Undergraduate open days 2024
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Undergraduate Open DaysApply now to make the most of your grades at a Top 10 UK university, with guaranteed accommodation in your first year.
2nd for Employability for Marketing and PR
The Guardian University Guide (2024)
3rd for Marketing and PR
The Guardian University Guide (2024)
7th for Marketing
The Complete University Guide (2025)
BA Advertising and Marketing begins with you. It’s about unleashing your creativity and letting you define your degree programme as your strengths and interests change. We understand the interdisciplinary way Marketing and Advertising work in the real world, and we work with employers to make sure we teach the skills they need.
Every organisation needs marketing, from sportswear manufacturers to technology start-ups to not-for-profit organisations. The global annual spend on advertising is worth billions, and each of us sees adverts throughout every day. The growth of artificial intelligence, social media and other online influencers make this an exciting time to work in advertising and marketing.
This degree enables you to work creatively and to focus on how marketers communicate what they have to offer to consumers. We teach this within a comprehensive marketing education with a large degree of choice in the modules you study. These modules cover current communication theories and methods, alongside critical marketing subjects such as Consumer Behaviour, Brand Strategy and Market Research.
Our modules are taught by academics who are experts in their field, with many having significant professional advertising and business experience. You will gain a firm grounding in all aspects of advertising and marketing theory, and understand how these theories work in practice, developing the key skills that are valued by employers. You are supported throughout by an academic tutor – offering support on academic work and time management.
In addition, in your first year, you will also study two further subjects from other departments. We call these your ‘minor subjects', which account for two modules of 40 credits each. You can choose from creative modules (e.g. design, film, creative writing), business modules (e.g. entrepreneurship, management, business intelligence), maths-orientated modules (e.g. accounting and finance, economics), social science modules (e.g. sociology, psychology) and even applied computing or languages, amongst many other options.
As part of your studies, we welcome guest speakers from some of the UK’s top advertising, marketing and design agencies, as well as leaders from brand-owning organisations. In your final year, you will work on a real-life advertising project for an advertising, design or media agency; in the past, these have included Saatchi & Saatchi, BT and HoWoCo. Such experience is invaluable for building contacts, strengthening your CV and taking the next step into the advertising industry.
Our careers team includes a dedicated departmental careers coach who works with you from day one, challenging you to think about where you want to work after graduation, and helping you build and develop your CV with the experience it needs to secure a successful graduate position in a sector and company of your choosing.
Marketing provides one of the greatest varieties of graduate opportunities. We recognise this and our programmes have evolved accordingly. Advertising and Marketing channels students more towards the Agency side of marketing, with the capstone module focusing on working on a consultancy project with an agency. Still, the flexibility of our programmes means you can tailor them to your own ambitions and goals.
As part of our accreditation, students who study on this course will also gain exemptions from professional CIM qualifications. You would only need to pass one module to complete the CIM Certificate in Professional Marketing or Professional Digital Marketing or two modules to complete the CIM Diploma in Professional Marketing or Professional Digital Marketing. This gives you the chance to further stand out in the job market with a professional qualification alongside your degree.
Learn more about the Chartered Institute of Marketing accreditationOur degree courses produce high-calibre graduates who go on to work in marketing functions for some of the UK’s most prestigious employers. Typically, more than 90% of our students move into graduate marketing jobs with blue chip advertising and marketing services agencies, or secure marketing positions in corporations such as Cadbury, Mattel, Johnson & Johnson, Marks & Spencer, IBM, Unilever and Sainsbury's.
Recent Marketing graduates have started their careers as market researchers, assistant brand managers, e-marketing executives and marketing consultants. Advertising and Marketing alumni have found work with a variety of businesses and creative agencies in account management, research, media planning and buying, and digital advertising roles.
Other graduates have diversified into sales, recruitment and finance; some are studying for professional marketing qualifications while working, and some decided to continue their studies to MSc level, at Lancaster and other universities.
Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with relevant life and work-based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability awareness, career development, campus community and social development. Visit our careers section for full details.
Lancaster Management School has an award-winning careers team to provide a dedicated careers and placement service offering a range of innovative services for management school students. Our high reputation means we attract a wide range of leading global employers to campus offering you the opportunity to interact with graduate recruiters from day 1 of your degree.
A Level AAB
GCSE English Language grade B or 5
IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.
International Baccalaureate 35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects
BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Distinction
We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.
Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
This module is designed to give you a broad and critical introduction to the subject of marketing through a series of lectures and seminars. A comprehensive range of topics is taught at foundational level which you will then explore further in your second and final years. Subject areas that you will study include Understanding Markets, which examines how markets are created and sustained, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Communications, Marketing Research and Innovation.
Throughout the year, you will be asked to consider how theory works in practice, by examining your own experience of marketing as well as current stories from the press and marketing media. Assessment consists of coursework including an individual essay and a group-based business report, and a summer exam which is largely essay-based. As part of your studies on this module, we will help you to develop all of the necessary academic skills to succeed in your first year at university and throughout your degree.
This module is all about personal development and is taken by all students in the Marketing department. It is designed to help you develop academic skills to support your studies at University, and employability skills to help you achieve your future career goals.
The overall aim of this module is to develop an appreciation and understanding of the fast-moving and multi-faceted world of advertising from both a theoretical and managerial perspective.
We will focus on advertising within the private sector and cover a number of contemporary issues in advertising, including social and ethical issues, international advertising and advertising regulation. On completion of this module, you should be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of advertising theory, strategy and execution.
The overall aim of this module is to develop an appreciation and understanding of consumer behaviour from both managers' and consumers' perspectives, building on current research in consumer behaviour and the social sciences generally. The lectures initially focus on consumers as individuals and then consider more closely the influence of our social experiences on behaviour. The workshops provide a chance to focus on a specialist topic within the field, focusing upon improving academic reading and analysis skills.
This module runs alongside your academic studies to help you with academic and employability skills.
This module introduces the key concepts and techniques in marketing research and the analysis of marketing problems. The main aim is to prepare you for future roles as marketing, product, brand and advertising managers by giving you the skills needed to commission, manage, interpret and use marketing information. It will also prepare you for practical market or advertising research projects conducted in your final year (e.g. MKTG310 & MKTG331). The module covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as how to run and manage research projects. For the quantitative part of the unit, you will be introduced to SPSS.
The Marketing Simulation gives an integrated overview of the concepts, techniques and skills used in marketing management. This is done via a computer simulation exercise known as “Markstrat”. The objective of the course is to allow participants to develop skills in applying marketing knowledge, running an analysis and planning system, and dealing with the problems arising from working in groups and managing a business under conditions of uncertainty.
In this module, you will learn about the decisions, actors and actions involved in transforming a product from its raw state to one desired by consumers, and how brand owners work with retailers to ensure shoppers’ access to the product.
This understanding is important to all marketers since it allows marketers to communicate with other areas of the organisation (such as manufacturing or logistics) over issues such as new product launches and promotional initiatives.
We will focus on the retail end of the route to market and how brand owners coordinate with retail (possibly also wholesale) actors to ensure optimal product placement and communication at the point of purchase, using real-life examples.
You will gain vital understanding and perspectives to equip you for entry-level jobs in areas such as trade marketing, customer marketing, shopper marketing, category management and areas of retail. In many companies, graduate entry-level jobs in these areas are the only route to a career in brand management. The thinking is “if you can’t manage retail partners, you can’t manage brands”.
Throughout the module, we will consider the international contexts of routes to market, ethical questions in routes to market, modern techniques and shopping behaviour and ICT use in routes to market.
The module gives you a unique opportunity to engage with the key academic and industry-led questions at the forefront of digital marketing practice. It will stimulate your understanding around the following questions:
As well as engaging with academic perspectives, you will practice real-life integrated digital campaign planning using industry-leading global data from Similarweb. An external industry expert session ensures that you also gain further insight into relevant careers and the practice of digital marketing.
This module gives you the chance to explore various forms of social media in the context of digital marketing and online consumer culture. You will develop awareness and gain insights into a diverse range of topics such as:
As part of the module, you will also explore current and potential trends in the digital environment.
This module will provide you with a managerial and critical understanding of how brand strategy must integrate and balance a variety of perspectives such as the social, symbolic, and material dimensions of contemporary consumer culture with the managerial and economic determinants of organisations.
You will master the language of brand strategy, discover how the brand function fits with the other functions of an organisation, and learn how this knowledge can be applied in real marketplace contexts. We will also critically evaluate the role of branding in society and we will trace the history of “the modern brand”. A range of theories, concepts, strategies and practices designed to build, evolve and sustain brands will be addressed across a range of categories, product types and industries. You will be encouraged to think for yourself about the possible future brands and the necessity of branding in a changing world.
The module concerns the communications strategies and techniques used by new social movements, brands and people. We will study a spectrum of tools and media of communications, such as lobbying, design, sustainable communications (and greenwashing).
You will use action learning to develop a campaign strategy and creative work for a major UK government campaign. We will examine how protesters and social activists use communications, and you will be encouraged to think critically about how communications shape societies and human values.
In the final year this module focusses primarily on perfecting your employability skills to get the graduate job you want.
This module provides students with the opportunity to engage in 'live' research, strategy and/or creative projects for communications agencies and their clients, or in university research projects. Students will develop and practice skills such as taking a project from client briefing through research design and implementation to presentation and report writing, strategy development, and sometimes also making specific creative recommendations.
This module aims to provide you with the opportunity to critically review existing research and theory as it relates to a number of current consumer research specialist topics. You will apply and adapt existing theoretical frameworks to real consumer contexts, and engage with the research interests of the marketing department staff.
The module adopts a topic-based model; a typical syllabus would include:
In this module, we bring to the forefront this often less visible but vast area of marketing to help you develop a more holistic understanding of how markets work and how they are created and shaped. We explore marketing concepts familiar to you as a marketer but broaden them by looking at the multiplicity of actors involved in marketing and in market making. Specifically, we unpack the activities in which organisations are involved and deployed to engage in markets. The module considers marketing in a range of contexts and critically discusses contemporary trends in B2B marketing practice and theory.
As marketing activities become more internationally focused, firms are increasingly looking for prospective employees with the knowledge and skills to address the new challenges and opportunities associated with globalisation. This module combines the latest research in the field of international marketing; providing insights, theories, concepts and tools that enable students to navigate the global market. Students will take part in interactive lectures and assessment-centred seminars to examine trends in global marketing management. The module will also pay special attention to emerging markets and the roles they play in invigorating marketing theories and practice.
This module introduces theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence of contemporary innovations in markets and an exploration of marketing activities that support them. You will be given time and opportunity to reflect on your learning and to discuss your emergent understanding. You will have the opportunity to explore challenges faced by managers of innovation, as well as comparing potential outcomes of marketing management decisions in real-world scenarios.
The module begins by identifying marketing innovations, followed by exploring the issues of why firms are thought to either typically succeed or fail in business. From here you will be encouraged to explore the changing business environments within which firms must survive.
The module is organised around six themes:
We see how Social Innovation, Innovations for Emerging Markets and Sustainability-led Innovation are emerged and contribute to the global markets.
This module aims to equip you for a career in strategic marketing management in various industries, which may include among others fast moving consumer goods and retailing, automotive, consulting services or the luxury sector.
It is essential for students to obtain a solid understanding of various perspectives on strategy and to develop the ability to evaluate, design and implement sustainable and profitable marketing strategy. The module combines a critical academic perspective on strategy research with applied and practicable models and frameworks essential to developing strong marketing plans. The module aims to stimulate the student's thinking around such questions as:
The key theme of this module is to learn how to negotiate and make sustainable business deals. Strategic negotiations are highly relevant in today’s interconnected business landscape. Companies need to negotiate with multiple stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, agencies, governments and authorities to be able to access the resources that they need. A strategic deal that companies would need is not a fixed entity but rather the outcome of long and time-consuming negotiations that affect further negotiations.
The module will examine:
In this module, we explore how marketing activities are managed in businesses, organisations and markets. Our focus is on three levels- namely, individuals, organisations and market place. Our understandings of marketing management are to a large extent shaped by theories and evidence on consumer behaviour in various markets. With this module, we turn our attention to managers and how they should make sense of and take action towards creating values for consumers and clients, their own businesses and organisations, and society at large. We approach this management question from multiple theoretical perspectives- namely, organisational and institutional theory, behavioural sciences, and marketing. We critically review these perspectives to understand how they construct and study the tasks of judgement and decision-making for marketing managers. We then employ these perspectives to identify and evaluate the opportunities and challenges contemporary marketing managers face within businesses, organisations, markets and society. These relate to technological advances and innovation, globalisation and its discontents, the inclusivity and exclusivity of consumption, marketing ethics, sustainability and climate change.
Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.
Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2024/25 are:
Home | International |
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£9,250 | £24,475 |
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2024, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2025 have not yet been set.
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. VISA or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
Home fees are subject to annual review, and may be liable to rise each year in line with UK government policy. International fees (including EU) are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
We will charge tuition fees to Home undergraduate students on full-year study abroad/work placements in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:
International students on full-year study abroad/work placements will be charged the same percentages as the standard International fee.
Please note that the maximum levels chargeable in future years may be subject to changes in Government policy.
You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status:
Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.
Scheme | Based on | Amount |
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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.
Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.
BA Advertising & Marketing, 2022
The best thing about my course was the range of modules. Although there is a lot of essay writing and exams, like you’d expect, there’s also the opportunity to work on more creative assignments...
BA Advertising and Marketing, 2019
LUMS is a special place, full of special people. I undoubtedly would not have made it through my degree without the support of the Marketing Department, particularly the course organisers and careers team.
The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.
Our summer and autumn open days will give you Lancaster University in a day. Visit campus and put yourself in the picture.
Undergraduate Open DaysTake five minutes and let us show you what Lancaster has to offer, from our beautiful green campus to our colleges, teaching and sports facilities.
Most first-year undergraduate students choose to live on campus, where you’ll find accommodation to suit different preferences and budgets.
Our historic city is student-friendly and home to a diverse and welcoming community. Beyond the city you'll find a stunning coastline and the picturesque Lake District.