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 2720Enabling Technologies for Consumer Engagement
MKTG 3401Marketing Research
or MKTG 3402Gaining Insights from Consumer Data
MKTG 4502Managing Customer Engagement in a Service World
MKTG 4504Advertising and Brand Promotion
MKTG 4506Consumer Behavior
MKTG 4510New Product Development
or ENTR 3330Lean Design and Rapid Prototyping
or ENTR 3335Product Innovation and Portfolio Management
MKTG 4720Understanding the Platform Economy
ENTR 2301Innovation!
MGMT 3530Project Management
SCHM 3320Forecasting and Sales Operations Planning

Programs Offering This Concentration