Marketing (Consumer Psychology)
BSc (Hons)

You will explore this through a series of lectures, discussions, activities and visits to destinations such as the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in London or other exhibitions. You will be introduced to the Adobe Creative Cloud package to help you design a range of marketing materials.

The module includes work that will help you gain professionally recognised certificates offered by Adobe and Microsoft should you wish to take these additional exams.

This module will explore underlying concepts and principles of social media and the opportunities and challenges of its use within digital marketing.

The assessment will prepare the students for employment by developing key transferable personal skills in responsibility and management of online marketing activities.

 The branding and popular culture landscape is dominated by the marketers, the promise makers the people who commission the neon lights and the funky adverts. In our consumer society brands have become an obsession. But an often forgotten fact is that the people who make or break brands are the employees, the promise guardians.

This module introduces leaners to the elementary concepts and processes involved in designing and maintaining successful brands. It explores the various ‘building blocks’ that make up brands, identifies and evaluates different brand architectures available to organisations and assesses the impact that organisational aims, objectives, culture, behaviour and environment have on customer experiences, brand positioning and brand equity. The module also aims to give an overview over the role that brand managers play in the development and maintenance of brands and provide students with real life experiences of influencing brand developments.

It seeks to establish that sustainable market success within a highly competitive environment can only be achieved by developing products or services based upon an understanding of the external environment and customers’ needs and wants.

During the module you will not only consider how to add value for customers and other stakeholders but also learn to assess the impact that marketing activities have on consumers’ lives.

Your assessment is coursework-based, designed to enable you to demonstrate your ability to approach a business challenge as a marketer and business manager. The assessment methods used on this module will also help you to develop key skills desired by employers, for example digital and visual communication and presentation skills, and business report writing.

Students will learn key principles in research design and will engage in the practical aspects of generating quantitative and qualitative research data. Students will learn how to analyse quantitative and qualitative data and how to report the findings of simple psychological studies in a standardised format.

Through this module you will explore why an integrated approach to marketing communications is essential if such communications is to be both efficient and effective. With the continued rise of digital media it is essential to consider how media converge and diverge.

The module has been informed by businesses across a wide spectrum of industries throughout the UK who are involved in Marketing Communications, together with current research findings. Incorporation of industry requirements is aimed directly at enhancing your employability post-graduation and students will have the opportunity to experience the role and application of Integrated Marketing Communications through contact with practitioners in both local businesses and communication agencies.

The process will consolidate your learning by its application to current marketing problems faced by organisations in ‘real-time’. The learning, experience and confidence you gain as a result will enable you to become an exceptional executive with marketing skills and knowledge and the personal skills to make an impact.

You will be able to implement your proposals within a real organisation giving you the opportunity to build experience, and professionalism that will take you far beyond year two of your studies.

The module has been designed after research and consultation with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and with business representatives to ensure it is relevant for meeting the needs of the professional institute and potential employers.

The module includes practical skill elements which may be transferred into the workplace; for example use of computer analysis software for conducting research projects; interview and questioning strategies for achieving depth; use of images and social media for detecting future trends.

In addition to traditional research methods such as survey, case study, depth interview, the module also covers more modern methods which are becoming popular including; ethnography, emotional scaling, trend tracking, benchmarking, discourse and social media.

This module provides you with the opportunity to apply and further develop some of the knowledge and skills you have acquired in previous modules to delve into consumers’ conscious and unconscious motivations for their purchases and consumption behaviour. It provides a foundation for analysing and evaluating customer needs and wants. Working with organisations, you will assess the extent to which they do meet customers’ needs and wants, or to establish where greater customer satisfaction might be achieved.

Your learning will be enhanced through self-analysis and through applications in case studies, visits and contributions by guest speakers from industry.

You will be assessed by 100% coursework, which will be spread throughout the semester to help you balance your workload and benefit from feedback.

Module Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a critical knowledge of the theories and concepts used to identify, manage or change consumer behaviour
2. Apply this knowledge by selecting, justifying and presenting proposals to achieve a more satisfying exchange outcome for all stakeholders involved in the buying or acquiring process.

Module Content

This module aims to provide you with an understanding of a wide range of concepts and theoretical approaches and the opportunity to examine the role of customer behaviour from an experiential and organisational perspective. Including but not restricted to:

• Current issues and new Insights in consumer and consumption research
• Patterns of consumption and influences on consumers’ loyalty behaviour
• Ideas about who we are, how we want to be perceived by others and their relationship to consumption
• Influences on consumer decision making
• Methods used by organisations for behaviour of consumers
• Different values, cultures and sub-cultures and how they affect buying processes
• New media and their impact on how and what we buy
• Ethical issues relating to consumer behaviour, such as consumer ‘misbehaviour’

Teaching on the module will move from a consideration of psychology at an individual level with the focus on cognitive processes to social psychology in which the role of social contexts and processes is considered. In the social psychology sessions we will introduce a range of theories relating to social processes and explore social life as it is enacted in contemporary, everyday contexts. Within both cognitive and social psychology we will explore a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives and will demonstrate some of the contrasts and connections between these two approaches to psychology.

The module will go beyond the traditional models of market analysis and planning. We will be seeking to look at strategy from a creative point of view (and not just as an analytical approach taken by some). We will look at how organisations develop unique positions and brands by identifying and developing value propositions which appeal to customers. We will particularly seek out contemporary issues in marketing and see how strategy may need to be adapted to accommodate trends.

The focus of the module will be to seek out winning and losing strategies in the modern market place and seek to assess the underlying reasons for success or failure. Particular attention will be paid to breaking news; organisations being featured in news and current events.

The design of the module has been informed after consulting with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and other business professionals to ensure that it is up to date and relevant for meeting the needs of the professional institute and potential employers.

The module will involve external guest speakers with specialist expertise and current practice from marketing agencies and industry.

On completing this module you will feel confident that you can enter the workplace and quickly develop and present your ideas for improving your organisations marketing strategy.

This module will also offer an opportunity to the students to relate the applications of social marketing theory to understand continued issues which need solution though social marketing. There will be consideration of many social marketing models, frameworks and criteria and will be taught through a blended learning approach.

Alternatively you may choose to examine a business situation in depth, develop a creative advertising campaign or develop a marketing plan with ideas for creative execution. You could analyse and test the theories, principles and concepts addressed in the classroom environment in the reality of a private, public or community sector organisation by means of a pathway related report. The independent study is an individual piece of work completed under the guidance of an academic supervisor. The subject of study will normally be in your particular area of specialism, and this is an important opportunity to build your expertise and knowledge in that area.

In the course of your studies, you may discover an area that is of particular interest to you, or which has specific relevance to your intended professional orientation. This module gives you the opportunity to extend aspects of your coursework or professional interests in more depth, including topics that have not otherwise been available as formal modules. You will also refine and develop your skills in research, critical evaluation, analysis and production of professional documents.

This module differs from other modules because it relies on independent study rather than formal classes, and the initiatives to choose a topic and organise the study come from you. The skills you develop during this module will prepare you not only for future employment but for higher-level study. If you choose to work with a particular organisation then the opportunity for engaging with that organisation will provide insights into professional practice. If you choose to work in a more academic or creative setting your work will align with the recommendations of professional bodies in your field.

Your assessment is coursework-based, designed to enable you to demonstrate your ability to approach a business challenge as a marketer and business manager. The assessment methods used on this module will also help you develop key skills desired by employers, for example, critical analysis, business report writing and presentation skills.

The module aims to develop your capacity to critically engage with issues such as human rights, environmentalism and sustainable development, consumerism and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Ultimately, the aim of the module is to enable you to recognise and reflect upon complex ethical problems with a view to enhancing your analytical and decision-making skills which are valuable for employability in international businesses.

The role of sustainability as an integral component of business strategy is becoming more common. A number of factors seem to be important in helping to explain this trend including the need to comply with a growing volume of environmental and social legislation and regulations. The concern about the cost and scarcity of natural resources, additionally a greater public and shareholder awareness of the importance of socially responsible financial investments, the growing media coverage of the activities of a wide range of anti-corporate pressure groups and finally more general changes in social attitudes and values within modern capitalist societies. 

Sustainability according to McCann-Erickson (2007): can be summarised as “a collective term for everything to do with responsibility for the world in which we live. It is an economic, social and environmental issue. It is about consuming differently and consuming efficiently, it also means sharing between the rich and the poor, protecting the global environment while not jeopardizing the needs of future generations.” 

This module aims to provide you with knowledge of ethical issues involving business, in particular it is concerned with the implications for marketing. 

The module aims to develop your capacity to critically engage with issues such as human rights, environmentalism and sustainable development, consumerism and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Ultimately, the aim of the module is to enable you to recognise and reflect upon complex ethical problems with a view to enhancing your analytical and decision-making skills which are valuable for employability in international businesses.

Your assessment is coursework-based, designed to enable you to demonstrate your ability to approach a community challenge as a marketer and business manager. The assessment methods used on this module will also help you to develop key skills desired by employers, for example critical analysis, business report writing, presentation and strategic marketing skills.

We will present that beyond these methods there are several other methods which may be used for depth and meaning. These methods have largely been confined to the realm of ‘specialist texts’ and therefore are generally less accessible (and consequently not well integrated into modules and programmes for students engaged on undergraduate and post-graduate in Marketing and Business).

Our aim will be to explain and demonstrate the concept of Market Sensing and identify and explain associated research methods. Specifically our objectives will be to:

• Present, explain, and critically evaluate the concept of Market Sensing and how this differs from conventional Marketing Research
• Present, explain, and critically evaluate the concept of Market Sensing and the links to; Marketing Strategy; Brand Development; Understanding Consumer Behaviour, and internal marketing
• Present, explain, and critically evaluate a range of specialist Market Sensing research methods to achieve depth and meaning in research
• Locate these specialist Market Sensing research methods within the marketing research domain

The importance of the service sectors is growing in all national economies and is increasingly provides the basis for national comparative advantage. Tourism, leisure, retail, entertainment, sport and events are just some of the big services sectors represented in the Derbyshire region. Services are also increasingly employed to differentiate tangible products and provide competitive advantage for organisations.

Services marketing represent significant challenges for organisations and marketers, simply because the service element is itself intangible. At a great concert, the ticket, programme, facilities are all tangible, but the service itself, the music, is intangible. Furthermore, the service cannot occur without a customer being present. (The concert can be rehearsed, but it isn’t a service without a customer.) It is due to this intangibility of the service which makes services management so difficult to assure and services marketing such a challenging and exciting topic to study. How can an experience be promoted? What are the elements of the marketing package –from researching customer needs, wants and expectations through to promoting something which cannot be easily captured in a promotion.

This module assesses the importance of designing and delivering marketing which effectively applies an understanding of customer expectations (and beyond) . The module will highlight the impacts of service variability, perishability and demand fluctuation on marketing. It will also consider the measurement of customer expectations and perceptions and satisfaction monitoring. The need for and process of resource planning and the management of service encounters will also be encountered.

The module will explore how evolutionary theory can be used to understand human psychology across a wide range of behaviours such as co-operation, aggression, group living and religious belief. The module takes a very student led approach; with the basic principles of evolutionary psychology being introduced as lectures in the first weeks of teaching, following which all learning takes the form of formal debates.