This is a four year degree which includes a placement year in industry. The placement year will be taken in year three, where you work for a year in industry before returning to University to complete your final year of study. This degree has been developed in close co-operation with practitioners from the advertising and communications industry who are also actively involved as expert guest lecturers, mentors and placement employers. Your studies cover the main areas of this dynamic and fast-moving sector, namely marketing, advertising, market research, consumer behaviour, brand management and customer relationship management. The media we use continues to evolve rapidly and you will analyse integrated campaigns that combine digital communications (social media, search engine optimisation and emails) with more traditional media (newspapers, magazines and TV) to reach a wide range of audiences. Creativity is a highly valued attribute in this industry and assignments are designed to develop your ideas, encourage you to take risks and devise memorable advertising materials. You will also take a strategic approach to your work, learning how your concepts can contribute to a marketing strategy to build or transform a brand. Our Agency Life option allows you the opportunity to gain short-term work experience with a real advertising agency, and we offer four year routes where you can spend your third year on industrial placement or studying abroad. You will be taught in the Business School’s state of the art teaching and research headquarters on All Saints Campus in central Manchester. We are a double-accredited business school, having gained the prestigious AACSB accreditation to provide excellence in global management education. This places us among the top 5% of business schools worldwide to have secured this accreditation and means your degree is internationally recognised. This degree is accredited by The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). CIM is the leading professional body for marketers worldwide and exists to develop the marketing profession, maintain professional standards and improve the skills of marketing practitioners. Manchester Metropolitan University has joined forces with CIM to give students the opportunity to gain professional qualifications through CIM Graduate Gateway. CIM qualifications are highly sought after by employers, and map alongside our own degrees which ensures we are equipping students with the best opportunities for a successful marketing career. This degree uses innovative teaching methods, supported by Moodle, podcasting and video links. The Faculty of Business and Law hosts two Professional Development Weeks annually. Free and open to all students, this includes a festival of skills-development activities, practical support in developing your CV and employability skills, and the opportunity to network with actively recruiting graduate employers. A placement year can be an excellent opportunity to acquire high quality work experience and structured on–the-job training whilst earning a salary. There are also opportunities for you to undertake a placement based project where you research a business issue for your employer. This project can count towards one of your final year units and reduces your workload in your final year. The placement must be a minimum of 36 weeks but it will usually last for 12 months and takes place after your second year of study. We have an award-winning placement team, who advertise vacancies and can help you find a placement. The team has over 25 years’ experience of matching students to employers. They advertise over 1,000 vacancies each year, organise an annual placement fair where you can meet employers who are actively recruiting placement students, deliver CV workshops, provide one-to-one advice, and will conduct a mock interview with you so you can practice your interview technique.