The Future of Marketing

Description

Society faces many challenges like geopolitics, exploitation, loss of biodiversity and climate change. In this course, we take a critical look at how business and marketing practices relate to these issues, explore their impacts, and imagine alternative approaches that create long-term value for all stakeholders. Monday sessions focus on core theories and frameworks. In these theory-focused sessions, we lay the foundation to go in-depth and analyse the world around us. Along the way, we dive into questions such as: What are the basic concepts of marketing and why is the field so complex today? What makes consumption meaningful? How does consumption relate to personal well-being and to societal outcomes? Who is responsible for influencing and shifting (consumer) behaviour? When does something become greenwashing? We look outside of the classroom to collect examples for closer inspection. The theoretical lectures will be complemented by guest speakers from the marketing field. Wednesday sessions are hands-on, with interactive exercises, critical discussions, and teamwork. In interdisciplinary groups, students explore topics from multiple perspectives and develop their own vision of what marketing can (and should) be. The course concludes with a TED Talk-style event, where student teams share their insights and connect with professionals and academics in an engaging, future-oriented forum. Objectives: Describe basic marketing concepts as well as the complexity of marketing in today's societal context, using relevant literature; Explain current business and marketing practices including behaviour influence, corporate activism and greenwashing, and identify examples of these practices in real life; Analyse and discuss the effects of marketing on society at large in terms of ethical consumption, meaningful consumption, and responsibility, both written and orally; Engage in open and compassionate dialogue around complex or sensitive topics; Present critical observations and analyses in an engaging way; Apply imagination and creativity to explore alternative perspectives and challenge assumptions; Reflect on personal learning in terms of content knowledge, collaboration, and self-development.