• Formulate a set of clear research questions relative to a self-identified naming & framing challenge in business and/or society accepted by the teacher(s) to serve as an exam case.
• Apply key theoretical concepts and empirical methods presented during the course to analyzing central strategic and operational aspects of the case chosen.
• Propose and motivate an operational solution to meeting the naming & framing challenge identified.

Picking or creating the right words for something is crucial to how people will understand that “something” and whether they will love it or hate it, believe it or reject it, fear it or desire it… or buy it. Dealing systematically with these matters is a vital part of the job in a variety of fields that span from marketing, branding, and advertising, through PR and political communication, to national and cultural identity building, public health promotion, and climate-change action.

In recent years, the phrase naming & framing has become increasingly used for referring to the totality of communicative and psychological mechanisms in play here. The present course offers an integrated introduction to naming & framing processes as they unfold in the domains mentioned, and in everyday life. An emphasis is put on bridging between complementary theoretical perspectives and, not least, between theory and practice.

The overarching rationale is that the power of words ultimately comes down to four different, but tightly connected enterprises:

1. Giving things names (otherwise, no one will care).
2. Deciding on what name to give them (green tax works better than fuel tax).
3. Further shaping people’s understanding of these names through surrounding verbal and non-verbal cues (Apple® just means ‘apple’, but has been framed to success by other words, images, and immediate consumer experiences).
4. Selecting larger sets of names for presenting a wider subject in a particular light (a coup against a government is bad, a rebellion against a regime is good – but the names may well refer to the same events).

The course combines general insights on strategic communication and marketing with recent experimental findings on people’s real-time decoding of innovative words and word combinations (product names, brand names, political buzzwords, slogans, etc. – but also plain words), and psychological insights on the mental shortcuts and biases that make us receptive to persuasive framing effects. Throughout, word-based framing is seen as both depending on and contributing to framing effects achieved through non-verbal communi­cative means (pictures, colours, symbols, shapes, tastes, etc.). In addition to the theoretical curriculum, the participants will be introduced to selected methodological principles and tools suited for pinpointing the essence of concrete naming & framing challenges and for developing and pre-testing possible solutions to them. There will also be opportunities to try some of them out hands-on on a smaller scale.

On this basis, the course will enable the participants to contribute operationally to the planning, implementation and evaluation of naming and framing decisions for a variety of strategic and tactical purposes in private enterprises, public organizations, and with authorities.

Main textbook:

• Smith, V. (2021). Naming and Framing: Understanding the Power of Words Across Disciplines, Domains, and Modalities. Routledge Studies in Multimodality. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Supplementary chapters from:

• Fairhurst, G. T. (2010). The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
• Fill, C., & Turnbull, S. (2019). Marketing Communications. 8^th Edition. London: Pearson.
• Riezebos, R. (2003). Brand. Management: A. Theoretical and Practical Approach. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
• Aitchison, J. (2012). Words in the Mind. An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon. 4^th Edition. Oxford: Blackwell

The curriculum will furthermore include journal articles, reports, original case material, online resources, etc. available either online or via the Canvas portal or the CBS Library.