My experience of studying Strategic Marketing at Cranfield University – Term 2 & 3

As I promised in my previous blog, you will explore Terms 2 & 3 of studying Strategic Marketing through my personal point of view as I share with you my most memorable moments. 

Term 2 had started with two interesting modules: Managing Brands and Marketing Communications.  Starting with Managing Brands, through reading case studies and through working with my team, I learned the strategic role which brands play in creating competitive advantage for a firm as well as how brands are managed to influence consumer behavior along with the creation of shareholder value.  Continuing with the Marketing Communications module, I understood and learned how to apply various aspects of marketing communications through very interesting and integrating teaching methods.  Something else that I won’t forget about this course is our visit to Museum of Brands in London, where we discovered how brands’ marketing communications have changed over decades.  Also, we had the chance to improve current packaging designs of famous brands in relation to future consumer habits and market trends.

This term continued with the Retailing and Omnichannel Management module where we learned theoretically and practically to apply different tools and techniques for developing an omnichannel retail strategy.  Particularly, working both individually and in teams, we applied our knowledge through studying and improving the current strategy of a high street retailer of our choice.  Another useful and interesting course in this term was the Accounting for Marketing Managers module, which enabled us to discover the value of accounting and financial information for enhancing the effectiveness of our decision-making as marketeers.   

The masterclasses and workshops in this term were very interesting and valuable for me.  I really enjoyed the masterclasses of Gustavo Imhof, Jon Norton and Neil Ashworth.  In Imhof’s masterclass, we discovered new aspects of customer experience and we had the challenge to create our own airline with our promotional strategy through working in teams.  This was enjoyable for all of us.  In Norton’s masterclass, we heard about the risks of repositioning a brand through exploring some recent cases of major marketing failures, which was also valuable for my learning experience.  Additionally, in Ashworth’s masterclass, we learned in-depth aspects of the omni-channel retailing, which was helpful for me associated with the knowledge I took from the Retailing and Omnichannel Management course. Accordingly, in this term, we had the opportunity to attend in a social media workshop, in which the speaker Annmarie Hanlon provided us useful information about the social media management in organizations.

Moving on to Term 3, I faced one of the most challenging, time-pressured and stressful learning experiences in this masters which was the Consultancy Project.  We were divided into teams and we worked on a real-world marketing problem of Fitflop; a British footwear designer and manufacturer which sells on a global scale. This project had to be ready in less than a week and it was presented to the client. During this experience, I improved my time-management skills and I learned that good teamwork can bring valuable results for meeting the demands of a real-business problem.  

Term 3 was also important for me as through the Research, Insights and Statistics module, I increased my skills in SPSS and NVIVO, which was useful for me both for the dissertation and for my future career as a marketeer. Regarding the dissertation procedure, the professors suggested different interesting topics and we had to choose our top three or to suggest our own topic for approval. Luckily, I took the most interesting topic for me. The whole researching and writing thesis procedure took me 3-4 months, in which I upgraded many skills and knowledge and I worked very effective with my supervisor.

This was my whole Cranfield experience! It was a full year of good memories which helped me a lot for my future career. I suggest this course to everyone who has a passion and love for continuously learning new things.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!😊