Dr César Jiménez-Martínez

This course is available on the MSc in Media and Communications, MSc in Media and Communications (Research), MSc in Politics and Communication and MSc in Strategic Communications and Society. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course is 'controlled access', meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. If the course is oversubscribed, offers will be made via a random ballot process, with priority given to students with the course listed on their Programme Regulations. Whilst we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.

There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement.

Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.

This course focuses on the intersection between academic research and the practice of strategic communications, paying particular attention to the relationship between brands and individual and collective identities. The module aims to connect academic discussions with professional perspectives through a mix of lectures, seminar exercises and guest speakers, in order to facilitate a cross-fertilisation between scholarly research, public debates and professional experiences.

The academic lectures will examine discussions about the significance of branding in society, the relationship of brands with different understandings of identity, as well as an overview of professional models employed in the practice of branding and strategic communications. Students will be expected to critically engage with ideas from both theory and practice in the seminars, developing reflexivity and analytical skills through the course, as well as getting an idea of how brands are developed in practice. Academic lectures will be complemented with guest talks from industry practitioners working in various forms of branding and strategic communications.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the AT.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of term.

Students will be expected to produce 1 presentation in the AT.

• Aaker, D. (2010) Building Strong Brands.. London: Simon & Schuster.
• Aronczyk, M. (2013) Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Arvidsson, A. (2006) Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture. London: Routledge.
• Banet-Weiser, S. (2012) Authentic TM: The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture. New York: New York University Press.
• Davis, A. (2013) Promotional Cultures: The Rise and Spread of Advertising, Public Relations, Marketing and Branding, Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Hardy, J. (2022) Branded Content: The Fateful Merging of Media and Marketing. London: Routledge.
• Keller, K (2012) Strategic Brand Management: a European perspective. Harlow: Pearson.
• Klein, N. (2010) No Logo -10th Anniversary Edition. London: Fourth Estate.
• Kornberger, M. (2009) Brand Society. Cambridge: CUP.
• Lekakis, E. (2022) Consumer Activism: Promotional Culture and Resistance. London: Sage.
• Moor, L (2007). The Rise of Brands. Oxford: Berg.
• Powell, H. 2013. Promotional culture and convergence: Markets, methods, media. London: Routledge.
• Sobande, F. (2024) Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture. Oakland: University of California Press.
• Wernick, A. (1991) Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. London: Sage.

Project (100%, 5000 words) in the WT.

The summative assessment is a group campaign plan and critical essay, delivered by students working in pairs.