PRE-PROGRAM. EXCEL TOOLS FOR MARCOM. This two-session pre-program course builds the foundations of working with data on Excel. Once you've completed this pre-program, you will be able to confidently use your new data-driven problem-solving skills and navigate the technical world of Excel.
COMMON CORE PERIOD. (SEPT-OCT). core subjects. VISUAL COMMUNICATION. This course delves into the realm of visual communication, emphasizing the importance of constructing compelling visual compositions and presentations. Students will explore how elements such as type, image, color, and space combine to create effective visual systems. Learning objectives include presenting information effectively, conveying emotion to target audiences through visual elements, selecting visual assets aligned with creative briefs, and constructing adaptable visual systems for various communication channels.. BRANDING. This course blends lectures and practical exercises to deepen understanding of Strategic Marketing and Branding. Lectures introduce key concepts with real-world examples, while exercises offer hands-on application. Students learn to develop effective strategies by leveraging analytical skills and market insights, covering brand definition, management, models, dilemmas, and the branding process. Emphasizing integration with business strategy, the course addresses the 5 C's, STP process, and 4 P's of marketing.. WELL-BEING IN PRACTICE. This workshop introduces the concept of well-being and its significance in thriving personally and contributing positively to communities. Students will develop skills for a better life and invest in becoming their best selves, focusing on presence, curiosity, and reflection to align with core values. Emphasis is placed on fostering a safe environment for open dialogue and exploration of well-being practices. Key objectives include introducing core values of well-being, increasing awareness of the mind-body-soul connection, fostering a healthy self-perception, motivating personalized action plans, and cultivating an authentic culture of well-being.. STORYTELLING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING. This course equips graduate students with advanced communication skills for professional and personal success. Covering persuasive storytelling, participants learn to effectively convey ideas, engage stakeholders, and inspire action through public speaking. Key objectives include clear communication, storytelling mastery, non-verbal enhancement, audience tailoring, active listening, stakeholder confidence, and personal growth reflection.. DIGITAL MARKETING. The internet landscape is evolving rapidly with various social media platforms, reshaping brand-consumer interactions. This course explores the dynamic social media ecosystem, stressing the importance of grasping social dynamics and technology. Through case studies and practical experience, students learn social business strategies, tools, and key performance indicators driving web 2.0 evolution. The goal is to equip students to create and execute comprehensive social media strategies, emphasizing understanding social consumer principles and best practices. By the course's end, students comprehend the business impact of social media, develop strategic plans, and define realistic objectives and indicators for their strategies.. PROJECT MANAGEMENT. Project management is essential in modern organizations, covering various activities like product development, technology implementation, marketing, and mergers. Two main methodologies, classic and agile, offer distinct approaches, each with strengths and limitations. This workshop offers hands-on experience in project planning and control, stressing the importance of adapting managerial approaches to the project type. Participants will learn agile Scrum methodology and classic techniques including work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, resource management, budgeting, and progress monitoring. By understanding the pros and cons of both methodologies, managers can effectively select the most suitable practices for different project scenarios.. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. This course focuses on customer experience within human-centered design and design thinking frameworks, prioritizing empathy and positive interactions. Participants learn to understand customer needs, create journey maps, gather feedback, and design initiatives from the customer's perspective. Key topics include emotional connection, customer-centric culture, and measuring experience metrics.. FINANCE FOR MARKETEERS AND COMMUNICATORS. Marketing and Communication Managers play a critical role within companies' Leadership Teams, particularly in today's rapidly evolving business landscape. They are integral to financial viability plans, as their departments shape the marketing mix to enhance customer loyalty, drive sales, and optimize costs. Moreover, they assist in minimizing risks and informing strategic decisions. To effectively contribute, Marketing and Communication Managers must grasp key financial concepts and develop financial acumen. This understanding enables them to generate value in their recommendations, aligning consumer perspectives with company objectives and operations.. DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION. This course explores identity, exclusion, and inclusion in everyday society, emphasizing their importance in business for employee recruitment, engagement, and retention, as well as for overall profitability. While diversity and inclusion are often used interchangeably, the workshop highlights their distinctions and impact on individuals and organizations. Participants will learn practical strategies and skills to implement diversity and inclusion initiatives effectively. By the course's end, students should grasp the differences between diversity, equity, and inclusion, understand their significance in personal and professional spheres, and be able to apply authentic diversity and inclusion strategies.. ENTREPRENEURSHIP. This highly interactive workshop emphasizes problem-driven thinking as essential for success across various ventures, including startups, corporations, and social enterprises. Participants engage in action-oriented, hands-on activities, fostering idea exchange, reflection, and experiential learning. By the workshop's end, attendees will recognize the entrepreneurial mindset, understand the role of value and creativity in opportunity identification, and leverage entrepreneurship to create sustainable and social impact.. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND INSIGHTS. This class covers market research fundamentals and consumer behavior concepts essential for insight practitioners. It explores qualitative, quantitative, and neuromarketing methods, alongside insights into decision-making processes and behavioral economics. Emphasizing data-driven insights, students learn to identify market information, understand key consumer demographics, and develop strategies for business growth.. NEGOTIATION SKILLS. Negotiations are akin to theater productions, where understanding the characters, scripts, and behind-the-scenes dynamics is crucial for success. Transactional Emotional Intelligence (TEI) sessions aim to equip participants with the interpersonal skills needed to navigate negotiations effectively, fostering positive outcomes and satisfaction for all parties involved. The course covers various negotiation concepts, including collaborative and competitive approaches, empowering students to confidently tackle complex negotiations using the tools learned throughout the sessions.. Managing High-Performance Teams. This workshop addresses the shift towards more horizontal and team-centric organizational structures, emphasizing the importance of high-performance teams in today's workplace. Participants will gain awareness of their own preferences and practice strategies for building and sustaining successful teams. The focus is on cultivating a collective mindset and implementing self-healing strategies to address common dysfunctions. Key objectives include understanding the benefits of teamwork for decision-making and problem-solving, learning principles of group dynamics and management techniques, and developing people skills to navigate challenges within work teams.. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION. This course explores the complexities of cross-cultural communication in today's interconnected world. While physical travel has become routine, effective communication across borders remains challenging. Using real-life examples from global business hubs like Mumbai, Tokyo, and New York, the course unpacks the diverse elements of culture. Participants will learn theoretical concepts and engage in hands-on exercises to develop intercultural competence. Key objectives include identifying implicit communication norms, understanding cultural specificity, decoding different cultural contexts, and fostering empathy to bridge communication gaps.. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND SALES. This course equips students with essential theoretical and practical skills for Business Development & Sales in Marketing and Communication. It enhances strategic thinking and business acumen, preparing students for post-master's success. Students gain skills for global business development, explore decision-making psychology, and learn effective relationship-building strategies. Additionally, the course covers sales methodologies, customer journey impact, sales technology, and key analytics.
TERMS. . FIRST TERM. NOVEMBER-DECEMBER. Introduction To Statistics. This course focuses on providing robust statistical knowledge with the aim of addressing and tackling different research questions based on data analysis. A key element is understanding the role statistics play in managerial decision-making. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be introduced and applied to illustrate how sample data can be used to make decisions, predictions or other generalizations about larger populations.The course will help students grasp the theory behind some fundamental statistical techniques. At the same time, we’ll see how a widely used software such as Excel can be used to undertake the computation required by statistical analysis. More importantly, the course will build the ability to interpret results and outputs.. RESEARCH PANELS FOR BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS. This course teaches students the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer While the methodology has been around for a while, the use of panels remains key in market research. It’s been used consistently since its creation by Arthur Connell Nielsen, and continuously adapted to changes in the industry and new technologies. This course will focus on the methodological description of panels’ Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). Students will conduct SWOT analyses of how panels fit into the market research environment, before exploring practical descriptions and how to present panel results. A focus on the main industry panels includes retail panels, consumer panels, audience panels (TV and radio), and internet panels. to meet changing business and market requirements.. Qualitative Research. This is an immersive class designed to equip students with the skills to gather and analyze non-numeric data. Delving into techniques such as interviews, focus groups, and ethnography, participants learn to extract meaningful insights from human behaviors and social phenomena. The course emphasizes critical thinking and the ethical dimensions of research, preparing students to conduct in-depth studies across diverse fields. Through practical assignments, students become adept at crafting research questions and developing rich, contextual understandings.. Quantitative Research - Surveys. This class offers a comprehensive understanding of statistical analysis and numerical data interpretation. This course covers the fundamentals of research design, hypothesis testing, and data collection techniques, ensuring students can conduct rigorous empirical studies. With a focus on practical application, the class guides participants through using statistical software to analyze datasets, interpret results, and make data-driven decisions. The curriculum bridges theory with real-world application, preparing students for analytical roles in various sectors.. UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR I. This course gives students a solid understanding of core cognitive, affective, and social patterns of behavior. It also encourages exploration of how these components serve as building blocks for consumer purchasing patterns, product adoption, brand loyalty, and attitude formation. More generally, it examines reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making in a consumer context.. SECOND TERM. JANUARY-MARCH. Handling And Preparation of Datasets. Extracted data isn’t always properly prepared or structured for analysis. It must therefore be checked, cleaned up, transformed, segmented, and filtered multiple times by the analyst. This data preparation phase covers every method of handling raw data in order to build up the data set, before moving on to the statistical analysis or modeling stage. The better prepared the data, and the more skilled at data manipulation the analyst, the more self-sufficient they become. The result will be better and faster analysis, producing more valuable results.This course provides students with the basic knowledge required to use leading statistical software, which can then be used to perform useful data analysis. It covers an extensive set of tasks that are often necessary during the data preparation phase: accessing and coding data, statistical pre-adjustments such as weighting, and scale transformations.. Introduction To Big Data for Research. Recently, organizations have aligned technology and business to adapt to a complex, challenging market. Companies turn to their business processes to differentiate themselves in today’s competitive market, where many organizations offer similar products and use equivalent technologies. Using data and algorithms also create profitable products, services and decisions, allowing organizations to stand out from the rest. Creating these competitive advantages is key to the success of a company, so this course will be beneficial to you in the coming years. This course allows you to unlock the doors to capturing and analyzing customer behavior based on both internal and external sources of big data.. BEHAVIOURAL OBSERVATIONS. Companies mainly focus on ROI and increased sales—they want to know which product launch, ad campaign or promotion will boost their top and bottom lines the most. This course will expose you to a variety of observational methods, guaranteeing that you can make such future decisions effectively. You will focus on qualitative and quantitative observational research methods that are employed from the business question through to the final deployment of the insights you have gained. In this course you will also: Learn to design and execute an observational research study. Analyze information, generate insights and summarize them. Practice with case studies and examples from the industry.. Product Launch Simulator. This module comprises a “microlaunch”—an interactive marketing simulation which brings market research teachings to life. Moving from theory to practice, students will apply all the qualitative and quantitative tools and understanding they have acquired from the preceding lectures.. Understanding Consumer Behavior II. This course will enable you to understand core cognitive, affective and social patterns of behavior that commonly impact consumer choices. Understanding these components will unlock doors to exploring consumer purchasing patterns, product adoption, brand loyalty and attitude formation. You will also develop your soft skills, including reasoning, problem solving and decision-making in a consumer context, to become a well-rounded individual.. Web Mining & Social Media Listening . Web mining and social media monitoring allows you to collect and use all the available information to explain market and consumer behavior. This course will equip you with an understanding of technological architecture, software, and the various methodologies that are widely used. Focusing on concepts and practical applications, rather than IT intricacies and complex theories, helps keep the course accessible and enjoyable. This course will allow you to: Understand business intelligence and how to use it effectively, independent of technology. Conceptualize why data sources are important and learn how to manage them alongside big data concepts. Navigate web mining and understand how it can be used to interact with potential customers. Improve your reasoning skills and make more effective decisions. Collect analytics from social media. Analyze questions in the context of web mining and social media monitoring.. STRATEGIC MARKETING. This course will provide you with a working knowledge of the tools and concepts that guide successful product strategy decisions. Alongside developing your analytical and writing skills, you will be able to create a competitive advantage through an organization’s product portfolio. You will also study the importance of a product as an integrated and coherent component of the marketing process. To develop your skills for this fast-paced market, you will hone in on specific problems that marketers commonly encounter, including: Adding new products to brands. Identifying key competitive products. Handling of product portfolios. Achieving brand loyalty through signature products. Market luxury products. Products and profit.. THIRD TERM. APRIL-JULY. Communication Effectiveness & ROI . In the current global market, corporate budgets are restricted, so it’s important to use resources effectively. To increase the return on investment of marketing campaigns, marketing researchers apply a variety of methodologies to evaluate the effectiveness of their communications. This course will allow you to: Measure the impact of advertising campaigns on company performance. Understand the diverse business metrics that can be used to measure the success of different campaigns. Explore and evaluate different platforms that are used within marketing campaigns.. Ethnography And Cultural Marketing. With your future field of expertise in mind, you will develop your understanding of the importance and value of applied anthropology, ethnography and cultural marketing. You will be able to take this knowledge on board to make assertive decisions across your academic and business careers.. MARKET INTELLIGENCE & SUSTAINABILITY. Market intelligence will provide an overview to the methods and approaches of analyzing industries, their competitors, and winning strategies. Through a range of key concepts, tools, techniques and methods, you will analyze different types of industries, assess their evolution, performance, and dynamics. In this course, you will also explore: The influence of technology Economics Public policies Regulation. Neuromarketing. Neuromarketing is an up-and-coming research path that allows you to understand consumers’ non-conscious decisions. Research shows that most human decisions, especially when making purchases, are non-conscious. Due to great advances in both wearable equipment and big data analytics—which have led to the efficient establishment of this methodology—the necessary equipment for neuromarketing is no longer exclusive to labs. This course will allow you to: Understand how to set up neuromarketing in a company. Learn the practical aspects of a research laboratory and the most common methodologies. Explore examples of neuromarketing projects.. Quantitative Tools for Data Analysis. With a focus on understanding and exercising “multivariate thinking,” you will collect multivariate statistical methods, which are used in behavioral sciences and market research. Through teaching from experienced data analysis consultants with real-life examples, you will learn how these quantitative techniques can be employed effectively to create meaningful conclusions. You will acquire a broad overview of the different contexts in which multivariate analysis becomes a valuable resource, from business contexts to research-based activities. You will also be able to understand the motivations behind each technique so that you can successfully conduct multivariate analysis with popular statistical software such as IBM-PASW (SPSS). As being able to communicate your conclusions is key to data analysis, you will learn how to present the results in professional presentation contexts to see you through to your future endeavors.. Understanding Consumer Behavior III. Understanding Consumer Behavior III delves into the cognitive processes that make us unique as individuals. This course explores the role of personal motivations, such as why one might enroll in this master's program, and how personality traits and individual differences influence consumer behavior. By examining these psychological factors, students will gain a deeper understanding of how personal motivations shape decisions, preferences, and brand interactions in the marketplace.. AI AND ADVANCED RESEARCH TOOLS. In this class you will learn how AI is impacting the research process, from the secodnary data search to the specific prompts you can use to design or analyze data from research (qualitative, quantitative). Also, you will explore other advanced tools which might relevant for your professional career. Electives. Electives paths are there to allow you to customize the Master program, putting more focus on the areas you are more interested in. Electives are planned for Term 3, and two months before (mid-Term 2) you select which one you want to attend. So you can select the topics that you are passionate about, or the skills you need to progress in your professional career.. DATA ANALYTICS PATH. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR PATH
Consulting Project. Working in a team environment, you and your peers will develop a marketing plan for a real company based on a real-world case. This will be considered your final master’s project, in which you take on board all of your knowledge from the program and put into practice the skills you have honed. In the past years, we have collaborated with The Coca-Cola Company and IKEA.. THE INSIGHT CHALLENGE. THE MARKET RESEARCH AGENCY CHALLENGE. THE INTEGRATION CHALLENGE
Career SPECIALIZATIONS. CAREER SPECIALIZATIONS. Description. After completing your program, you’ll be able to join an additional optional term to specialize in two of the most relevant industries for the Marketing, Communication & Sales pathway. During the Career Specializations period from September to December, you will enjoy a career-driven curriculum with several practical consulting projects, in-company visits, project-based learning and additional networking opportunities for your job recruitment process. The Career Specializations will have an additional cost. You can either enroll before joining IE University or while you are doing your master’s degree, up to the deadline that will be communicated by the academic team. We will have limited slots assigned for these two tracks, so the sooner you apply, the better.. MARKETING IN FASHION, LUXURY AND FMCGs. Master end-to-end growth strategies from consumer & fashion sectors to luxury markets. This career specialization equips students to navigate the future of luxury, fashion, and fast-moving consumer goods. Students explore how iconic brands evolve, how new ventures take form, and how consumer expectations shift in a digitally accelerated, sustainability-driven world.. SALES STRATEGY & REVENUE GROWTH . Build revenue engines with advanced CRM, pipeline management, and strategic selling. This career specialization offers a hands-on approach to scaling commercial growth, combining core sales methodologies with go-to-market strategy, market expansion, and data-driven decision making, with a strong focus on AI and automation.. MARKETING IN MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT. Decode marketing & comm's across film, gaiming, sports, music & audio and creator's economy. This career specialization explores how entertainment and media drive brand influence and consumer attention. Participants learn to design and measure marketing in a content-driven world, developing integrated strategies that connect entertainment IPs, brand partnerships, and audiences.
