Postgraduate Course: Understanding Brands (CMSE11566)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course offers students the opportunity to study and understand a fundamental marketing technology. Brands and branding are considerable vehicles for cultural meaning, self-expression, community, social movement and communication. This course focuses particularly on cultural branding theory and explores how brands both draw on and create culture to create meaning in the minds of consumers. From this backdrop we will explore the ways in which brands create and reflect culture through their management, focusing particularly on how a cultural approach creates strong brands. |
| Course description |
Taking a socio-cultural perspective, this course provides students with a deeper knowledge of the place of brands in the lives of consumers and the skills used to manage them. It does this by considering how brand meaning is constructed and managed and by outlining cultural brand strategies available to companies to both meet the needs of consumers and build powerful brands. In particular the course focuses on the work of Douglas Holt and his theories of cultural branding. This cultural focus allows us to critically engage with the notion that the brand resides in the mind of the consumer and that, we as consumers, have ultimate power in shaping brand meaning. Brand management approaches and examples will be central to the delivery of this course as will students' own reflection on their relationship to culture and brands.
The course will introduce the cultural branding concept, explore brand and consumer identity, brand values, consider emotion and community in branding, explore the notion of authentic brands and authenticity in digital branding. The course ends with an overview of current trends in branding - a critical exploration of what's happening now in branding.
Outline Content:
- A cultural branding approach to understanding brands
- Creating brands: brand identity and meaning
- Consuming brands: emotion and connection
- Managing Brands: authenticity and digital branding
- Current issues in branding
Student Learning Experience:
The course will be taught in interactive sessions, students will be expected to complete recommended readings before attending. Reflection on our own brand consumption and class discussion are central to the class experience.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 4 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
87 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Coursework (individual) - assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback will be provided through class discussion and the lecture session on the assessment.
Summative: Feedback on the individual assessment will be provided.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand, apply and critically assess cultural branding approaches.
- Critically evaluate brand management strategies and examples of brand management.
- Critically consider current issues in brand management.
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Reading List
How Brands Become Icons, Douglas Holt
Strategic Brand Management, Elliott and Percy |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | |
Course secretary | Ms Emily Davis
Tel: (0131 6)51 7112
Email: |
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