While many argue that the market provides choice, new technologies and overall improves our lives, others also argue that it manipulates and exploits people. This module is designed to address precisely this debate. It introduces students to new ways of looking at and understanding market activities, brand consumption, advertisements, and their meanings and the role that marketing plays in determining them. It also debates the wider social, ecological and psychological influences of marketing practice by engaging with theoretical frameworks from across disciplines.
This ten-week Module is designed to introduce students to the issues relating to marketing activities and their impact on individuals, organisations, and societies. Therefore, it also links marketing with wider organizational practice, civic participation and the contemporary world. This module therefore prepares the students to look at marketing and wider management differently. Over the ten weeks, the module will inculcate critical questioning skills and a deeper and more informed understanding of the nature of the world around us.
Aims
To provide critical understanding of the issues central to contemporary marketing practice and discourse
To identify the mechanisms used by marketers for creating, supporting, and subverting customer values in the global market
To develop a critical understanding of the development, implementation, and social consequences of marketing strategies and programmes in contemporary contexts
To provide critical understanding of the organisation and impact of marketing operations
Objectives
By the end of the Module you should be able to:
1. Debate the role of marketing as a discourse that is embedded and reproduced in a variety of different spheres of society.
2. Engage in a variety of contemporary issues of marketing and apply a critical understanding to everyday life.
3. Critically analyse, using appropriate marketing and social science concepts and theories, marketing discourses and practices in contemporary society.
4. Examine the global linkages within marketing activities, and analyse dependencies between global and local contexts of marketing.
This ten-week Module is designed to introduce students to the issues relating to marketing activities and their impact on individuals, organisations, and societies. Therefore, it also links marketing with wider organizational practice, civic participation and the contemporary world. This module therefore prepares the students to look at marketing and wider management differently. Over the ten weeks, the module will inculcate critical questioning skills and a deeper and more informed understanding of the nature of the world around us.
Aims
To provide critical understanding of the issues central to contemporary marketing practice and discourse
To identify the mechanisms used by marketers for creating, supporting, and subverting customer values in the global market
To develop a critical understanding of the development, implementation, and social consequences of marketing strategies and programmes in contemporary contexts
To provide critical understanding of the organisation and impact of marketing operations
Objectives
By the end of the Module you should be able to:
1. Debate the role of marketing as a discourse that is embedded and reproduced in a variety of different spheres of society.
2. Engage in a variety of contemporary issues of marketing and apply a critical understanding to everyday life.
3. Critically analyse, using appropriate marketing and social science concepts and theories, marketing discourses and practices in contemporary society.
4. Examine the global linkages within marketing activities, and analyse dependencies between global and local contexts of marketing.
'If every asset we own, every building, and every piece of equipment were destroyed in a terrible natural disaster, we would be able to borrow all the money to replace it very quickly because of our brand value … The brand is more valuable than the totality of all these assets.' (The CEO of McDonald's, cited in Armstrong & Kotler, 1999, p. 242)
Achieving brand equity, or a strong brand, is the fundamental aim of all brand communication activity. Brands are built with a strategic purpose to create meaningful distinctions between products and services of different kinds, and to establish a relation between producers and consumers. However, brands do more than indicate ownership; they make promises, they strive to create trust, they enable the organisation to charge a premium price, and they can be seen to govern behaviour in many aspects of everyday life. The notion of brandscapes has come to signify how brands shape the contemporary consumer society locally and globally. It is therefore important to view brands both as a market-based device within the economic sphere, and as sets of practices which are situated in a wider socio-cultural context.
This module addresses key concepts within contemporary branding theory with a focus on a marketing communication perspective. Strategic brand communication considers all the means by which brand meaning is created and circulated – not only through channels such as promotion and distribution, but also, for example, through the ways in which employees are utilised for the purpose of communicating a consistent brand message. We will critically analyse the underlying ideas that inform how brand messages are constructed, and how for example stereotypes or normative ideas of gender are reproduced in those messages.
Module Aims
* To introduce students to key theories of branding and brand communication
* To provide critical approaches to understanding brands and branding practices
* To demonstrate how concepts of branding translate into contemporary business practices, and wider cultural practices
* To address the role of global brands, and the challenges of managing them
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
* Demonstrate an understanding of key perspectives, theories and concepts that inform the contemporary understanding of branding
* Identify and analyse key brand communication strategies and approaches such as emotional, functional and cultural branding.
* Critically evaluate the role of brands and branding in contemporary society
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
This module adopts a philosophy of experiential learning and aims to develop and further improve your employability skills in order to enhance your status as a graduate with impact.
The module is based on a term-long teamwork project, the skill set that you are required to have and further improve throughout the module consists of:
Teamwork and leadership skills as you will be working with your team for the whole term and you will be expected to lead on certain aspects of the project
Excellent communication skills (oral and written) required for the presentation as well as your written coursework
Excellent organisational skills manifested in the management of your own project meeting various deadlines and prioritising tasks.
Employability, this module will give you the chance to work closely with local businesses and local employers and so you are expected to act professionally throughout. You will have the chance to receive constructive feedback from leading industrial parties on the work you present.
Achieving brand equity, or a strong brand, is the fundamental aim of all brand communication activity. Brands are built with a strategic purpose to create meaningful distinctions between products and services of different kinds, and to establish a relation between producers and consumers. However, brands do more than indicate ownership; they make promises, they strive to create trust, they enable the organisation to charge a premium price, and they can be seen to govern behaviour in many aspects of everyday life. The notion of brandscapes has come to signify how brands shape the contemporary consumer society locally and globally. It is therefore important to view brands both as a market-based device within the economic sphere, and as sets of practices which are situated in a wider socio-cultural context.
This module addresses key concepts within contemporary branding theory with a focus on a marketing communication perspective. Strategic brand communication considers all the means by which brand meaning is created and circulated – not only through channels such as promotion and distribution, but also, for example, through the ways in which employees are utilised for the purpose of communicating a consistent brand message. We will critically analyse the underlying ideas that inform how brand messages are constructed, and how for example stereotypes or normative ideas of gender are reproduced in those messages.
Module Aims
* To introduce students to key theories of branding and brand communication
* To provide critical approaches to understanding brands and branding practices
* To demonstrate how concepts of branding translate into contemporary business practices, and wider cultural practices
* To address the role of global brands, and the challenges of managing them
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
* Demonstrate an understanding of key perspectives, theories and concepts that inform the contemporary understanding of branding
* Identify and analyse key brand communication strategies and approaches such as emotional, functional and cultural branding.
* Critically evaluate the role of brands and branding in contemporary society
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
This module adopts a philosophy of experiential learning and aims to develop and further improve your employability skills in order to enhance your status as a graduate with impact.
The module is based on a term-long teamwork project, the skill set that you are required to have and further improve throughout the module consists of:
Teamwork and leadership skills as you will be working with your team for the whole term and you will be expected to lead on certain aspects of the project
Excellent communication skills (oral and written) required for the presentation as well as your written coursework
Excellent organisational skills manifested in the management of your own project meeting various deadlines and prioritising tasks.
Employability, this module will give you the chance to work closely with local businesses and local employers and so you are expected to act professionally throughout. You will have the chance to receive constructive feedback from leading industrial parties on the work you present.
- Module Supervisor: Amir Homayounfard
- Module Supervisor: Hongfei Liu
In contemporary culture the need for marketers to be flexible and adaptable to the rapidly changing world is ever growing. As competition in markets grows and consumers make ever more demands on the companies from which they choose to purchase, marketers must be increasingly sensitive to consumers. BE555 explores a variety of different theories of consumption relating to consumption in the marketplace, consumers as individuals, consumers as decision makers and consumers as social beings. The module will go beyond looking at the act of buying to consider the entire consumption cycle. This module explores how an understanding of buyer behaviour plays an essential role in marketing strategy formulation as we consider how marketers use and apply consumer behaviour theory. Given that consumption has an increasingly important role in our daily lives, students will also be encouraged to draw on their own experiences to aid understanding of the theoretical content of the class.
Module AIMS
To provide students with a thorough understanding of the main theories and principles of consumer behaviour, and to show how these concepts relate to the practice of marketing.
Module Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module you should be able to:
1. Identify and explain key consumer behaviour theories and their relationship to practice.
2. Understand consumer behaviour as complex phenomena worthy of study for managerial purposes and in its own right.
3. Have acquired the knowledge necessary for further advanced study on marketing and consumer behaviour courses.
Transferable Skills
By the end of the module you should be able to:
* Think Critically
* Approach and solve problems creatively
* Reflect on their own practice in relation to marketing
Module AIMS
To provide students with a thorough understanding of the main theories and principles of consumer behaviour, and to show how these concepts relate to the practice of marketing.
Module Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module you should be able to:
1. Identify and explain key consumer behaviour theories and their relationship to practice.
2. Understand consumer behaviour as complex phenomena worthy of study for managerial purposes and in its own right.
3. Have acquired the knowledge necessary for further advanced study on marketing and consumer behaviour courses.
Transferable Skills
By the end of the module you should be able to:
* Think Critically
* Approach and solve problems creatively
* Reflect on their own practice in relation to marketing
- Module Supervisor: Aneela Malik
- Module Supervisor: Stephen Murphy
The aim of this module is to introduce students to the theory and practice of marketing. It will present some of the key principles of marketing, particularly useful for those not previously familiar with the subject area. In addition, it will cover some topics important to the contemporary marketing context including consumer behaviour, relationship marketing, digital marketing and cause-related marketing. It introduces marketing theories and models while also providing a critical perspective on the effects of these to political, social, and cultural life. Thus, the module views marketing not only as an organisational function but also
as a field of social interaction in a global context.
Module Aims
* To introduce students to key principles of marketing
* To provide a range of critical perspectives on contemporary marketing practice from a
number of different standpoints
* To demonstrate how marketing concepts influence business, and wider cultural practices
* To address the role of marketing in society
Module Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
* Analyse the historical emergence of marketing, and locate marketing within a wider
social, economic and political context
* Demonstrate an understanding of key principles, practices, theories and concepts that
constitute contemporary marketing practice
* Critically evaluate the role of marketing in contemporary society
Skills for your professional life (Transferable Skills)
By participating in this module, students will able to:
* Develop commercial awareness of contemporary context and issues of marketing through
engagement with case-studies and guest speakers
* Improve your marketing-specific research skills through the use of Mintel
* Build critical analysis skills through written case study presentations
as a field of social interaction in a global context.
Module Aims
* To introduce students to key principles of marketing
* To provide a range of critical perspectives on contemporary marketing practice from a
number of different standpoints
* To demonstrate how marketing concepts influence business, and wider cultural practices
* To address the role of marketing in society
Module Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
* Analyse the historical emergence of marketing, and locate marketing within a wider
social, economic and political context
* Demonstrate an understanding of key principles, practices, theories and concepts that
constitute contemporary marketing practice
* Critically evaluate the role of marketing in contemporary society
Skills for your professional life (Transferable Skills)
By participating in this module, students will able to:
* Develop commercial awareness of contemporary context and issues of marketing through
engagement with case-studies and guest speakers
* Improve your marketing-specific research skills through the use of Mintel
* Build critical analysis skills through written case study presentations
The aim of this module is to give students an introductory overview of the foundational principles of marketing. This module considers the historical development of marketing, while also evaluating its impact in relation to: the organisation; the marketplace; consumers; and society. Students will encounter a variety of theorethical perspectives on marketing, while also gaining the opportunity to see how these perspectives impact upon marketing practices within the organisation. Through a combination of interactive lectures and group discussions, students, are invited to investigate, question and challenge the assumptions of classic and contemporary marketing theory and practice. This module is thus not only about the tools of marketing, but also the consequences that these tools have upon culture and society.
Module Aims
The module has been designed to:
To provide students with an understanding of historical developments and trends in the field of marketing, both as an academic discipline and as a practice that governs the relationship between consumers and corporations.
To familiarise students with key marketing concepts and perspectives
To enable students to independently and critically analyse marketing in theory and practice
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module you will be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of key perspectives, theories and concepts that inform the contemporary understanding of marketing.
Analyse the historical emergence of marketing and understand the social, economic and political embeddedness of marketing.
Discuss and debate the wider implications of utilising marketing activities and marketing models for everyday life.
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
By the end of the module you will be able to:
*Analyse marketing theory and practice in a creative and independent manner.
*Demonstrate critical thinking in evaluating marketing reports and jargon
*Transfer theoretical and practical problem-solving skills to generate solutions for problems identified within various marketing contexts.
* Work effectively as part of a team.
* Work effectively independently to fulfil individual coursework assignments.
* Communicate and present ideas effectively by verbal and written means.
Module Aims
The module has been designed to:
To provide students with an understanding of historical developments and trends in the field of marketing, both as an academic discipline and as a practice that governs the relationship between consumers and corporations.
To familiarise students with key marketing concepts and perspectives
To enable students to independently and critically analyse marketing in theory and practice
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module you will be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of key perspectives, theories and concepts that inform the contemporary understanding of marketing.
Analyse the historical emergence of marketing and understand the social, economic and political embeddedness of marketing.
Discuss and debate the wider implications of utilising marketing activities and marketing models for everyday life.
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
By the end of the module you will be able to:
*Analyse marketing theory and practice in a creative and independent manner.
*Demonstrate critical thinking in evaluating marketing reports and jargon
*Transfer theoretical and practical problem-solving skills to generate solutions for problems identified within various marketing contexts.
* Work effectively as part of a team.
* Work effectively independently to fulfil individual coursework assignments.
* Communicate and present ideas effectively by verbal and written means.
- Module Supervisor: Erik Jacobi
- Module Supervisor: Hongfei Liu
- Module Supervisor: Mario Burghausen
This module focuses on a comprehensive understanding of the impact of 'digital' on the world of Marketing. It discusses the changing nature of business and consumer behaviour, communication, and market research. The module allows the students to investigate current practical and theoretical issues within the Digital Marketing and Social Media field.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to provide students with a solid theoretical and managerial knowledge on digital marketing and its great impact of businesses and consumers alike. The module also aims to critically assess the effectiveness of current digital marketing strategies and to address its challenges.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
* Demonstrate a comprehensive understating of the critical role of digital technologies in marketing
* Identify and evaluate the changing nature of Business and Consumer behaviour in a digital world.
* Critically assess the effectiveness of current digital marketing strategies and address its challenges
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
This module adopts a philosophy of experiential learning and aims to develop and further improve your employability skills in order to enhance your status as a graduate with impact.
Some of the skills you will develop/improve in this module are:
Teamwork and leadership skills as you will be invited to work within team on assessing/ analysing key issue in the world of digital marketing
Communication skills (oral and written) required for in-class presentations as well as your written coursework
Excellent organisational skills manifested in the management of your own project meeting various deadlines and prioritising tasks.
Employability, this module will give you the chance to work closely with local businesses and/or local employers giving you a taste of the "real world" of Digital Marketing.
In addition to the knowledge of digital and social media marketing you will accumulate whilst studying this module, you will improve or develop a set of transferrable skills. These are:
1. Critical thinking and problem solving manifested in discussions of life examples of digital marketing strategies of businesses
2. Research skills especially those that are most relevant to the digital environment
3. You will have the chance to meet a digital marketing employer who will be a visiting lecturer on this module.
4. You will be encouraged to do informal presentation and written statements, thus enhancing your presentation and communication skills
