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Marketing in Practice

Module description

This module draws upon the skills and knowledge that you have obtained across your taught modules on the MSc Marketing, and directs these towards a range of practical business/marketing problems. Working in small learning teams, you will act as a consulting team addressing real company briefs that address particular marketing problems. You will work on these briefs intensively, delivering a short group pitch that will be judged by a panel of academic and industry experts. You will also submit an individual report for each brief summarising your findings and key recommendations for the company.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module is integrative and aims for students to demonstrate that they can apply marketing theory in real-life practice. Working under time pressure, and in teams, the module will allow you to demonstrate that you have acquired the key skills and knowledge required for a career in marketing. This module encompasses a range of requirements in terms of primary and secondary research, oral and written presentation skills, and an ability to apply marketing theory in complex real-life situations.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. perform a consultancy-style investigation of a business problem using appropriate data collection and analytical techniques
• 2. demonstrate the ability to select and apply appropriate marketing theories and frameworks

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. demonstrate problem-solving skills and creative thinking
• 4. design and carry out research under data and time constraints

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. professional and succinct oral and written presentation of work
• 6. demonstrate a collaborative mindset

Syllabus plan

Companies/marketing agencies will come in and provide a brief and any relevant data that can be shared with the students, followed by a Q&A session. Academic session lead will follow up with a brief outline/review of relevant academic theories and frameworks.

Students work intensively on the brief throughout the week, and can arrange 2x 30 minutes of meeting with academic lead to get feedback.

Students present their work in a presentation assessed by industry and academic representatives.

This schedule will be repeated for each brief, covering different aspects of marketing e.g. product innovation, consumer behaviour, digital/marketing communication, growth strategy etc.

Students will then work independently writing up a 2,000 words report which includes an executive summary, an overview of the brief/background/context, a justification for the research conducted and an explanation of your findings, your key recommendations, conclusions and limitations, Feedback from the oral presentation should be taken into account. Support will be offered from the academic lead. Submission of individual reports will be staggered in the period following the end of term 3.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

If the student does not pass the Group Presentation or the Individual Report average component, they will resit the equivalent of the actual fail marks achieved. For example, if one report was failed but the other passed, only the failed 2000-word report will be resat.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Web based and electronic resources: including but not limited to resources such as company and industry reports, Office for National Statistics, reputable business news websites, University-published resources etc.

Key words search

Marketing, consultancy, marketing research