Advanced Certificate in Communications Planning
New in our portfolio!
The Advanced Certificate in Communications Planning equips you with the strategic skills, frameworks and confidence to lead client conversations, shape high-impact campaign strategies and prove the commercial value of communications to the Board.
From defining the problem to proving success, this online programme takes you end-to-end through the planning process – combining proven theory, real-world application, and expert practitioner insight. You'll learn to shape smarter strategies, justify investment, and deliver great work that works. Expert practitioner insight and burgeoning reputation, all in one qualification. Sounds like a plan.
Format: Virtual
Language: English
Exam/assessment: 2-hour online exam
(3 hrs in non-English speaking countries)
EACA member price: € 1,875 (+VAT if applicable)
Next intake: 8 June 2027 (book by 4 January)
Is this qualification for me?
Anyone responsible for developing or delivering communications strategies for clients and brands. Its sweet spot is mid-level practitioners with at least four years' experience working in in communications, media, strategy, or planning (from both agency and client backgrounds).
Benefits
- Enhance your understanding of an increasingly complex communications and media landscape, and develop the strategic skills to deliver more effective work
- Understand how to define the right problem by interrogating briefs, objectives and business challenges.
- Learn how to build evidence-based strategies grounded in data, insight and proven effectiveness principles.
- Gain the confidence to make investment decisions that link marketing spend to commercial outcomes.
- Explore the key stages of developing a successful communications plan, from audience understanding to channel roles and budget allocation.
- Find out how to bring strategies to life creatively across channels, contexts and customer journeys.
- Learn how to measure what matters and demonstrate the business impact of communications.
How is the qualification delivered and assessed?
- 100% online, flexible learning.
- 45 hours of online learning, split across six modules accessible through the IPA website on any device.
- You should allow four months of study prior to sitting the exam.
- To achieve the qualification, learners will take one final exam – 28 multiple-choice questions and 12 free-form short answer questions.
Not sure? Hear from previous graduates
“For me, the real value of the course was the ongoing effect it has had on my own learning path and my confidence. I can’t tell you the number of client meetings or catch-ups with colleagues where I have been able to speak with real confidence or pepper the conversation with anecdotes and facts taken from my course.”
Course participant, AMS Group
"I feel that anything that can set you apart from others, in an incredibly competitive environment, will assist in career progression and boosting your profile – both within the agency and the industry as a whole. The Advanced Certificate certainly solidified my understanding of the advertising world. This allowed me to piece together new learnings, key case studies and my existing knowledge in order to answer the essay and exam questions. A key task in my role as a Planner is delivering successful media plans from start to finish, so it is imperative that my knowledge spans across all areas of the business and encompasses all media channels. Taking a course such as this really put my skills and knowledge to the test over the course of six months."
Course participant, Zenith