This course requires 104–120 UCAS tariff points including a minimum of 2 A-levels or equivalent. We are happy to consider a combination of qualifications and grades to meet the overall tariff, for example A-levels A*CC, ABC, BBB or BCC, BTECs DDM or DMM. You can use the UCAS calculator to see how your qualifications equate to UCAS tariff points.
If you do not meet these requirements, you may want to consider our foundation year, a one-year course that will prepare you for degree-level study.
If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with a minimum of 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other components, or equivalent.
Develop specific knowledge and skills in advertising, including branding, creative, media planning and strategy
Learn how to develop strategic responses to advertising and marketing communications problems
Work on live briefs set by industry for unit assessments and learn from professionals who deliver guest lectures and workshops every year
Co-create academic and professional research with staff including consultancy projects for industry clients
At the end of your first year you can choose which Marketing Communications course best suits you and your career interests
Complete a work placement anywhere in the world, giving you the chance to put theory into practice, make great career contacts and bolster your blossoming CV.
Foundation year: We have a foundation year option for UK students who do not meet the entry requirements for the degree course. This additional year of study will give you a grounding in the media & communication skills required for this course, building your confidence, knowledge and skills for further study. After successful completion of the foundation year, you will progress to the full degree.
UCAS Code: N592
With foundation year: N596
More info: Click here
Foundation year
Core units
Academic & Professional Practice: You will build your confidence in both academic and professional skills. This unit will cover the academic skills which will be required at degree level study and you’ll practice them throughout the unit with support from key university services including the library and study skills team. There will also be the opportunity for you to reflect on and develop your own professional skills through interactions with employers, careers services and online resources.
Collaborative Communication Project: The unit focuses on the centrality of communicaiton, both as a process and as a project. Through the collaborative development of a communication solution to a specific communication problem, the unit aims to promote the principles and practices of team-based iterative project work.
Media & Current Debates: You will be introduced to a) the important role and responsibilities of the news media within democratic societies and b) the varied nature of reporting of key events, issues and debates within the contemporary 24/7 news cycle. You will gain an essential level of understanding of what constitues news and what the work of journalists entails. You will also develop an awareness and appreciation of differing coverage of particular stories by a range of news organisations.
Media Work: You will become familiar with a range of profiles and career paths in the communication and media industries and be inspired to reflect on and develop your own professional identity. Through case studies of seminal campaigns, programmes and artefacts, profiles of ground-breaking personalities, masterclasses from industry professionals, and guest talks from BU staff who have worked or currently work in marketing, PR, media production, journalism and communications, you will encounter and interact with diverse role models, career trajectories, and types of profressional practice.
Year 1
Core units
Principles of Marketing and Marketing Communications: This unit introduces you to the principles of marketing and marketing communications. You will become familiar with the marketing mix, including traditional and innovative marketing techniques and where marketing as a discipline currently stands.
Academic and Professional Practices for Marketing Communications: Through engaging in professional-relevant, authentic experiences and assessments to support your development as an independent learner, you will acquire a range of skills required for succesful academic and professinoal practice in marketing communications
Contemporary Debates in Marketing Communications: This unit aims to provide you with an understanding of the broader role that marketing communications play in contemporary culture. You will be introduced to theories and concepts designed to help you develop a critical perspective when reviewing and reflecting on the wider impact that marketing communications’ campaigns can have on consumers and society at local, national and global levels.
Digital Essentials: The unit will enable you to understand the impact of emerging digital technologies and review, utilise and explore the role of digital communications within marketing communications. You will use research and industry specific tools used for measuring digital communications.
Consumer and Stakeholder Insights: You will explore and analyse the importance of understanding stakeholder management and consumer behaviour for effective development and implementation of various aspects/practices involved in marketing communications.
Integrated Marketing Communications: You will gain a critical understanding of how to plan, create, execute and evaluate integrated marketing communication campaigns. Upon completion of the unit, you will have an appreciation of the complexities of the integrated marketing communication campaigns process.
Year 2
Core units
Advertising Fundamentals: You will become familiar with the functions of advertising agencies, the relationships between advertising agencies and their clients and how advertising can contribute to brand building and strategy. The unit content is purposefully aligned with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s Foundation Certificate and you will be expected to sit the exam in order to achieve IPA certification, assisting you when seeking placement opportunities.
Content Creation: This unit will provide you with the opportunity to acquire an in-depth understanding of the content, meanings and decoding of marketing communications campaigns and equip you with the skills required to create marketing communications content (e.g. internal communications, posters, brochure, advertising, POS, direct mail) based on the theoretical perspectives learned, making use, where relevant, of software commonly used in industry.
Creative Strategy: In an increasingly competitive marketplace, ‘ideas’, ‘originality’ and ‘innovation’ have become the currency by which advertising campaigns are judged to be successful. Central to an effective campaign is a single-minded proposition based on an insight that can be translated into a ‘campaignable’ idea or concept: one that is capable of being ‘rolled out’ across a variety of different media platforms and in a number of different formats. This unit will assist you in developing the ability to generate such ideas and concepts for advertising campaigns.
Research Principles and Practice: Initially you will learn about the value and importance of research, in relation to your chosen degree, and the place of research ethics. Emphasis will then be placed on skills or ‘doing research’, exploring both standard and more innovative ways of obtaining meaningful data and insights for both academic and commercial purposes. You will get hands on experience of qualitative and quantitative methods, modes of analysis, interpretation and presentation of research findings to understand how research is done from beginning to end.
Brands and Branding: You will be introduced to the building blocks of brands, the theoretical principles of branding, and will also be exposed to theoretical applications in diverse situations and contexts. This unit will also explore the role of branding as a strategic managerial tool and its implications on businesses, consumers, and markets.
Media Planning: Media Planning is commanding a pivotal role within advertising planning, drawing upon consumer insight and evolving media metrics data to conceive, plan, implement and evaluate the efficacy of advertising solutions. Consequently, this unit provides both knowledge and practical applications of media research and media planning skills to propose campaign solutions for brands.
Placement year
The inclusion of a 30-week placement (minimum) is a key feature in helping you to develop your abilities and understanding of advertising in the work environment. It also provides a platform for successful entry into the profession following graduation.
Final year
Core units
Campaign Planning for Advertising: This unit will enable you to develop, assess and implement innovative advertising campaigns attuned to the specific brand and product and designed to engage and enthuse potential target consumer groups in preparation for graduate employment
Advertising Portfolio Development: Through peer collaboration, self-critique and regular feedback from instructors and industry guests you will build an effective portfolio of advertising work (with either a creative or strategic focus), as well as the discursive and presentation skills needed to frame it. This will act as a persuasive tool for graduate employment and a platform for further professional development once in employment.
Dissertation: The dissertation offers you the opportunity to become an expert on a topic of particular interest, and to develop a study that connects your learning with real-world observations.
Options units (choose two)
Behavioural Economics: You will be introduced to Behavioural Economics and Choice Architecture. The unit will focus on learnings from cognitive neuroscience, and how these can enhance strategy and creativity, with significantly optimised levels of efficiency and effectiveness across all elements of the communications mix.
Brand Meaning: You will create your interpretation of brand meaning for a brand of your choice, producing meaning appropriate for a 21st century brand.
Consumer Futurising: You will gain a critical appreciation of state of the art thinking within consumer culture studies..
Corporate Communications: The unit will provide you with a critical understanding of the professional communicator’s role as applied to key sectors, such as entertainment, health and beauty, financial, and B2B.
Influencer Marketing: The unit aims to develop your knowledge and skills on marketing to influencers and becoming an influencer yourself in the marketing communications field.
Race, Media and Inequality: You will critically examine the processes through which social inequalities are maintained and perpetuated in and through the media. The key areas of focus are race, ethnicity and culture using an intersectional approach to examine their construction and representation in media and communication practice and political discourse
Persuasion and Influence: You will be provdied with an understanding of the psychology of audience members and become equipped to reflect on the ethics of persuasion to critique contemporary persuasive communication in the context of broader social and cultural issues.
Promotion, Power and Democracy: The unit will introduce you to key theoretical ideas from social and critical theory, political economy and political philosophy, and encourages you to both reflect on your personal and professional experience, and to apply ideas discussed in the unit to real world problems and examples.
Relationship Marketing: You will gain an understanding and conceptually analyse relationship marketing which is becoming increasingly important given the challenge of attracting, developing and retaining customers within a competitive environment (both for-profit and non-profit organisations).
Social and Intercultural Communication: The unit will provide you with an understanding of pertinent social and intercultural issues (both in the UK and internationally) and their impact upon contemporary professional communication practices. ‘Communication practices’ can include any form of interaction between individuals, groups, ‘communities’ and / or organisations that take place within an increasingly complex, diverse and interconnected world.
Social Media Management: You will gain the ability to critically understand how to plan, create and execute management of social media accounts and activities on a national and global scale.
This course will give you all the skills you need to get ahead in this thriving sector and the work placement will allow you to make contacts and build relationships with those already working in the industry.
100% of our students who study Marketing Communications courses are working or studying 15 months after graduating, with 85% in professional or managerial positions.
OSHC: 624 ($) GBP per year
