ADV 281: Advertising Research Methods
Abigail Blankensop
After just having finished ADV 150 with Steve Hall the previous semester, I was very thrilled to further my path in advertising and take the next course, ADV 281: Research Methods. I knew that while ADV 150 had just covered surface topics, ADV 281 would really allow me to dive into the major. This class would further my knowledge of advertising, so I was pretty excited…until I talked to a few other advertising students. They told me that this would probably be the most challenging advertising course I would take at Illinois. Hearing this made me very skeptical about going into that first day of class. Soon after the first two lectures, I discovered that ADV 281 is not as bad as everybody makes it out to be. Research Methods covers all of the quantitative and qualitative research techniques that are used to advertise different products and brands.
At the beginning of the semester, we began by learning to understand target audiences. Target audiences help an advertiser to know what kind of people would consume a product or brand, or what kind of people the product or brand wishes to advertise to. This was something that really interested the class, because even though not all of us were interested in being a researcher, we all fit into one of these target consumer groups. One tool we used to examine consumers is PRIZM. PRIZM divides consumers into segments based on their demographics and psychographics. One example of these segments is “Networked Neighbors”. This group can be described as wealthy middle age, mostly with kids, plays tennis, and eats Chipotle.
During class, we have also gone over other research methods that involve reading and analyzing data sets, forming appropriate research questions, and creating surveys. It all sounds very technologically difficult, but the professor makes it very easy to understand. Each lecture there is extensive time spent on explaining the small lessons. That being said, this class is one where attendance really reflects your understanding and grade of the material. As long as you participate and listen in lecture it makes the class all the more interesting and beneficial to you.
ADV 281: Advertising Research Methods
Sammy Bellisario
Every advertising student at the university is required to complete ADV 281 or “Advertising Research Methods.” This course has been said to be one of the most difficult required advertising classes at the university. I recently successfully completed this course last fall.
The two professors for the course are Patrick Vargas and Kevin Wise. I personally took the class with Patrick Vargas, a quirky but straightforward professor. I found this class to be very challenging but also rewarding.
Throughout the course Vargas acknowledged the fact that the information we would be learning isn’t the most exciting but is necessary knowledge when entering the world of advertising. Vargas’ lectures always kept our class on its feet. His crude humor kept engagement in the class at a higher level than most professors are able to achieve.
My favorite part of the course was the frequent projects we completed. I thoroughly enjoyed being about to implement the research methods that we used in real world situations and learn interesting facts about my classmates and friends that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. These projects help to keep most students grades up when the challenging tests brought them down.
Overall, this class is a necessary part of the curriculum for all ad students but can be very rewarding in the process of completing it.