Marketing with Psychology

This module concerns the study of basic mental processes, such as memory, attention, learning, and categorisation. You will explore the current issues, debates and approaches in many key areas of cognitive psychology. We will see how research has evolved in these fields, both in terms of the practical challenges, and the development of psychological theories. We will also investigate how basic findings in cognitive psychology can have a wider application to society, such as in treatments for psychological disorders, or in the influence of misinformation in belief formation.

By the end of the module, you will understand more about these core topics, and will be able to show a critical appreciation of research methods, approaches and outcomes in cognitive psychology. You will develop skills to write about a topic in cognitive psychology in an informed and reflective way.

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 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.

In this module, you will learn about the decisions, actors and actions involved in transforming a product from its raw state to one desired by consumers, and how 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 such as new product launches and promotional initiatives.

We will focus 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, using real-life examples.

You will gain 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, graduate entry-level jobs in these areas are the only route to a career in brand management. The thinking is “if you can’t manage retail partners, you can’t manage brands”.

Throughout the module, we will consider 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.

Expanding on the knowledge gained in Part I, you will further develop your knowledge of theory and research in a number of core areas in this field. Starting with the history of social psychology, you will explore topics such as social beliefs and judgements, intergroup relations, and applying social psychology to everyday life.

The lectures will cover contemporary and empirical developments in the key areas of social psychology, and the accompanying seminar programme will help develop a range of your academic and transferable skills in relation to social psychological subject matters, including the use of technical language, integrating knowledge, analytic skills, argument construction, and presentation.

The overall aim of this module is to develop an appreciation and understanding of the fast-moving and multi-faceted world of advertising from both a theoretical and managerial perspective.

We will focus on advertising within the private sector and cover a number of contemporary issues in advertising, including social and ethical issues, international advertising and advertising regulation. On completion of this module, you should be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of advertising theory, strategy and execution.

The module gives you a unique opportunity to engage with the key academic and industry-led questions at the forefront of digital marketing practice. It will stimulate your understanding around the following questions:

• 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?

As well as engaging with academic perspectives, you will practice real-life integrated digital campaign planning using industry-leading global data from Similarweb. An external industry expert session ensures that you also gain further insight into relevant careers and the practice of digital marketing.

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 gives you the chance to explore various forms of social media in the context of digital marketing and online consumer culture. You 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,
• the rise of virtual economies.

As part of the module, you will also explore current and potential trends in the digital environment.

This module aims to provide you with the opportunity to critically review existing research and theory as it relates to a number of current consumer research specialist topics. You will apply and adapt existing theoretical frameworks to real consumer contexts, and engage 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 and communications,
• theories of consumption,
• children as consumers,
• consumers and culture,
• consumer research applications in the public policy domain,
• consumers and ethics.

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

This module will examine a wide variety of human behaviours, and attempt to show how psychological models and principles can make apparently bizarre or bewildering actions and judgement more understandable and interpretable. More specifically, the module discusses various theoretical models of attention, as the springboard for learning how attentional concepts have been used in areas as diverse as preschool cognitive development, children with autism & ADHD, anxiety disorders and the perception of flavours and tastes. The module combines psychological research into attentional topics with applications for a variety of more applied phenomena, drawing on research papers, videos, online blogs and other sources. As a result, coursework for example involves an applied element (an analysis of a contemporary media piece) where you can choose, under staff guidance, what real-world phenomena to analyse.

This module will provide you 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.

You 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 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. You will be encouraged to think for yourself about the possible future brands and the necessity of branding in a changing world.

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).

You 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 you will be encouraged to think critically about how communications shape societies and human values.

This module is designed to provide you with a cross-cultural/linguistic framework to critically evaluate the application of culture in cognition and development. You will engage with debates between universalism and relativism in cognition and perception, which also relates to the nature and nurture debate in developmental psychology. As part of this module, you will be required to synthesise and critically evaluate a wide range of topics, formulate arguments that are substantiated by empirical evidence, and present your evaluations and arguments to others.

By the end of this module, you will be able to critically evaluate the role of culture in cognitive and developmental psychology, evaluate the research methods used to investigate cross-cultural/linguistic similarities and differences, and identify and critique literature in the field of cognitive and developmental psychology from a cross-cultural/linguistic perspective.

The module will enable you to engage critically and constructively with social psychological research and theory. The module encourages a broad range of skills that include the ability to critically evaluate academic arguments and to creatively apply social psychological theories and knowledge to real-world issues. The innovative assessments you will take involve the application of social psychological knowledge within a practical exercise. The topics covered in this module reflect current topics in social psychology that reflect active research interests among the lecturers, and have recently included: the psychology of religion, animal treatment, the moral self, online behaviour, smartphone use and social media, and the psychology of genocide.

This module will explore cutting-edge topics in developmental psychology, including the latest development in foetal research, new theories of communication and learning in infants and children, social cognition, face perception, perception of elementary physic and the theory of the mind.

You will explore empirical research evidence from classic as well as contemporary research sources in developmental psychology, with a particular focus on the early stages of human development, from foetal studies through to toddlerhood. This module will also provide you with invaluable insights into how to conduct research into issues concerning developmental psychology

This module focuses on how psychology can help in forensic settings, including police investigations and dealing with antagonists and courtrooms. Specific topics discussed include offender profiling, lie detection and hostage negotiation.

You will gain an appreciation of what can be learned from studying the behaviour of criminals in a scientific framework, and will be able to discuss different explanations and theories of crime and criminal behaviour. The module will explain how to apply psychological theories of behaviour to explain criminal case studies and experiences in criminal contexts, including within the court.

You will also gain an understanding of the strengths and limitations of classifications of criminal behaviour. This module will equip you with the skills to discuss the merits of different approaches to offender treatment, interviewing, and detecting deception, plus the capacity to think critically about a range of controversial issues within forensic/investigative psychology.

The module will introduce you to the fundamental neuronal principles underlying cognition and behaviour, with particular emphasis on perceptual, cognitive, and emotional processes. You will be provided with basic knowledge about the anatomy, physiology, and functions of the central and peripheral nervous systems.

You will become acquainted with a range of theories and research methods in cognitive neuroscience and explore how knowledge of physiological processes can aid our understanding of a wide range of human behaviour. The module provides you with the essential preparation for neuroscience-related advanced modules in your third year.

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.

This module introduces theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence of contemporary innovations in markets and an exploration of marketing activities that support them. You will be given time and opportunity to reflect on your learning and to discuss your emergent understanding. You 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 you will be encouraged to explore the changing business environments within which firms must survive.

The module is organised around six themes:

1. Creating Innovations
2. Developing an Innovation Strategy
3. Building the Innovative Organisation
4. Managing the Innovation Process
5. Capturing the Value from Innovations
6. 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 allows you to work in a team to negotiate, design, and deliver a market research project. The projects are live cases, usually for local companies or charitable organisations, in which you, working with your supervisors, have responsibility for all aspects of the project, including budget and final presentation. You will develop working practices, produce an agreed research project, undertake appropriate research, and produce a professional client presentation and report. This module has been redesigned to give final year students additional focused help with their quest to obtain good quality graduate employment.

This module will equip you with the knowledge and skills to understand the role of different psychological processes in our understanding and appreciation of art.

The module will begin by exploring visual arts and how its development through history has focused on different aspects of psychology such as sensation and perception, cognition (learning and memory) and emotions.

During this module, you will come to recognise that different forms of artwork (such as visual art, literature and music), are all multi-dimensional and can be analysed, evaluated and experienced from various psychological perspectives.

This module aims to equip you 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.