Postgraduate Taught: Emma's Passion for Marketing
Emma Hughes is a recent graduate of the MSc Marketing course at School, graduating with distinction.
In 2020, I graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a 2:1 in French and Spanish and found myself wondering where I wanted to take myself next. Since Covid had just arrived, moving back to France or Spain was out of the question. I wanted to find something that would enable me to keep learning and developing the skills I picked up from my undergraduate degree, but I also wanted to branch into a new industry that would give me more experience for when Covid finally ended.
I have always had a passion for culture, innovation and business, and the MSc in Marketing course at the School was the perfect way to combine these passions. Before studying the course, I never realised how intricate and complex the discipline is and how there is a lot of cross-disciplinary work. This is what I enjoyed the most, getting a taste of various disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, economics, politics, psychology and learning how this work between scholars and practitioners in these industries is necessary if marketing is to be a source of positive power in our society moving forward.
As the course progressed, I found myself wanting to learn more about topics such as equality, diversity, sustainability, business ethics, consumer behaviour and the role of marketing in society in general, more so than the practical side of marketing. I completed the Academic Research Project in my third semester which, for me, was the perfect choice.
The two modules I studied were Business Governance and Ethics, and Contemporary Issues in Management. This gave me the opportunity to learn all about ethical theory, ethical leadership and decision-making, corporate governance, managing risk, responsible and sustainable management, and rapid technological advancement. When studying these modules, my eyes were opened to how marketing has a negative side and can be seen as a manipulative force. Therefore, I wanted to research deeper into the underpinning philosophies of marketing, where they came from, why are some people left out of the marketplace and ‘how can marketing today reflect our most essential societal values?’.
My final research project was titled, ‘Marketing Moving Forward: How Marketing’s underpinning philosophies need reformulated through a sustainability, social equality and ethics lens.’ The focus of the paper was to address how we live in a profit-driven society due to the influence of capitalism, which in turn has caused overconsumption, greed, and a lack of care about our environment and society. I go on to discuss how the role that businesses have played in society in the past, and will play in the future, need to be rethought.
Marketing only fuels capitalism and the Coronavirus pandemic was the wake-up call that the world needed. Thus, the paper reviewed the relevant literature on the current economic system and how it needs a reformulation first and foremost to allow for new marketing paradigms which place social and environmental welfare on par with profit maximization. It addresses how marketing has the potential to push for such a change and how old mainstream theories, models and tools need to be updated to reflect this new focus on sustainability, social equality, and business ethics.
Doing the background research for this paper was extremely insightful and enjoyable. I found that even though I was completing probably the most important part of my whole course, it did not feel like it was strenuous work. I had fun reading through the different journal articles from different disciplines, as it enabled me to learn so much more about the science behind marketing, about the sociology behind stigma, about multi-cultural marketplace well-being, corporate social responsibility, and about the circular economy. It enabled me to learn more than I had ever intended.
One line of research would lead to another, which would lead to another. Nonetheless, this knowledge ended up being knowledge I will keep with me for the rest of my career, and for life in general. The combination of ongoing social turmoil due to Covid19, while sitting at home watching it’s fallout unfold online left me feeling helpless. The clear reality that returning to ‘normal’ after Covid-19 is just not possible influenced my research. Academia plays an important role in supporting change, and knowing this, pushed me even more to want to do well in this course.
I believe that having this Master’s degree has prepared me to take on any role that comes my way. It has equipped me with important fundamentals such as problem-solving skills, analytical skills, creativity, innovation, project management, content creation and of course, communication skills. But, most importantly, it has shown me the true potential marketing has to push for social and environmental welfare, and that it can be a positive force.
Overall, my time at Queen’s has been great. Unfortunately, the course was online the whole year, which meant we never got to meet our lecturers or classmates. At the start, it was strange not going to campus, and not having friends in the classroom to help if you didn't understand something.
However, as the time went on, I got used to doing it completely online. In fact, I would say personally, having the option to do it online was incredible as I was able to rewatch the lectures and take notes that I wouldn’t have had the time to take whilst listening to the class. The overall accessibility of having an online option was great.
Since this post was published, Emma has gone on to secure a fantastic role as a Junior Growth Marketer with Zebra Growth marketing agency.
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