Running Head: WARREN IMC PORTFOLIO RATIONALE

IMC Portfolio Rationale

Austin Warren
University of North Carolina Wilmington
COM 590
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Executive Summary
This portfolio was created to serve as a diverse, thorough and persuasive collection of
IMC artifacts that demonstrate my aptitude for success as a college-level instructor for a variety
of communication studies courses. Composed of eight artifacts, my portfolio is divided into three
major rationale sections: brand analyses recommendations, IMC teaching pieces and applied
IMC artifacts. These pieces were specifically chosen for the goal of adjunct teaching and reflect
the fluid nature of adjunct teaching and the nature of those postings (sometimes vague or ‘catch
all’). The artifacts were created over a two-year span, 2019-2021, and the portfolio was curated
and designed July-August 2021 as a culmination of work required for completion of COM 590:
Capstone. This rationale will provide an overview of each artifact, its relevance to and
application of IMC theoretical analysis and concepts, and its intended audience/overall purpose
for portfolio inclusion. A digital portfolio was chosen as the ideal medium for the artifacts to
demonstrate digital literacy and organize information in a concise, visually compelling manner.
A link to the online portfolio is included at the end of the rationale (see Appendix A).

Introduction
According to the University of Puget Sound, “Community colleges tend to prefer
graduates who have a general communication degree so they can teach a variety of courses.
Four-year institutions...prefer candidates trained in a specific area, such as organizational
communication, rhetoric and public address, or interpersonal communication (University of
Puget Sound, 2021).” In my opinion, UNCW’s IMC program is an ideal fit for both formats. It is
diverse enough to prepare graduates to teach a variety of courses, yet it’s specialized enough to
attract attention from institutions seeking faculty for specific areas (communication ethics, digital
storytelling, organizational and professional communication, etc.). My portfolio was specifically
curated to highlight my varied yet unique educational background and corresponding
professional works that make me the ideal candidate for a communication studies faculty
member in either type of academic environment.
The brand analyses and recommendation section examines international companies
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Urban Outfitters (UO), the former being a general
analysis using IMC theory and concepts for brand assessment, and the latter being an
examination of risk communication with an IMC-informed proposed strategy. The IMC teaching
section showcases my ability to teach complex concepts such as postmodern advertising and
communication ethics in a desgistable and visually engaging way for students. The final section
of the rationale, Applied IMC, highlights a comprehensive IMC theory-based communication
audit of an organization I was formerly employed with, along with professional IMC deliverables
produced for that same organization that showcase my in-field experience outside of academia.
Every artifact is directly influenced by and designed using IMC theory and relevant concepts.
The intended audience for the rationale is anyone in higher education responsible for or involved
in the recruitment of communication studies faculty.
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Brand Analyses and Recommendations

COM 532: IMC Analysis - Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a media franchise based on superhero characters

from Marvel Comics, such as Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America. This piece provides a
comprehensive analysis of their overall brand, including offerings, competitive landscape,
audience profile, brand positioning and key communication channels and messages that
contribute to their overall strategy. I apply IMC theoretical concepts and models, such as
semiotics, semantics and signifiers, along with Barthe’s Model of Connotation to showcase what
makes the MCU brand memorable (longevity), persuasive and profitable. Many brand analyses
focus on tangible offerings. This one also focuses on intangible offerings, along with a specific
look into the power of narratives. I argue that what makes the MCU brand effective really comes
down to inspiration and motivation. Communication ethics and the protection of “goods” play a
large role in MCU. Entertainment in general is based on social values and meanings. We only
find something “funny,” “sad” or “inspiring” if we can connect it to our human experience.
Entertainment only has that value to us if it’s something we have encountered or have felt before.
That’s part of the reason the brand and its legacy have lasted so long. Good and evil are always
relevant, the desire to feel “larger than life” and like we can transcend our normal human
circumstances and limitations is an innate desire. Humans always want to ‘overcome’ and ‘win.’
This piece showcases my ability to professionally analyze IMC branding and
organizations, recognize and apply theory, and offer meaningful IMC-based suggestions. The
intended audience is college/university hiring committees seeking potential faculty who can
successfully teach courses related to brand identity, development and marketing. This piece
exemplifies my ability to deconstruct and analyze professional brands using IMC theory and
make meaningful suggestions. It also demonstrates my aptitude for teaching others how to use
those same skills and knowledge and apply them to their own professional lives and aspirations.

COM 537: Urban Outfitters Paracrisis Analysis and Response

In 2014, Urban Outfitters (UO) faced public backlash over the release of a seemingly
blood-stained Kent State University sweatshirt. Stakeholders immediately perceived the product
as an unethical and irresponsible ode to the 1970 Kent State University campus shooting where
four students were killed and nine were injured by the Ohio State National Guard while
engaging in a peaceful protest of the Vietnam War. Coombs and Holladay (2012) define a
paracrisis as “a publicly visible crisis threat that charges an organization with irresponsible or
unethical behavior (p. 409).” The purpose of this piece is to yet again examine branding through
a theoretical lens and apply IMC theory, but this time provide a strategy with deliverables.
Paracrises and crises happen all the time for even the most established and experienced brands.
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Anyone involved in an IMC profession for an organization should familiarize themselves with
basic concepts and strategies for risk communication. Coombs and Holladay (2012) identify
three primary communicative response strategies to be used in a paracrisis: refute, reform and
refuse. In this paracrisis, UO chose a reform strategy. “Reform is when managers change
organizational practices to reflect the demands of stakeholders that are challenging the
organization (p. 412).” UO removed all traces of the product from their website and both
implicitly (first statement) and explicitly (second statement) acknowledged their behavior as
problematic. However, in terms of “corrective action,” the sweatshirt was sold and ultimately
shipped to a buyer in the early parts of the paracrisis, and UO could have taken more concrete
repentance with Kent State University to convey a greater sincerity to stakeholders, such as a
percentage of sales charitable donation. The goal for a reform strategy is that “the reputational
threat disappears as the challenging stakeholders now support the organization because the
problematic behavior is eliminated (Coombs & Holladay, 2012, p. 412).” My proposed social
media strategy addresses the gaps UO left in their paracrisis response that would have helped
protect reputational capital and execute a successful reform strategy.
The intended audience is college/university hiring committees seeking potential faculty
who can successfully teach courses related to risk and crisis communication. This piece provides
a full analysis of their paracrisis, examining their actual risk communication strategies,
comparing them to effective models suggested by Coombs and Holladay, and finally outlining an
appropriate strategy that UO could have taken to engage in theory-informed, effective risk
communication. This demonstrates my comprehension of crisis and risk communication
strategies applied to real-world brands and organizations.

IMC Teaching

COM 535: Old Spice and Postmodern Advertising

Modern advertising, much like traditional communication strategy, was based on a top-
down model where brands told consumers exactly what they should buy, acting as an authority
figure. Marketing was very upfront and informational. Postmodern advertising is both symbolic
and persuasive, instead of just informative. “While modern advertising presented itself as an
unquestionable authority figure…’we know what’s best for you’...postmodern advertising
presents itself as an insider, an ally of the common person,” effectively recognizing the
complexities of consumer psychology and the idea that “consumers interpret ads, they don’t just
accept them at face value (Cortese, 2016, p.8).” This presentation analyzes the Old Spice brand
as a prime, notorious example of postmodern advertising. Acting just as Cortese describes, Old
Spice uses persuasive signifiers to “befriend” the consumer, telling them how their products will
change their life and how they only want the best for them. This presentation aims to break down
a complex IMC concept, postmodern advertising, into more concise and clear terms for students,
and also serves as an example of applied IMC theory that can be observed real-time in popular
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culture. This peer teaching breaks down the elements of postmodern advertising according to
Cortese, how it differs from modern advertising (advertising belonging to modernism as a socio-
cultural era) and how we can see its effect in the everyday media landscape. Theory holds more
value to students when it can be demonstrated with praxis and when relevancy is demonstrated.
Postmodernism is an advertising concept that is highly relevant to anyone working in IMC when
examining campaigns of others or creating campaigns for your own brand/organization, not just
to be effective but also to avoid being problematic and perceived negatively by your
stakeholders.
I believe this piece demonstrates my ability to teach complex concepts well. The first of
my peer teaching artifacts, this piece successfully demonstrates my ability to break down
complex theory into concise, digestible concepts with practical, everyday ties to popular culture
on a level that students can understand. The intended audience is college/university hiring
committees seeking potential faculty who can successfully teach courses related to advertising.

COM 534: Rebranding and IMC Ethics - NYWF and ‘Me Too’

Established in 1987, the New York Women’s Foundation is an organization focused on

supporting women’s rights and equality, fighting for issues such as access to healthcare,
economic equality, gender-based violence prevention and women’s reproductive rights. While
they were initially a localized non-profit organization, in 2018 they gained national attention for
providing the seed funding for the ‘Me Too’ cultural movement which focuses on raising
awareness and seeking justice for women’s sexual abuse and harassment. The movement gained
national attention after the hashtag “#metoo” went viral on social media in 2017. For my second
teaching piece, this presentation outlines the rebranding process and timeline for the NYWF,
examining their communication model, what made (and continues to make) the ‘Me Too’
movement impactful and the important role communication ethics play in implementing
successful communication strategies and creating cultural momentum, with particular analytical
focus on diversity and inclusion.
I chose this piece for two important reasons. First, it’s a great case study for successful
rebranding. Rebranding is a complex, strategic process. Anyone aiming to work in IMC will
encounter some degree of rebranding, whether it’s for your overall organization, a specific
department, or even a particular recurring event. It’s important to learn from the success of
outside parties. Second, it’s a solid demonstration of the importance and effectiveness of
communication ethics, not just for developing communication strategy, but for creating a brand
and stakeholder base that is inherently self-sustaining. It’s an ideal example of the IMC bottom-
up, two-way communication model that works so well. The intended audience is
college/university hiring committees seeking potential faculty who can successfully teach
courses related to communication ethics and their role in branding. Communication ethics can
sometimes feel abstract and intangible. This case study showcases communication ethics in a
very applied way, helping students to see their importance and ‘everyday’ application.
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COM 534: Infographic - Dialogic and Democratic Communication Ethics

For my third teaching related piece, I chose an expression of IMC theory through a visual
medium. Similar to my justification for highlighting Old Spice and postmodern advertising, an
important part of theory comprehension and teaching aptitude is being able to condense complex
concepts into easy-to-understand information. This piece is all about dialogic and democratic
communication ethics as theoretical concepts and the “goods'' they focus on protecting. Key
terms, definitions and research are directly pulled from an IMC textbook (Arnett, Fritz &
McManus, 2018). In this infographic, I break down the philosophy, relevance and associated
philosophers for both democratic and dialogic communication ethics, while also comparing the
“goods” each strives to protect and promote.
An important part of effective instruction is visual design and the ability to create
engaging, memorable content, whether it’s adding creative elements to PowerPoints or creating
graphic representations of curriculum such as this one. Prior to the IMC program, visual design
was something I self-identified as an area for improvement. I’ve always been a solid writer, but I
lacked some design skills, so I’ve pushed myself throughout the program to engage more in
those projects for my own professional growth. The intended audience is college/university
hiring committees seeking potential faculty with demonstrated digital literacy and experience in
instructional design.

Applied IMC

COM 533: Southwestern Community College NC - Communication Audit

From July 2019 - November 2020, I served as public relations assistant for Southwestern
Community College (SCC) in Sylva, NC. This piece is a complete audit of the COVID-19
communications strategy implemented by SCC from March 2020 - August 2020. In this audit, I
examine all website communications, news/media releases, social media campaigns, video
messaging and international communications related to COVID-19 through a theoretical analysis
and application of Situational Crisis Community Theory (SCCT), Fully Functioning Society
Theory (FFST), Organizational Control Theory, Stakeholder Theory and more. I also provide
IMC-based suggestions for improving communication strategy and combatting perceived
negative challenges and barriers that were facing the organizational culture of SCC during this
time period.
While the brand analysis of MCU was thorough, it was ultimately designed for a
hypothetical purpose. This assignment, however, was IMC theory and strategy applied to my real
workplace. I was required to critically examine some of my own projects and content through an
IMC-lense, critique myself and come up with suggestions that could be actualized and tangibly
applied to my workflow and our marketing team. This piece truly embodies praxis. It was
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definitely a major point of growth for me in the program and I personally consider it to be one of
my strongest artifacts, if not the strongest.

Professional: SCC Summer/Fall 2020 Registration Campaign - Social Media

This campaign piece emphasizes my general comprehension of effective IMC strategies

for marketing and ability to produce effective deliverables for an organization that yield return
on investment. From April - May 2020, I was charged with using elements of branding such as
vision and mission, stakeholder-centric theories and attention to diversity and inclusion to craft
our strategic campaign for summer and fall registration, with ad spend focused primarily on
Facebook. During the onset of COVID-19, our institution (along with pretty much all others)
anticipated that the pandemic would bring a huge drop for summer and fall registration. In March
2020, SCC was down around 18% on full-time enrollment (FTE) for summer, which is a lot of
students. By the time classes started on May 26, we nearly broke even from last summer’s FTE,
which means we had a very successful and effective social media ad campaign. The intended
audience is college/university hiring committees seeking potential faculty with applied
experience in social media marketing to teach related courses.
For this piece, I implemented several IMC strategic methods into creating a strong
messaging campaign. I created posts influenced by SCCT and FFST, I emphasized diversity and
inclusion in our photography, I focused on the ‘Four C’s’ model and I also made sure to
effectively highlight our brand values, such as access to quality, affordable education. This
portfolio piece is meant to highlight my applied skills as a communications professional and
ability to use IMC to create ad campaigns, particularly when it comes to social media. I would
love to teach a class on social media strategy in the future, and I believe this artifact highlights
my aptitude to do so.

Professional: High School Equivalency Program - Press Release

While this piece is not from our program’s digital storytelling course, it is a great
example of using signature stories for strategic messaging. This press release is an example of an
offering story, meaning the narrative is formed around the story of an individual and how the
brand/organization “gave” them something that changed their life. In an offering story, the
narrative places all focus on the individual, while the value of the company’s offerings are
implied, but not explicitly stated. In my press release, I tell the story of Emma Hull, a Native
American who completed SCC’s High School Equivalency program in December 2019 after
years of personal turmoil with odds stacked against her. I use ethos and semiotics to create an
emotional, descriptive “portrait” of her success. I also let her tell her story of beating the odds to
inspire the reader and build trust with the audience that this isn’t an ad, but ultimately the goal is
to persuade them into “buying into” SCC and their offerings. In this sense, similarities can be
drawn to postmodern advertising. I also chose Emma Hull as the signifier for this story because
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of her connection to diversity. Not only did her diversity highlight our institutional value of
supporting diversity and underrepresented populations, but I know that our target audience for
the HSE program is heavily Native American.
This artifact further demonstrates my abilities as an IMC professional, highlighting my
experience in media writing, and hopefully qualifying me to teach strategic writing in the future.
The intended audience for this artifact’s creation (not for this portfolio) was potential
stakeholders with interests and needs matching SCC programs, particularly the high school
equivalency program and GED related courses. The intended audience for this portfolio is
college/university hiring committees seeking potential faculty to teach media writing or related
courses. I wanted to make sure to add this professional writing piece, along with my
communication audit and successful social media campaign as a diverse combination of applied
experience that can further add to my credibility as an instructor, both with faculty and students.

Conclusion
The process of curating this portfolio has allowed me to reflect on my growth as a
professional and a potential educator. I started working full-time in communications only a few
months before entering into the program in 2019, so the quality of my applied IMC really grew
alongside my IMC education. The organizational communication audit I produced for
Southwestern Community College halfway through the program was a real turning point for me.
It made me see exactly how the content I was producing did or didn’t tie into the theories and
concepts I was learning, and I noticed in moments where theory hadn’t been applied (because I
hadn’t learned it at the time the content was made) the shortcomings of only working off instinct
or a ‘we’ve always done it this way’ sort of mindset that had been passed down to me from non-
IMC mentors. At that point in the program everything really started to “click” and make sense.
That’s why almost all of my program artifacts come from the back half of the program. It was at
that point I began to see the relationship between theory and praxis and reflect that
comprehension and energy into my work.
I’m also pleasantly surprised to see my potential as an educator grow, particularly over
the last year. The program provided me with several peer teaching opportunities in different
courses, and I really enjoyed those kinds of assignments and gained confidence from positive
feedback on them, both from instructors and my peers. I’ve always been interested in teaching,
but I lacked the confidence and self-assurance that it takes to be successful. Now, it’s the exact
path I’d like to stay on professionally and I’m thankful for those assignments because they’ve
helped give me this strong body of work to accurately represent myself. In my undergraduate
education, there wasn’t a big emphasis on portfolios, and when I initially entered the workforce I
couldn’t land communication jobs. I had great grades and could write a nice cover letter, but my
resume was “youthfully scarce,” and I didn’t have concrete artifacts to show what I could do.
I’ve appreciated the format of this program that has corrected that. I feel like my experience and
education are finally tangible and strong, and I’m excited for my next professional chapter.
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References

Aaker, D. (2018). Creating signature stories: Strategic messaging that persuades, energizes and
inspires. Morgan James Publishing.

Arnett, R. C., Fritz, J. M., & McManus, L. M. (2018). Communication ethics literacy: Dialogue
& difference. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

Bizzell, P., Herzberg, B., & Reames, R. (2020). The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from
Classical Times to the Present (Third ed.). Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Coombs, W. (2007). Protecting Organization Reputations During a Crisis: The Development and
Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Corporate Reputation Review,
10(3), 163-176.

Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). The paracrisis: The challenges created by publicly
managing crisis prevention. Public Relations Review, 38, 408-415.

Cortese, A. J. (2016). Provocateur: Images of women and minorities in advertising. Lanham,

Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

Dempsey, S. (2009). Stakeholder Theory. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory.

Dyer, R. (1999). The Role of Stereotypes. In Paul Marris and Sue Thornham: Media Studies: A
Reader, 2nd Edition, Edinburgh University Press.

Gossett, L. (2009). Organizational Control Theory. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory.

706-709.

Harding, S. (2009). Standpoint theories: Productively controversial. Hypatia, 24, 192-200.

Heath, R. (2018). Fully Functional Society Theory. The Handbook of Communication

Engagement, eds. Kim A. Johnston and Maureen Taylor (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons).

Hurst, B. & Ihlen, O. (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility. The Handbook of Communication
Engagement, eds. Kim A. Johnston and Maureen Taylor (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons).

Marvel. (2020). https://www.marvel.com/

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Seeger, M. W., & Sellnow, T. L. (2016). Narratives of crisis: Telling stories of ruin and renewal.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Tracy, S. (2009). Organizational Culture. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. 714-716.

Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T.L, & Seeger, M.W. (2018). Effective Crisis Communication: Moving
from crisis to opportunity. SAGE Publications, Inc.

University of Puget Sound. (2021). Communication Education.

https://www.pugetsound.edu/communication-studies-current-
students/careers/communication-education
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Appendix A

Portfolio Webpage and Link