The four communication disciplines are journalism, media, public relations and advertising; they all have the same aim of telling a story, although for different purposes. The definition of ‘interdisciplinary’ is ‘integrating knowledge and methods from different disciplines, using a real synthesis of approaches’ (Jensenius 2012) which to me means incorporating various elements from the disciplines to create a way to effectively communicate a story.
One example that I think has incorporated various elements well is the Volkswagen:Kombi’s last wishes campaign. The campaign used both traditional and social media channels to encourage people to ‘share stories of their experiences with the Kombi’ (uwmiav.wordpress.com 2015), strengthening Volkswagen’s public relations. In turn, the experiences people had with the Volkswagen Kombi were used to create an advertisement for those who were interested to purchase the last edition model. This campaign proved to be successful, with ‘about 12% of Kombi sales (about 840 incremental unit sales) during the period’ (Grande 2015) as well as ‘production of a Last Edition model sold out twice’ (Grande 2015).
In lesson 12, I learnt about disciplinary agnosticism. In my understanding, this means that there are no clear boundaries among the different communication disciplines; communications is not limited to just a specific discipline. Furthermore, I think that the purpose and type of story are not mutually exclusive, and communication can be of both axes. Just like the concept of ‘interdisciplinary’, disciplinary agnosticism means different disciplines can merge with one another to tell a story. An example is the Netflix series Orange is the new black, where the real-life experiences of being in a women’s prison are dramatised for commercial interest but with the intention of informing the public. In a paid post published in the New York times, Orange is the new black also raises awareness that ‘as the number of women inmates soars, so does the need for policies and programs that meet their needs’ (Deziel 2020).
As an aspiring communications professional, the concept of disciplinary agnosticism has made me understand that communications as a whole utilises different components to tell a story effectively, and that there are a myriad of perspectives I can use to tell a story. In a way this enables me to come up with innovative ideas, emphasising on the importance of the purpose, context, audience and message rather than focusing solely on one disciplinary component.
Jensenius R A 2012, Disciplinarities: intra, cross, multi, inter, trans, arj.no, viewed 11 March 2020 <https://www.arj.no/2012/03/12/disciplinarities-2/>
uwmiav.wordpress.com 2015, A PR campaign that has it all, uwmiav, wordpress.com, viewed 11 March 2020, <https://uwmiav.wordpress.com/tag/volkswagen-kombi-last-wishes/>
Grande 2015, The end of the road: Kombi’s last wishes boost brand, campaignlive.co.uk, viewed 11 March 2020, <https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/end-road-kombis-last-wishes-boost-brand/1350787>
Deziel M 2020, Women Inmates: Why the Male Model doesn’t work, nytimes.com, viewed 11 March 2020, <https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/netflix/women-inmates-separate-but-not-equal.html?_r=0>
CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION ASSIGNMENT 3 BLOG 