Marketing (Consumer Psychology) - BA (Hons) *

This module will provide a gentle introduction to the world of accounting and finance for business managers of the future and is designed for those new to accounting or those studying on non-accounting related degree programmes.

You’ll explore key areas of accounting including gaining an appreciation for how basic financial statements are prepared and how you can assess both the financial performance and financial position of a business.

Every day, billions of people spend their money on products and services without necessarily considering why they decided to buy those particular offerings. Each of these products and services have been carefully developed to fulfil the needs of a particular target audience of which each of us may be a part.

Whilst many people associate the word marketing with advertising or design, the marketing concept is far wider-reaching in its scope and is a core function within many successful household names, such as Apple, Disney, McDonalds and many, many more.

For those undertaking a marketing degree, this module will provide a solid foundation for your course; for those studying other disciplines, the concepts presented here are valuable tools for a future career in all walks of business.

As demonstrated in recent CBI reports, for graduates to be successful within the workplace, requires that they possess the appropriate skills and knowledge, as well as have the right attitudes and behaviours required for the world of work. Focussing on your employability is therefore part of your degree, however it is more than just about securing a role, it is about equipping you with competencies that you will need for your future career.

This module has been designed to enable you to start the process of continuous professional development. Professional development is a combination of approaches, ideas and techniques that will help you manage your own learning and growth as an undergraduate through to graduation and beyond. With the focus firmly on your skills, and how you grow and maintain them, this module is designed to enable you to develop the skills and experience that will make a difference to both your employability and your academic study.

This module makes a significant contribution to the programme philosophy by providing the knowledge and understanding of all the key concepts upon which consumer behaviour is built. In line with the programme aims and level 4 learning outcomes, this module establishes a sound foundation on which to base future study, as it delivers the theoretical underpinning necessary for successful marketing, focusing on the centre of a business – the consumer.

The aim of this module is to develop your academic knowledge and transferable skills needed to understand the creative process. This module will develop your skills and understanding of the creative process by facilitating working as individuals and groups. The principles of practice based learning will be applied throughout this module allowing you to uniquely experience the challenges and rewards of working as part of a creative team.

You will work as members of an agency team to develop a creative pitch and portfolio of artefacts. These pitches will encompass the skills suitable across diverse business sectors and will develop your understanding of the creative process, your role within a team and your application of the creative process to a defined task. This learning experience will give you insights into good design practice beyond theory, with the practice based approach strengthening your skills in this important area of marketing.

Technological advances within marketing now enable organisations to better identify and reach prospective customers. Organisations no longer obtain a competitive advantage simply by producing high quality products or services. In line with programme philosophies of applied learning and practice led education you will learn concepts, as well as skills that will allow you to be develop digital ideas.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the main subject areas of retail marketing, from consumer behaviour and segmentation to store location theory, multi-channel retailing and retail communication. This module is distinct in that it uses a combination of case studies, practical exercises as well as an examination of theoretical concepts, enabling you to appreciate the principles of retail marketing in practice.

Though not a pre-requisite to the retailing pathway within the suite of undergraduate marketing programmes, it will enable you to understand more about the core concepts of retail marketing, helping you to determine whether this is an area you wish to specialise in.

Marketing communications is a key strategic area for any business, as it gives visibility and understanding of an organisation’s products and or services, providing information that elicits a positive response. Utilising a variety of techniques, marketing communications applies a range of tools, techniques and media to deliver these messages, designing campaigns that drive desired behavioural responses.

In line with the level aims this module will equip you with the practical skills needed to undertake effective research and analysis. Through the use of a live client brief that will form the assessment for this module, you will learn to differentiate a range of marketing research strategies and use a selection of marketing research techniques to initiate and undertake critical analysis, applying findings to solve a set marketing problem.

The main theoretical and application focus of the Service Experience Design module is located within the multi-unit service sector and the field of service science. The importance of the service economy is evidenced by the macroeconomic shift over the last 20 years from goods to services in the most major industrialised economies and currently represents at least 70% of employment value added in most of these countries. Service productivity and service innovation are seen by policy makers as the key to future economic growth. In the same period, the number of multi-unit service organisations (such as restaurants, hotels and fast food chains) have more than doubled.

Brand management is a fascinating subject as we live in a world where we are surrounded by brands – from the everyday objects used daily to the more prestigious and opulent products and services on offer. It is therefore imperative that as a student on a marketing course, you should be able to appreciate and apply the concepts of branding as they relate to contemporary products and services. Building and managing brands is the key to attaining a sustainable competitive advantage and ensuring long term profitability for organisations.

This module is core for all marketing students, irrespective of their pathway. The reason for this is that marketing communications is a key strategic area for any business, as it gives visibility and understanding of an organisation’s products and or services. It utilises a variety of techniques, communication tools and media to deliver these messages, designing campaigns that drive the desired behavioural responses.

Changing or modifying human behaviour remains one of the most intricate and challenging facets of contemporary marketing practice. Often referred to as social marketing, this application of marketing practice, enhanced by the use of sociological and psychological theories and frameworks, is best known for its use in public health campaigns such as anti-smoking, drink-driving, drug abuse, sexual health with the aim of improving the quality of life for the whole of society.

This module will continue to develop key transferable skills from level 4 such as group discussion and debate, critical evaluation and evidence-based reasoning. There will be research-led teaching which will explore key debates and methodologies used in neuropsychology and cognitive Psychology. The GBC area of biological Psychology and cognitive Psychology will be supplemented through this module.

The success of most businesses rests with the effectiveness of their marketing strategy and planning, as it is the central determinant of returns to investors. Income is maximised when marketing undertakes effective planning that is driven by an appreciation and understanding of the marketplace, the consumer and the wider external environment. Therefore, it is mandatory that any marketing graduate has an understanding of strategy and planning, as it enables activities to be directed to the specific needs of that organisation.

The Emerging Themes module is closely aligned to the philosophy, aims and learning outcomes of the marketing suite of awards because it is directly related to the examination of practice and the impact of that practice. As a level 6 marketing module our focus is on developing competencies in the areas of academic research, critical evaluation, independent working and a willingness to take initiative in the application of marketing concepts in the strategic decision making process. This module will develop and challenge you in all of these areas equipping you with the skills employers demand.

The issues of ethics, social responsibility and sustainability in business have moved from the marginal to the mainstream during the last 40 years. With the impact of consumption running at 1.6 planet’s worth of resources each year, society is increasingly looking to develop a long-term, sustainable vision for the future that takes into account not only the economic factors of business, but also considers the social and environmental impact of decisions.

As such, this module aims to provide you with an understanding of the role that marketing has to play in meeting the needs of the sustainability agenda. It identifies the nature and extent of the challenges facing organisations today and considers potential approaches for addressing these. In doing so, it aspires to creating a vision of the future in which organisations, consumers and government can work together to realise a one planet business strategy.

The aim of this module is to provide a framework for you to undertake a substantial piece of disciplinary-relevant research. It is founded upon Birmingham City Business School’s teaching and learning philosophy which integrates theory and practice.

In accordance with the programme philosophy and level 6 learning outcomes, you will be applying and evaluating consumer behaviour theories and models in a cross-cultural context to develop and justify persuasive marketing solutions for businesses dealing with a culturally diverse consumer base. You will also be involved in forming effective methods of communicating these concepts and ideas.

In doing so you will further develop the transferrable skills crucial to your profession, such as the ability to undertake extensive cross-cultural research, in-depth analysis, visual presentation and the defence of your arguments. This module will equip you with the knowledge, understanding and cultural awareness necessary to engage with the diversity of consumer values and behaviour in contemporary markets, resulting in you becoming an effective global citizen.