Marketing and Design

The overall aim of this module is to develop an appreciation and understanding of consumer behaviour from both managers' and consumers' perspectives, building on current research in consumer behaviour and the social sciences generally. The lectures initially focus on consumers as individuals and then consider more closely the influence of our social experiences on behaviour. The workshops provide a chance to focus on a specialist topic within the field, focusing upon improving academic reading and analysis skills.

This module aims to provide students with an overview of the knowledge and expertise design management brings to organisations and prepare them to work successfully with designers on strategic design issues. Through the lectures and seminars you have the opportunity to l develop an appreciation of the contribution of design management for strategy, product development, customer relationships and internal problem-solving.

This module gives you the opportunity to explore the ways in which designers use visualisation and visual thinking in design projects to develop ideas, explore possible interventions and communicate possible futures. The module introduces students to a range of tools for creating visualisations, challenging participants to put these tools to work in exploring a range of contemporary design issues.

This module runs alongside your academic studies to help you with academic and employability skills.

This module introduces the key concepts and techniques in marketing research and the analysis of marketing problems. The main aim is to prepare you for future roles as marketing, product, brand and advertising managers by giving you the skills needed to commission, manage, interpret and use marketing information. It will also prepare you for practical market or advertising research projects conducted in your final year (e.g. MKTG310 & MKTG331). The module covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as how to run and manage research projects. For the quantitative part of the unit, you will be introduced to SPSS.

The Marketing Simulation gives an integrated overview of the concepts, techniques and skills used in marketing management. This is done via a computer simulation exercise known as “Markstrat”. The objective of the course is to allow participants to develop skills in applying marketing knowledge, running an analysis and planning system, and dealing with the problems arising from working in groups and managing a business under conditions of uncertainty.

This module provides students with knowledge and understanding about the various decisions, actors and actions involved in transforming the product from its raw state through to one desired by consumers, and to the mechanisms whereby brand owners work with retailers to ensure shoppers’ access to the product. This understanding is important to all marketers since it allows marketers to communicate with other areas of the organisation (such as manufacturing or logistics) over issues including new product launches, promotional initiatives and so on. A particular emphasis is placed on the retail end of the route to market and how brand owners coordinate with retail (possibly also wholesale) actors to ensure optimal product placement and communication at the point of purchase. The module therefore provides vital understanding and perspectives to equip you for entry level jobs in areas such as trade marketing, customer marketing, shopper marketing, category management and areas of retail. In many companies a career in brand management can only be accessed through graduate entry level jobs in these areas. The thinking is “if you can’t manage retail partners, you can’t manage brands”.

Throughout the module attention is paid to the international contexts of routes to market, ethical questions in routes to market, modern techniques and shopping behaviour and ICT use in routes to market. Examples are drawn especially from product areas students are familiar with.

This module provides a theoretical foundation for design interactions. In particular this module introduces a general framework for designing interactions between people, products and places. It explores design interaction by posing three questions: How do you do? How do you feel? How do you know? The module gives you the opportunity to gain a broad historical and theoretical understanding of design interactions.

This module explores how an understanding of materials and technology informs and influences the development of design artefacts. It considers how construction methods and associated technologies constrain and support the development artefacts, both physical and digital in nature.

This themed design studio module is taught though a series of design exercises in which you will have the opportunity to develop and apply practical design skills in design interactions.

It aims to supplement theoretical courses in design interactions and design thinking by considering how a specific design problem may be explored through a particular lens and/or given constraints. The module develops practical making skills with a range of different materials through experimentation and the development of design responses to particular problems.

This module focuses on people as both the recipients and potential creators of design interactions. It applies methods and tools to gain insight, meaning and understanding of the diversity of user groups (the individual, community, young, old, etc.) that may be both designed for and with. This themed design studio module is taught though a series of design exercises in which students will develop and apply practical design skills in design interactions. It develops practical skills in design interactions and enables students to explore user experience and artefact meaning through the development of design responses

This module will provide students with a managerial and critical understanding of how brand strategy must integrate and balance a variety of perspectives such as the social, symbolic, and material dimensions of contemporary consumer culture with the managerial and economic determinants of organisations. Students will master the language of brand strategy, discover how the brand function fits with the other functions of an organisation, and learn how this knowledge can be applied in the real marketplace contexts. We will also critically evaluate the role of branding in society and we will trace the history of “the modern brand”. A range of theories, concepts, strategies and practices designed to build, evolve and sustain brands will be addressed across a range of categories, product types and industries. Students will be encouraged to think for themselves about the possible future brands and the necessity of branding in a changing world.

This provides you with the opportunity to conduct a live, practical design research consultancy exercise requiring project management and execution. It enables you to develop the specific skills of problem definition, data collection, analysis, presentation and report writing. You will develop your ability to manage the realities and complexities of design research problems and develop their skills in working independently in small groups.

The module aims to develop your understanding of innovation as a discipline and identify and evaluate some of the different modes of innovation. It will explore practically the relationship between innovation and design and develop design concepts that employ ‘innovation’ thinking.

In the final year this module focusses primarily on perfecting your employability skills to get the graduate job you want.

This module provides advanced, theoretical perspectives for design interactions. It aims to build upon the general framework for designing interactive products and systems, introduced in the second year Design Interactions module. It extends the knowledge and understanding of the theory, research and practice of design interactions into specialised areas, including human-computer, human-human, human-place and human-system interactions.

This module aims to provide students with the opportunity to critically review existing research and theory as it relates to a number of current consumer research specialist topics. The module provides students with the experience of applying and adapting existing theoretical frameworks to real consumer contexts and will enable a fuller engagement with the research interests of the marketing department staff. The module adopts a topic-based model; a typical syllabus would include self and identity in consumer behaviour, consumers & communications, theories of consumption, children as consumers, consumers & culture, consumer research applications in the public policy domain and consumers & ethics.

The overall aim of this course is to develop an appreciation and understanding of the fast-moving and multi-faceted world of advertising from both a theoretical and managerial perspective. This course will focus on advertising within the private sector and will cover a number of contemporary issues in advertising, including social and ethical issues, international advertising and advertising regulation. On completion of this course, students should be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of advertising theory, strategy and execution.

In this module, we bring to the forefront this often less visible but vast area of marketing to help you develop a more holistic understanding of how markets work and how they are created and shaped. We explore marketing concepts familiar to you as a marketer but broaden them by looking at the multiplicity of actors involved in marketing and in market making. Specifically, we unpack the activities in which organisations are involved and deployed to engage in markets. The module considers marketing in a range of contexts and critically discusses contemporary trends in B2B marketing practice and theory.

The module concerns the communications strategies and techniques used by new social movements, brands and people. We will study a spectrum of tools and media of communications, such as lobbying, design, sustainable communications (and greenwashing). Students will use action learning to develop a campaign strategy and creative work for a major UK government campaign. We will examine how protesters and social activists use communications, and students will be encouraged to think critically about how communications shape societies and human values.

This module considers contemporary issues (ecological sustainability, health and wellbeing) or ‘wicked problems’ though the exploration of a specific context (space, place or practice). It aims to provide a critical understanding of the problem context that enables appropriate design responses to be developed.

This themed design studio module is taught though a series of design exercises in which you will develop and apply practical design skills in design interactions.

This themed studio aims to extend and supplement the previous studios and the theoretical courses in Design by considering the potential futures of a chosen emerging technology (e.g. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Robots, Diamond Batteries, Biomimetic Materials, etc.). Students create artefacts that concretise future worlds in which they might exist by imagining a point of domestication. These studios will help to establish students’ ability to critically evaluate the full implications of particular futures based on current weak signals in the present – and how to practically represent such futures to an external audience in a manner that is both plausible and engaging.

The module gives students a unique opportunity to engage with leading-edge industry-driven and academic questions driving digital marketing. The module aims to stimulate students’ thinking and understanding around such questions as: How can we create data-driven, effective digital marketing campaigns? How does the consumer decision-making journey change in a digital space? How does digital technology transform marketing strategy in a business-to-consumer and business-to-business context? Why do so many companies fail in managing cyber-risk despite having cybersecurity measures in place? Apart from engaging with academic perspectives, students will practice real-life integrated digital campaign planning using industry-leading global data from ComScore.

An industry speaker will provide input to ensure that this remains an industry relevant module.

As marketing activities become more internationally focused, firms are increasingly looking for prospective employees with the knowledge and skills to address the new challenges and opportunities associated with globalisation. This module combines the latest research in the field of international marketing; providing insights, theories, concepts and tools that enable students to navigate the global market. Students will take part in interactive lectures and assessment-centred seminars to examine trends in global marketing management. The module will also pay special attention to emerging markets and the roles they play in invigorating marketing theories and practice.

The aim of the module is to introduce students to theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence of contemporary innovations in markets and an exploration of marketing activities that support them. Students will be given time and opportunity to reflect on their learning and to discuss their emergent understanding. They will have the opportunity to explore challenges faced by managers of innovation, as well as comparing potential outcomes of marketing management decisions in real world scenarios.

The module begins by identifying marketing innovations, followed by exploring the issues of why firms are thought to either typically succeed or fail in business. From here students will be encouraged to explore the changing business environments within which firms must survive. The module will be organised around six themes: (i) Creating Innovations (ii) Developing an Innovation Strategy (iii) Building the Innovative Organization (iv) Managing the Innovation Process (v) Capturing the Value from Innovations (vi) Emerging of the Contemporary Innovations in Markets. We see how Social Innovation, Innovations for Emerging Markets and Sustainability-led Innovation are emerged and contribute to the global markets.

This module will offer students the chance to explore various forms of social media in the context of digital marketing and online consumer culture. Students will develop awareness and gain insights into a diverse range of topics such as social media tools, mobile marketing, online consumption environments, virtual identities and online consumer behaviour, online consumption experiences, and the rise of virtual economies amongst others. Module will also explore current and potential trends in the digital environment.

The module "Strategic Marketing" aims to equip students for a career in strategic marketing management in various industries, which may include among others fast moving consumer goods and retailing, automotive, consulting services or the luxury sector. It is essential for students to obtain a solid understanding of various perspectives on strategy and to develop the ability to evaluate, design and implement sustainable and profitable marketing strategy. The module combines a critical academic perspective on strategy research with applied and practicable models and frameworks essential to developing strong marketing plans. The module aims to stimulate the student's thinking around such questions as: Why do some products or services succeed and others fail? How do you design a profitable and sustainable marketing strategy? What are the challenges involved in developing and implementing marketing strategy? Is marketing strategy a planning framework or improvised practice?

The key theme of this module is to learn how to negotiate and make sustainable business deals. Strategic negotiations are highly relevant in today’s interconnected business landscape. Companies need to negotiate with multiple stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, agencies, governments and authorities to be able to access the resources that they need. A strategic deal that companies would need is not a fixed entity but rather the outcome of long and time-consuming negotiations that affect further negotiations. The module will examine 1) the strategic challenges that companies face in their markets today, 2) the analytical tools that are needed to make sustainable business deals, 3) the biases and errors in deal-making 4) the various ways by which business deals are manifested and 5) the managerial implications of strategic negotiations.

In this module, we explore how marketing activities are managed in businesses, organisations and markets. Our focus is on three levels- namely, individuals, organisations and market place. Our understandings of marketing management are to a large extent shaped by theories and evidence on consumer behaviour in various markets. With this module, we turn our attention to managers and how they should make sense of and take action towards creating values for consumers and clients, their own businesses and organisations, and society at large. We approach this management question from multiple theoretical perspectives- namely, organisational and institutional theory, behavioural sciences, and marketing. We critically review these perspectives to understand how they construct and study the tasks of judgement and decision-making for marketing managers. We then employ these perspectives to identify and evaluate the opportunities and challenges contemporary marketing managers face within businesses, organisations, markets and society. These relate to technological advances and innovation, globalisation and its discontents, the inclusivity and exclusivity of consumption, marketing ethics, sustainability and climate change.