Undergraduate Program Course Descriptions
Undergraduate Core Courses
Introduction to Marketing
MKTG-UB.0001 (C55.0001) (4 credits)
Prerequisite: Sophomore Standing
Fall, Spring, and Summer
This course evaluates marketing as a system for the satisfaction of human wants and a catalyst of business activity. It presents a comprehensive framework that includes (1) researching and analyzing customers, company, competition, and the marketing environment, (2) identifying and targeting attractive segments with a strategic positioning, and (3) making product, pricing, communication, and distribution decisions. Cases and examples are utilized to develop problem-solving abilities.
Undergraduate Advanced Courses (Open to Sophomores, Juniors & Seniors Only)
Consumer Behavior
MKTG-UB.0002 (C55.0002) (3 credits)
Prerequisites: MKTG-UB.0001
Fall and Spring
This course presents a comprehensive, systematic, and practical conceptual framework for understanding people as consumers—the basic subject matter of all marketing. It draws on the social sciences to evaluate the influence of both individual and ecological factors on market actions. It discusses relevant psychological and sociological theories and demonstrates how they can be used to predict consumers' reactions to strategic marketing decisions. Basic methodologies for research in consumer behavior are developed and applied. The emphasis will be on developing applications of behavioral concepts and methods for marketing actions.
Advertising Management
MKTG-UB.0003 (C55.0003) (3 credits)
Prerequisite: MKTG-UB.0001
Fall and Spring
This course provides students with a comprehensive framework and tools to understand the advertising process and to appreciate managerial and theoretical perspectives in advertising. It tackles the stages in developing an advertising plan, from analyzing the situation and defining clear advertising objectives, to execution. Students are presented with tools related to various skill areas in advertising, including account planning, media planning and buying and copywriting/art direction, while allowing a broader appreciation of how each of these skill areas fit into the overall structure of the advertising process. Coursework involves a comprehensive group project that utilizes learning in all functional areas of advertising, while simulating the development of an advertising campaign.
Marketing Research
MKTG-UB.0009 (C55.0009) (3 credits)
Prerequisites: MKTG-UB.0001 and either STAT-UB.0001 or STAT-UB.0103
Fall and Spring
This course is designed to provide the student with both research and managerial perspectives in the development and application of marketing research tools and procedures. It describes the development of research designs from problem formulation to analysis and submission of the research report. There is an analysis of techniques in marketing research, such as focus groups, experimental design, surveys, sampling, statistical analysis, and reporting. Cases are utilized in the development of methods and in specific areas of application.
Film and Television Distribution and Finance
MKTG-UB.0020 (C55.0020) (2 credits)
Fall
This course is designed to give business and film students a basic understanding of how the production of feature, cable, and broadcast television films and series are financed. It will explore the players who invest in production, why they are investing, and how these transactions are accomplished. Furthermore, the basic elements of these transactions will be covered: copyright exploitation, distribution, and the flow of funds. There will be an examination of "real world" transactions involving bank financing of feature films, distributor and producer co-productions and co-financings, cable television financings, and the funding of series for broadcast television. The course will also include a case study of producing in Canada.
Entertainment Finance
MKTG-UB.0021 (C55.0021) (2 credits)
Spring
This course provides a basic financial understanding of a variety of entertainment subcategories, including film, television, music, cable, and the Internet. In addition to text materials, real life examples will be presented and will include vignettes ranging from blockbuster films, television commercials, and Internet successes and failures. Accounting and finance principles will be introduced and applied throughout the course.
Movie Marketing
MKTG-UB.0022 (C55.0022) (2 credits)
This course is designed to give students a basic understanding of the key business issues relating to producing, distributing, marketing, and exploiting feature films. The course examines key aspects of the movie business, including: managing a creative enterprise, deal making, acquiring rights, building a library, branding, and all aspects of effective marketing. There is a group project presentation as well as a final exam.
Technology’s Impact on Media and Entertainment
MKTG-UB.0023 (C55.0023) (2 credits)
Throughout the value chain, from content creation, to distribution and consumption, technology has changed the way consumers view and use entertainment. It has dramatically altered the entertainment landscape, with more changes on the way. Advertising is another industry that touches all of us, hundreds of times a day. It too is beginning to feel significant impact from changes in technology, brought on by audience fragmentation, interactivity and VOD technology. This course will provide a brief introduction to each of these industries and examine the impact that technology has had on them, including a realistic assessment of possibilities for the future.
The Business of Broadway
MKTG-UB.0025 (C55.0025) (2 credits)
This is a specialty marketing course designed to provide students with a framework for understanding the dynamics of Broadway and live theater, as an important business enterprise within the entertainment industry. The focus is on understanding the development and application of the economics, finance, structure, implementation and staging of performances, as well as the marketing strategies and tactics for gaining audience awareness and decision to purchase. The course will examine funding, marketing, branding, product positioning and the global distribution of live theatrical entertainment. The course will cover the history, venues, vocabulary, players, business and creative structures, budget development, supplementary revenue streams, successes and failures, relationship with the movie and music industries, the important figures and support systems that make the system work, global reach, and other topics. The course will also explore licensing, sponsorships and promotion, deal structures, touring and the Road. Lecture, discussions, site visits, and project work will be included.
Entertainment and Media Industries
MKTG-UB.0040 (C55.0040) (2 credits)
Fall, Spring, and Summer
This course provides students with a framework for understanding the economics and key strategic issues facing organizations in the entertainment industry. It establishes a basis for the formulation of marketing tactics and strategies for firms competing for consumers' discretionary spending. Recent developments in major sectors of the entertainment industry are covered, including movies, television and cable, theatre, and sports. Issues that cut across all types of entertainment industries are examined, including licensing, promotion, and new technologies.
Media Planning
MKTG-UB.0041 (C55.0041) (2 credits)
This course is designed to provide a framework for understanding the role of strategic media planning in the overall context of marketing and advertising decisions. It will cover audience research as well as selection, evaluation, and planning of all major advertising media, while considering various decisions and problems that arise in the media planning process. The knowledge gained in this course will be useful for those interested in any career that requires them to interact with the media industries, such as brand management, advertising, research, as well as the media and entertainment industry.
Television Management: Network, Cable and Satellite
MKTG-UB.0044 (C55.0044) (2 credits)
Spring
This course covers the television industry focusing on network television, cable, and satellite. It primarily surveys the American market and investigates new technology including digitization and HDTV, while providing some comparison with the international broadcast market. Students explore the organization, programming, and revenue strategies, as well as marketing innovations and competition in the newly configured broadcast landscape. Important legislation including the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are studied. The recent volume of mergers and acquisitions in the broadcast industry are examined for their impact on the domestic entertainment landscape.
Social Media Marketing
MKTG-UB.0045 (C55.0045) (2 credits)
The course will cover marketing, advertising and communications strategies in the new media landscape where traditional media (e.g., television, print) and the online social media (i.e., Web 2.0; e.g., online social networks, user-generated content, blogs, forums) co-exist. Students will be expected to have knowledge about the fundamentals of traditional advertising methods and strategies. With this background knowledge, the primary focus of this course will be on understanding social media, how to build social media marketing strategies, and how to track their effectiveness. This course will not look at more tactical aspects of advertising/communications such as creative, message management, and publicity. This will first and foremost be a marketing strategy course.
Globalization of the Entertainment Industry
MKTG-UB.0046 (C55.0046) (2 credits)
Fall and Spring
This course provides a framework for understanding the global expansion of media and entertainment companies. It looks into the impact on the U.S. economy due to the significant export growth of American leisure products and services. Students analyze several leading entertainment and media multinational companies, and examine the development of their businesses within the major world economic zones.
Sports Marketing
MKTG-UB.0047 (C55.0047) (2 credits)
Fall
This course provides an overview of sports marketing as a component of a fully integrated marketing communication strategy. Students study the history and contemporary application of sports marketing as a method to achieve goals. The curriculum addresses corporate as well as sporting property use of sports marketing strategies to achieve business objectives. The course will examine strategies that address critical business constituencies, consumers, trade factors, employees, and the financial community. Also covered are sports marketing within the context of: special sporting event sponsorships, professional sports teams as well as governing organizations, sports media (broadcast, print as well as Internet), licensing, hospitality etc.
The Business of Producing
MKTG-UB.0049 (C55.0049) (2 credits)
Fall, Spring
This is a specialized EMT course designed to provide students with a framework for understanding the dynamics of producing (as a business profession), creating a finished creative product in the entertainment and media industries, developing a business model, and generating an income stream to repay and provide investors with a profit. The course explores script selection, finance, budgeting, timetable development, team building, talent selection, sales, contract and union negotiation, regulations, technology and other relevant core competencies.
The Craft and Commerce of Cinema: Tribeca Film Festival
MKTG-UB.0051 (C55.0051) (2 credits)
Spring
This is a specialized EMT course, designed in coordination with the Tribeca Film Festival Board, to provide students with a framework for understanding the dynamics of the global film industry including the complete film production process from crafting the idea for a script, hiring or becoming a producer, financing the project, selling it to a studio or independent production company, building a team, production elements, post production including music acquisition, and the selling or distribution to a global marketplace. The course will include learning about distribution and exhibition, marketing and building audience awareness, research applications, international licensing, and preparation for careers in the industry. We will be invited to attend and fully participate in the panels offered during the two week period of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Pricing Strategies
MKTG-UB.0053 (C55.0053) (3 credits)
Prerequisites: MKTG-UB.0001
Spring
This course is designed to provide students with the frameworks, techniques, and latest thinking on assessing and formulating pricing strategies. The emphasis will be on (a) gaining a solid understanding of pricing practices across different industries, (b) learning state-of-the-art frameworks for analyzing pricing issues, and (c) mastering the tools and techniques for making strategic and profitable pricing decisions.
Data-Driven Decision Making
MKTG-UB.0054 (C55.0054) (3 credits)
With recent technological advances and developments in customer databases, firms have access to vast amounts of high-quality data which allows them to understand customer behavior, and customize business tactics to increasingly fine segments. However, much of the promise of such data-driven policies has failed to materialize because managers find it difficult to translate customer data into actionable policies. The general objective of this course is to fill this gap by providing students with the tools and techniques that can be utilized for making business decisions. However, this is not a statistics or mathematics course. The emphasis of the class will be on applications and interpretation of the results for use in making real life business decisions.
Strategic Marketing Planning and Management
MKTG-UB.0055 (C55.0055) (3 credits)
Prerequisites: MKTG-UB.0001, two advanced marketing courses
Fall
This marketing elective focuses on the three major activities common to the marketing planning process across firms and industries: (1) analysis of market information, (2) development of brand and marketing strategy, (3) programming of the strategy and implementation of the marketing programs. The unifying framework for these activities is the annual marketing plan. Thus, the course attempts to simulate the product/brand/marketing manager’s job through the development and implementation of a marketing plan for a particular good or service.
Digital Strategic Marketing
MKTG-UB.0056 (C55.0056) (3 credits)
Fall
This course will cover the digital technology (e.g. consumer electronics, software) industry from a strategic and marketing perspective. The objectives will be to understand how these industries function, the unique challenges they face, and how technology companies can leverage their strengths to achieve success in the marketplace. The focus will be on understanding the interactions between competition, technology evolution, and firm capabilities.
New Product Development
MKTG-UB.0056 (C55.0056) (3 credits)
Maximizing the success of new products and services can drive growth and shareholder value, lead to significant competitive advantage and leapfrog a company ahead of its competitors. However, innovation is risky and most new products fail in the marketplace. Thus, expertise in the design and marketing of new products is a critical skill for all managers, inside and outside of the marketing department. In this course, we first focus on the tools and techniques associated with analyzing market opportunities and then focus on designing, testing, and introducing new products and services. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are covered. In particular, the course covers the new product development process, strategic opportunity identification, how to generate new product concepts and ideas, mapping customer perceptions, segmentation, product positioning, forecasting market demand, product design, market entry strategies, and testing.
International Marketing Management
MKTG-UB.0064 (C55.0064) (3 credits)
Prerequisites: MKTG-UB.0001
Fall and Spring
This course examines the specific issues involved in entering international markets and in conducting marketing operations on an international scale. Attention is focused on problems, such as identifying and evaluating opportunities worldwide, developing and adapting market strategies in relation to specific national market needs and constraints, and in devising and coordinating global marketing strategies. Emphasis is placed on strategic issues relating to international operations rather than on technical aspects of exporting and importing.
Decision Making Strategy in Strategy and Management
MKTG-UB.0065 (C55.0065) (3 credtis)
Prerequisite: MKTG-UB.0001
This course is intended for future marketing managers, industry analysts and management consultants interested in developing and evaluating marketing and business strategies based on Nobel Prize-winning research on judgment and decision making. The purpose of this course is to inform future managers and consultants of people’s decision rules and their associated biases and to enable these future managers and consultants to incorporate such insights in their business and marketing strategies. The course has two facets. First, it gives students a broad overview of important results from various behavioral sciences (e.g., social and cognitive psychology, behavioral decision research, consumer research) that clarify how people really make decisions. Second, it investigates how these results can be leveraged to design original and more effective marketing and business strategies.
Marketing of Hi-Tech Products
MKTG-UB.0070 (C55.0070) (3 credits)
Prerequisite: MKTG-UB.0001
Large segments of consumer and business-to-business marketing are based on emerging technologies. Emerging technologies not only affect the computer and biotech industries, but are also important in other industries, such as financial services. The purpose of this course is to help students understand and address the issues and problems faced by marketing managers in the design, development, commercialization, and management of technology-based products. This course uses a combination of lectures, cases, and guest speakers.
Independent Study in Marketing (see Independent Study Guidelines)
MKTG-UB.0094 (C55.0094) (1 credit)
MKTG-UB.0095 (C55.0095) (1.5 credits)
MKTG-UB.0098 (C55.0098) (2 credits)
MKTG-UB.0099 (C55.0099) (3 credits)
