Advertising and Marketing

BA Hons

  • UCAS code N501
  • Entry year 2025
  • A level requirements AAB
  • Duration Full time 3 years

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 7

    7th for Marketing

    The Complete University Guide (2025)

  • 8

    8th for graduate prospects for Marketing and PR

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

  • 10

    10th for Marketing and PR

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

Introduction

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 work with employers to ensure we teach the skills they need.

Programme overview

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 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 advertising and marketing theory, understand how these theories work in practice, and develop the key skills employers value. 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.

Key facts

Our careers team work 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.

Programme outcomes

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.

Course accreditation

Chartered Institute of Marketing logo

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 accreditation

Careers

Our 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 Master's 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 allows you to complete key activities such as work experience, employability awareness, career development, campus community and social development. Visit our careers section for more details.

The Management School has an award-winning careers team to provide dedicated careers and placement services, offering a range of innovative services for LUMS students. Our high reputation means we attract a wide range of leading global employers to campus, allowing you to interact with graduate recruiters from day one of your degree.

Entry requirements

Grade Requirements

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.

Other Qualifications

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

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

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.

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Optional

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Fees and funding

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 2025/26 are:

Home International
£9,250 £25,450

Fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

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.

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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.

Alumni profiles

Link: click to see Sam Catling
portrait photograph of Sam Catling

Sam Catling

BA Advertising and Marketing Management, 2016

My placement year has not only helped me grow and become more independent, but it has massively improved my development as a person.
Link: click to see Ryan Yates
portrait photograph of Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates

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...

Important information

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.

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