Think about some of your favorite brands—chances are, there's a high-powered brand manager working behind the scenes to ensure it resonates with you, one of its target consumers. Brand managers oversee the integrity of a brand across all marketing activities in tech, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and service industries. They must think strategically, focus on the customer experience, communicate with multiple stakeholders and cross-functional teams, and have strong analytical skills. Brand managers are creative, organized multitaskers who often serve as the liaison between the marketing group, design team, and engineers to oversee the consistency of the brand image. While every day is different, typical activities include conducting and analyzing research to identify brand opportunities, understanding market trends and the competitive landscape, creating and maintaining budgets, managing cross-platform brand communication strategy, developing the brand story, executing marketing and advertising campaigns, and overseeing the overall health of a brand. When managing a brand's products or services in a tech firm, brand and product managers may also be involved in ideation, prototyping, user experience (UX) testing, and business casing. This concentration offers the opportunity to learn these skills across coursework in marketing, consumer behavior, advertising, new product development, marketing analytics, project management, demand planning and forecasting, and product innovation. The core brand management course paired with a flexible, yet focused list of electives supports students in the aspects of brand management that are most relevant for their future career prospects.
Curriculum Details
Find the full set of Brand Management concentration requirements in Northeastern's Course Catalog. Concentrations complement the business degree programs and combined majors offered.
Upper-level students: Please consult the Course Catalog appropriate to your class year and your academic advisor to ensure your coursework is on track.
Required Course
MKTG 3720. Brand Management. (4 Hours)
Introduces students to the multifaceted responsibilities of a brand manager, including understanding market trends and the competitive landscape; developing the brand story; conducting and analyzing consumer research to identify brand opportunities; creating and maintaining a brand budget; establishing and implementing cross-platform brand communication strategy; measuring brand performance; and executing marketing and advertising campaigns. Brand managers in technology, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and service organizations shape the trajectories of global brands and products.
Electives
Complete 3 electives, with at least 8 credits from MKTG courses:
MKTG 2720 | Enabling Technologies for Consumer Engagement |
MKTG 3401 | Marketing Research |
or MKTG 3402 | Gaining Insights from Consumer Data |
MKTG 4502 | Managing Customer Engagement in a Service World |
MKTG 4504 | Advertising and Brand Promotion |
MKTG 4506 | Consumer Behavior |
MKTG 4510 | New Product Development |
or ENTR 3330 | Lean Design and Rapid Prototyping |
or ENTR 3335 | Product Innovation and Portfolio Management |
MKTG 4720 | Understanding the Platform Economy |
ENTR 2301 | Innovation! |
MGMT 3530 | Project Management |
SCHM 3320 | Forecasting and Sales Operations Planning |