heard on TV in the last two days. Much of it is illogical, but only if you think about it. Reasoning by false analogy and post-hoc conclusions are very popular. (Post hoc: if A comes after B, then A caused B. Example: if the president is elected and the economy improves, then the president caused the improvement.)

Let's not forget to keep tabs on The Industry Standard's Internet Economy Indicators, especially traffic and shopping. You can see the Halloween down-tick, just like last year. If this year continues to look like last year, we can expect a slow rise next week and then a steep rise to the middle of December. Question: where will it spike?

Marketing Plans

Reading a Marketing Web Site

Dr. Wilson and I will discuss a couple of web sites in detail based on the material in the previous three classes, especially business models. We'll discuss B2C, specifically, sites that you chose for your Go Shopping form. You will get the most out of this if you have already sent in your form and if you can share your experiences.

Throughout the evening, we welcome your questions and concerns. We especially welcome your polite disagreement. You learn more from differences of opinion. Also, this will be your last chance to ask Dr. Wilson questions in class.

to do

Fill out and submit the Plaza website description forms by the end of November. They are not ready yet, but you can see the skills above for the web and page management skills they will ask you to describe.

Email me where you want your name to appear next to one of the features listed on the schedule. After you see it (not after you email me), fill out and submit the Marketing Features form by November 20th for those scheduled on the 21st and by November 27th for those scheduled on the 28th.

We need to brainstorm the projects. Starting now and by November 21, you should post four or five project ideas at the Roundtable. How can you make money online?

November 14

Serious Play

We're going to focus and play: review what we've learned, think through the projects, experience some outside-the-box stuff online.

We'll start with Andy Foulds' portfolio of outside-the-box interfaces. Hint: keep moving your cursor. Keep clicking.

Gizmos, Inc., Playroom - At the Roundtable, please make a marketing case for this collection of gizmos.

The Industry Standard's Internet Economy Indicators, especially traffic and shopping. Both seem to be following last year's pattern, traffic a little down this and shopping starting to rise. Must be Phil and his buddies.

November 16. Please note that we have no class on Thursday due to the school's annual Honors Convocation.

November 21, 28, 30, and December 5

Marketing Feature Tours

The November 21 class was canceled due to snow and won't be officially made up. I'm scheduling a Saturday session from 9 to noon on December 9.

to do

One of the main ways I keep up with marketing online is through the email newsletters listed above, especially ClickZ. Please send me proof that you are subscribing to at least that one by either forwarding a recent issue or copying and pasting the header into an email message. As in the example below, the first five lines are sufficient.

Subj: Behavioral Targeting: Is That Cool?
Date: 4/20/00 7:14:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: ClickZ-gtmail@gt.clickz.com (ClickZ Today)
Reply-to: HelpMe@clickz.com
To: dougand@aol.com

December 5

Fresh new data on how long it takes to perform a particular task on holiday shopping sites this 2000 season. This will include how long it takes to buy the hottest toy of the year, purchasing a sweater on an e-retailer's site, buying a video game or DVD or purchasing a favorite book to share.

Each report will show you the time and effort required to complete a specific transaction against the competition.

Consumers seem to expect more from online businesses during the holidays. Shoppers blow a gasket if a web site slows down during peak traffic. But does anyone complain about traffic and long lines at the local mall?

There are dead companies with core ideas that were solid, but their direction got lost in the woods of growth and greed. Boil those ideas down to their essence, and ask yourself if they are still sound, if they could succeed on a smaller scale. The ideas are there for the taking.

to do

Extra! Behind the Headlines

A detailed explanation of what got Microsoft in trouble with the Justice Department.

Predatory Pricing - Microsoft's Modus Operandi
by William C. Spaulding

December 7

Open Marketing in the New Economy

Clear Light Studio's personalized customer portfolios: Diane | Smokin' Joe | Herd

to do

To make up the class night lost to the snowstorm, we're having a Saturday session from 9 to noon on December 9 in our regular classroom. I will explain the DOM (document object model), review style sheets, and show you some simple JavaScript tricks, which add up to DHTML (dynamic HTML). See Leslie's index page for examples and the Gizmos, Inc., Toolkit's mouseovers page for an explanation of how to do it.

The best way to learn JavaScript is to adapt (or emulate or pirate) someone else's script. Personally, I went to Web sites such as JavaScript Source and copied and pasted the free JavaScripts there.

To learn how to read JavaScript, I went to Webmonkey, as usual. The first tutorial will get you started. You will get more out of Saturday's session if you have already read it, even though you won't understand it very well until you've gone over it several times from several different directions. You should also read:

"Borrowing" JavaScript code is easy. Making it work on your own pages, however, can prove difficult. Nadav reveals what you need to know to make those pirated scripts sail.

That's what we're going to do on Saturday: adapt, emulate, pirate, steal JavaScript and learn only enough theory as we go along to make it work. It's going to be a very hands-on session. Each of you will copy, paste, and adapt real scripts and test them over and over in your browser. You're welcome to bring your laptop and work on it, but you will do just fine with the classroom PCs. All you need is Notepad and a browser.

I don't expect all of you to come. The session is open to anyone else in the program who may be interested, too.

December 12, 14, 19

to do

As of late Wednesday afternoon, December 20, fifteen of you -- Thank you, Kim, Amy, Pam, Evelyn, Paul, Phil, Judith, Erika, Sharon, Leslie, Chris, Dominic, Gen, Sheila, Dina and, of course, Lillian! -- have pitched your business at the Bistro forum dedicated to that purpose alone. Note that Judith is setting such a good example, that she didn't even have to do a pitch now and she did. Two more to go:

You three are way late doing this and you're holding up the whole class. Please. Part of what I'm trying to do here is build community and teach you the value of working together on the Web.

May I remind you that you have to present a site map for your project during the first week of January. Terry Wilson will return to give you some written (I hope) feedback. Also, the Gang -- Amanda, Jeff, Judith, and Andy -- can't get going until you do your part. I don't know what they're going to come up with, but I found a "virtual metropolis" that I wouldn't be surprised if theirs resembled:

Imagine a vibrant, growing, cosmopolitan city� the fashionable flair, the diverse culture, and the bustling excitement... Now picture absolutely no traffic, no crime, no pollution, and no hassles. You've just discovered the magic of 1 Global City, the world's most innovative virtual metropolis.

The folks at 1 Global City are just getting going. I assume they're prepared for success so their servers are scalable. From the list of districts and topics on the left and the city map, 1 Global City is extensible.

The big difference between what they're doing and the Gang is doing: the Gang's project has to scale to include only 17 of your business models. Thus, the Gang's original concept for partnering and aggregating your efforts doesn't have to be extensible, either. However, they can't develop the concept, their business model, until you tell them what they're developing it for.

I don't know whether you're being shy, glued to CNN, or simply focused on (gasp!) the rest of your life, but I'd really like you to make your pitch ASAP.

Tip | Collect your pitch, customer, and competition Bistro responses onto a new page on your Parkside Plaza web. I will then link to them from the project gateways at the Show and Tell Theater.

Marketing Techniques on the Web

branding and partnering

advertising and promoting

personalizing and customizing

making accessible

privacy and security

serving customer and building community

December 21

Difference between Java and JavaScript. Sharon's snow scene. Andy's moving logo. Sources: Java Boutique.

Discussion of business models proposed so far.

Explanation of what you need to do for the marketing plans.

Explanation of what you need to do for the site maps.

Discussion of how to work the room for the presentations in January -- we'll be in the Alumni Room instead of our regular classroom.

Review of where we've been and where we're going. I'm going to put on the wall the large sheets you drew on the first night of MBA 600 class.

If we have time, we'll talk about tables tips and tricks - list of WebReference resources; oldies (1996) but goodies from Webmonkey.

January 2, 4

Site Maps

January 9, 11

Prototype Webs

presentations - - unless someone has a better idea, we'll do these in the same order as we do the Prototype Web presentations the following week.

Invite your family and friends. I'd like to open the room for set-up and socializing both nights at 5. We'll have a snack table.

A Note about Paper

We will not use a common dead-tree version of a textbook for this course. Why? It typically takes two years for a traditional paper publisher to turn a finished manuscript into a textbook ready for the first day of class. To be ready for class in Fall 1999, the manuscript would have frozen in the summer of 1997. That's okay if the subject is Shakespeare or accounting. Shakespeare hasn't written anything new in the past two years. Rest assured that the Generally Accepted Accounting Principle are still generally accepted. However, quite a bit has happened in the way organizations use information.


course webs


Arts Alley	Parkside Plaza	Lantern Lane
stores and studios	student webs	course webs


search \| sitemap \| help
Ricci Green \| Digital Wares \| Gizmos, Inc. CyberSea Inn \| Port 80

modified: January 2, 2001 by Douglas Anderson http://RicciStreet.net/dwares/lane/mba604/syllabusf0.htm

The Syllabus

MBA 604 - Marketing through New Media - Fall 2000

Schedule at a Glance

Teacher presentations

Student presentations

Skills

Resources

news

hubs

email newsletters

Night-by-Night

October 31

Introduction to E-Commerce

Business Models

Disruptive Technologies

to do

November 2

Marketing Research

The Four P's on the Web

to do

November 7

Marketing Web Features

November 9

Marketing Plans

Reading a Marketing Web Site

to do

November 14

Serious Play

November 21, 28, 30, and December 5

Marketing Feature Tours

to do

December 5

to do

December 7

Open Marketing in the New Economy

to do

December 12, 14, 19

to do

Marketing Techniques on the Web

branding and partnering

advertising and promoting

personalizing and customizing

making accessible

privacy and security

serving customer and building community

December 21

January 2, 4

Site Maps

January 9, 11

Prototype Webs

A Note about Paper