Keele Management School

Course Information

The Marketing Principal at Keele offers a unique training in the use of marketing by a range of organisations, including businesses and the non-profit or public sector. Whilst covering the basic principles of marketing and management, the wide range of options enables you to tailor the degree to suit your own interests. It is taught from a critical perspective, encouraging you to develop independent thinking as well as a thorough knowledge of marketing theory and practice. Option modules will introduce you to the latest cutting edge research and give you the opportunity to consider the influence of marketing on buyer-psychology, the branding behind international products and icons, the impact of low-price fights on customer service, the development of the consumerism in society, and government-led social marketing to reduce drink-driving. This is in addition to ensuring that you learn the practical tools and techniques you will need to use in the commercial sector to identify and communicate with the potential market. Marketing is a research-led, topical course that will develop your intellectual and analytical skills as well as giving you a unique understanding of marketing in a variety of settings.

Teaching & Assessment Methods

Most modules involve lectures and group work (tutorials, presentations or debates). For example there may be a team project on the marketing strategies of a local business, or you will be asked to debate controversial marketing ethics such as ‘should students be treated as consumers?’. Guest speakers from industry and the public sector are also invited to the university to speak to students to provide a practical insight into marketing. Assessment is varied to provide students with a broad training. Essays and examinations are the most common structure, but many modules use presentations, review assignments, case studies, consultancy reports and developing your own marketing campaign. The aim is to ensure teaching and assessment provides you with a variety of experiences and challenges to prepare you for life after graduation.

Study Abroad

The Department is keen to promote the opportunity for students to spend a semester studying Marketing at a partner institution in the EU, Australia or North America. At present there are exchange arrangements with Giessen, Kiel and Bamberg in Germany; Poitiers, Bordeaux, Le Havre and Rouen in France; Tilburg and Amsterdam in the Netherlands; Brussels in Belgium; and Göteborg, Umeå, Lulea and Uppsala in Sweden. Students studying French and/or German as one of their principal subjects will be required to spend a year in a French and/or German-speaking country as part of their degree. For nearly all other combinations with Marketing, and depending on the student’s foreign language competence, a semester of study may be spent at one of the named institutions or one of 15 North American partners instead of at Keele. SOCRATES grants, and some foreign language support, may be available prior to the exchange. No additional funding is normally available for a study period in North America or Australia.

Introductory Reading

Indicative books which cover the main sections of the course: Kotler, P, Armstrong, G, Saunders, J and Wong, V (2004), Principles of Marketing, 4th European Edition, FT-Prentice Hall Dubois, Bernard (2000) Understanding the Consumer. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Graduate Attributes Statement

The Graduate Attributes Statement is designed to raise awareness of the attributes that will be developed whilst you are a student at Keele University. It explains each of the attributes in detail, tips on how to achieve them and how they relate to your chosen programme of study.

The Graduate Attributes Statement for this course can be downloaded as a PDF here.