20
Fashion Marketing and Branding BA (Hons)
- Level(s) of Study: Undergraduate
- Typical Offer: 104 - 112 UCAS tariff points
- UCAS Code(s): WN25
- Start Date(s): September 2024
- Duration: 3 / 4 year(s)
- Study Mode(s): Full-time / Sandwich
- Campus: City Campus
Introduction:
Fashion marketing and branding is fast-paced and continually evolving. At the heart of this course is the understanding that creativity is an essential part of business and brand success.
Strategic business minds and fashion marketers have always been central to elevating iconic labels to the enduringly desirable brands they are today. In a sector where consumer habits can change overnight, clever marketing and distinct branding are vital.
This course is designed by and for creative marketeers, business innovators and fashion lifestyle enthusiasts. It’s about reconstructing the iconic, championing sustainable practice, and bringing fresh initiative to the forefront of fashion branding and marketing. Become an agile, creative and strategic visionary thinker; stand out in a complex global business environment; and prepare for a lucrative career in an industry like no other – where strategy meets style.
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Make industry connections as you work on live briefs for brands such as Adidas, Next and Aspinal of London. -
Attend creative events and visit industry premises throughout the UK and in Europe’s fashion capitals. -
Study a semester abroad at a university such as the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. -
Join a top 10 UK university for Art & Design (QS World University Rankings 2023).
What you’ll study
BA Fashion Marketing and Branding at NTU is for strategic thinkers: you’ll use market analysis and business acumen to develop and prepare briefs for creative agencies. You’ll study modules which delve into the theories behind fashion marketing, branding, self-identity and cultural influences, and apply this knowledge to live project briefs set by some of the industry’s biggest labels.
Sustainability is a hot topic in fashion, and it’s our responsibility to protect the environment in order to ensure the longevity of the industry. That’s why sustainable practice is built into every element of BA Fashion Marketing and Branding at NTU.
You’ll:
- tackle live briefs from brands such as Gymshark, Lacoste, Adidas, Next, FaceGym, Clarks, Craghoppers, Aspinal of London and Sunspel
- become proficient in using immersive technology and Adobe Creative Suite to communicate your ideas
- unpack key theories and challenge contemporary issues within fashion
- attend guest lectures from industry experts, including company CEOs, marketing directors and authors
- gain crucial work-like experience in your second year, and have the choice to get an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice during an optional placement year
- collaborate with students from other disciplines like fashion design in Year Two to develop a brand launch pack for a new business, identifying key strategic areas including values, competitors, appropriate channels and branding
- tailor your degree with optional modules covering the breadth of fashion marketing and branding – from merchandising and live event production, to clothing longevity and creative coding
- showcase your learning in final year with an individual research project which expresses your style, incapsulates your skills, and aligns with your career aspirations.
Here’s a full breakdown of the modules you’ll be studying.
Visual and Cultural Influences
(20 credit points, first half of the year)
Learn about fashion and the trends in our society that influence what, where and how products are marketed and how consumers respond. You will study the significance of fashion and how it has evolved as a system of communication. You’ll look at how interconnected media, such as music, film and photography, as well as wider political, social and cultural factors inform important conversations around current challenges such as sustainability and consumption for brands. You will also develop your understanding of visual communication, building your skills in a range of tools and practices.
Principles of Fashion Marketing and Branding
(80 credit points, full year)
This module introduces you to the principles and theories that underpin the global fashion and lifestyle industry. You will begin to explore the psychological and personal motivations of consumer behaviour, and develop market research skills such as data analytics to explore how brands inform and construct key fundamentals such as brand identity, positioning and value.
Visual and Self Identity
(20 credit points, second half of the year)
You will explore how sub-cultures are represented visually to understand how one signifies an identity from the myriad of influences that exist in the contemporary world. This will inform your own research as you consider the importance of identification from a variety of standpoints. Working collaboratively you will look at the ways we identify ourselves with tribes from an ideological standpoint, in relation to the medium of publications.
Marketing Strategy and Insight
(40 credit points, first half of the year)
This module will simulate industry practice and explore how marketing strategy, which lies at the heart of all key business decisions is translated into actionable insight. Working with brands via a team and individual project you will demonstrate strategic decision-making by understanding competitor analysis, integrated marketing strategies, project and marketing planning and situational analysis to develop creative business solutions.
Brand Environments
(40 credit points, second half of the year)
Option 1: Brand Development and Promotion gives you the opportunity to work in collaboration with another course from NTU to launch and craft a new brand which fuses differing disciplines together.
Option 2: Placement in Professional Practice is a work placement option giving you the chance to apply theory to real-life business situations and evidenced solutions while gaining first-hand experience of the roles and responsibilities within the fashion and lifestyle industry.
CoLab: Research, Exploration and Risk-taking
(20 credit points, second half of the year)
Through active participation with team-based problem solving, you will work together in mixed teams on a project where you will use your creative ideas to generate solutions to the challenge or brief. Your project will allow you to explore how creativity can make an impact in society, as you choose a theme of sustainability, social justice, enterprise and innovation or community. This collaborative learning experience will expose you to a range of new processes and approaches that will develop your creative thinking.
Optional module
You will also choose one 20-credit module from:
- Buying, Merchandising and Product Fundamentals
- Digital Marketing and Communication
- Emerging Textile Technologies
- Exploring Creative Coding
- Made to Last: Clothing Longevity for Circularity
- Creative Live Event Production
- Web3 & Creative Autonomy
- Beauty Industry: Innovation to Impact
Optional Placement Year (Sandwich)*
We have an option for all of our students to undertake a placement year (Sandwich) and allow you to decide whether this is right for you once you have completed years 1 and 2 of your course. This time spent working in industry provides our students with crucial work experience, which is highly prized and much sought after by employers upon graduation. If you are successful in securing a placement you will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration.
* If you choose to take the sandwich route option, you will still need to apply for this course with the full-time UCAS code: WN25
Strategic and Creative Solutions
(100 credit points, full year)
This three-part module will see you challenged on your understanding of trends, research, debates and popular opinions as you identify significant trends or shifts in behaviour and their likely future consequences upon the fashion and lifestyle industry. You will then develop your individual research project, which will inform a full body of work in the form of either a focused research paper, a business plan presenting an innovative concept, or the realisation of the concept into functioning prototypes or mock ups.
Project Me
(20 credit points, full year)
Personal and professional development and reflection is embedded through the course. This module combines all your learnings and focuses on developing a career strategy that will take you from graduation into industry or further study. With a focus on understanding the contemporary fashion marketing landscape and transferrable skills, you will consider your own strengths and where your aspirations lie, showcasing your own unique selling points through a digital space.
Video Gallery
How you’re taught
On this fashion marketing and branding degree, you’ll be taught by a team with over 300 years of combined teaching and industry experience. You’ll also learn from impressive guest lecturers – previously, these have included Angelique Green (CEO of The Mighty Shed), Anthony Tasgal (author of The Storytelling Book) and Ari Peralta (founder and CEO of Arigami).
You’ll learn through a mix of:
- lectures, exploring fundamental fashion theory and answering the all-important question: what is fashion marketing and branding?
- seminars for learning key skills, like how to use immersive technology to develop and communicate your ideas
- live projects, usually set by marketing or brand directors during a visit to their company’s headquarters, with the chance to present your finished work to a panel of high-ranking employees at that organisation
- small-group tutorials and workshops, for focused discussion and homing in on your ongoing projects
- Co Lab, bringing together students from different disciplines to collaborate on projects set by industry partners
- field trips to brand headquarters, exhibitions and trade fairs across the UK and Europe to learn about industry practice, as well as a residential trip to a European destination.
Study trips and exchange opportunities
Fashion marketing and branding is a global business, and international impact is at its core. On this course, you’ll get to experience the industry firsthand on local and overseas field trips to exhibitions, museums and trade fairs, including an optional visit to a European fashion capital – think Milan, Paris or Berlin.
The costs of essential field trips are covered by your course fees.
You can also do an international exchange at institutions such as Fashion Institute of Technology in New York or Amsterdam Fashion Institute for one semester in Year Two. If you’re interested in studying abroad, we’ll support you at every step of arranging it.
Contact hours
Outside of your timetabled sessions, you’ll work on your assignments independently or in groups, but your tutors will still be available to provide you with guidance and support. Here’s the year-by-year breakdown of contact hours throughout this course:
- Year One — lectures / seminars / workshops (21%), independent study (79%)
- Year Two — lectures / seminars / workshops (21%), independent study (79%)
- Final Year — lectures / seminars / workshops (20%), independent study (80%)
How you’re assessed
People excel in different ways, and we want everybody to have the best possible chance of success. On NTU’s fashion marketing and branding course, you will be assessed on a range of individual and group presentations, marketing reports, and your final year project.
Your work in Year Two accounts for 20% of your final degree mark, and your work in your final year accounts for the other 80%.
- Year 1 coursework (67%), Practical Assessments (33%).
- Year 2 coursework (73%), Practical Assessments (27%).
- Year 3 coursework (75%), Practical assessment (25%).
Visit our ‘We Are Creatives’ showcase to see this year's graduating students’ work.
Careers and employability
Fashion marketers and fashion branding experts will always be in demand, even in today’s technological landscape. That’s because those with fashion branding and fashion marketing degrees harness vital qualities which AI can’t replicate: human creativity, and the ability to formulate and communicate innovative strategies. At NTU, you’ll learn a plethora of transferable and adaptable skills – futureproofing your career in fashion and marketing, and enabling you to thrive in these everchanging fields.
The work you’ll complete is designed to set you up with an impressive portfolio and an extensive network of industry contacts, preparing you for life after graduation.
Our BA Fashion Marketing and Branding graduates have gone on to fill job roles such as:
- Assistant Marketing Manager at Boots No.7
- Global Ecommerce Content and Production Manager at Jimmy Choo
- Nike Customer Journey Manager at Frasers Group
- Marketing Graduate at JD sports
- Partner Coordinator at Mercedes Benz Formula 1 Team
- Senior Brand Manager at Nescafe, Nestle
Every NTU student can access tailored support from our Employability team for three years after graduation, as well as our comprehensive online career resources for life.
Placements
Industry experience is highly prized and sought after by employers – that’s why work-like practice is built into this course, in the form of live briefs and placements. You’ll also have the option to carry out a year-long placement in your third year, during which you can complete a Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice.
Brands and fashion marketers which students have previously conducted placements with include:
- Gymshark
- Urban Outfitters
- Dior
- Phase Eight
- Adidas
- Gung Ho (brand and PR company)
- Converse
Showcase
You will exhibit your work to members of the creative industries at a showcase, and you may be selected to showcase at Graduate Fashion Week in London – where many of our previous students have won awards. These events are an excellent way to connect with potential employers, and some students secure jobs as a direct result of them.
What our students are doing now
Fashion Management students host International Women's Day Event
To celebrate International Women’s Day, our Final Year Fashion Management students hosted a community event with inspirational industry experts.
Fashion students attend design brief workshop with iconic Nottingham designer
NTU alumnae becomes first UK winner of Cannes Young PR Lions competition
Campus and facilities
As a BA Fashion Marketing and Branding student, you’ll mainly be based in our contemporary Barnes Wallis building on the City Campus. You’ll study alongside likeminded members of NTU’s fashion community in a range of comfortable creative spaces, including purpose-built editing suites and workshops.
Our City Campus has everything you’ll need to keep occupied between lectures. As well as the Boots Library and its beautiful roof garden, there’s a 100-station gym; a whole host of cafés, bars and restaurants catering to every taste; our Students’ Union and popular Global Lounge; plenty of relaxed spaces to tackle your assignments or catch up with friends; and much, much more!
If that’s not enough, just take a few steps off campus, and you’ll find yourself in the beating heart of Nottingham: one of Britain’s top 10 student cities, and a hub of creative activity. Get inspired by famed vintage fashion outlets such as Cow and Braderie, quirky independent businesses, and vibrant cultural hotspots like Nottingham Contemporary and Broadway Cinema.
Entry requirements
BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and Branding
- Standard offer: 112 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications
- Contextual offer: 104 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications
Contextual offers
A lower offer may be made based on a range of factors, including your background (such as where you live and the school or college you attended), your experiences and individual circumstances (you may have been in care, for example). This is called a contextual offer and we get data from UCAS to make these decisions. NTU offers a student experience like no other and this approach helps us to find students who have the potential to succeed here but who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university. Find out how we assess your application.
Other qualifications and experience
We may also consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or beyond the beginning of a course where applicable, for example, into year 2. Our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy outlines the process and options available for this route.
Meeting our entry requirements
Hundreds of qualifications in the UK have UCAS tariff points attached to specific grades, including A levels, BTECs, T Levels and many more. You can use your grades and points from up to four different qualifications to meet our criteria. Enter your predicted or achieved grades into our tariff calculator to find out how many points your qualifications are worth.
Getting in touch
If you need more help or information, get in touch through our enquiry form
BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and Branding
- 112 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications
International qualifications
We accept qualifications from all over the world – check yours here:
Undergraduate preparation courses (Foundation)
If you don’t yet meet our entry requirements, we offer Foundation courses through our partner Nottingham Trent International College (NTIC), based on our City Campus:
English language entry requirements
You can meet our language requirements by successfully completing our pre-sessional English course for an agreed length of time, or by submitting the required grade in one of our accepted English language tests, such as IELTS:
Advanced standing (starting your undergraduate degree in year 2 or 3)
You may be able to start your undergraduate course in year 2 or 3 based on what you have studied before. This decision would be made in accordance with our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy.
Would you like some advice on your study plans?
Our international teams are highly experienced in answering queries from students all over the world. We also have members of staff based in Vietnam, China, India and Nigeria and work with a worldwide network of education counsellors.
- Complete this simple form to keep in touch with the International Office.
Fees and funding
Preparing for the financial side of student life is important, but there's no need to feel anxious and confused about it. We hope that our fees and funding pages will answer all your questions.
You might be able to get a scholarship to help fund your studies. We award scholarships to those international students who can demonstrate excellent achievement, passion, and dedication to their studies.
Please take a look at our International students page for information about fees, scholarships for international students, visas and much more.
Getting in touch
For more advice and guidance, you can contact our Student Financial Support Service.
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 2494
What's included in the course fees?
The School will cover the costs of any mandatory study trips.
In Final Year, the Nottingham School of Art & Design will provide infrastructure costs for your Showcase. If you’re selected to showcase your work at Graduate Fashion Week in London, the School will cover the cost of transporting your work and the exhibition stand.
Additional costs
Print and copy costs
The University allocates an annual printing and copying allowance of £20 depending on the course you are studying. For more details about costs for additional print and copying required over and above the annual allowance please see the Printing, photocopying and scanning information on the Library website.
Depending on the materials you choose to work with, you should budget a minimum of £50 - £200 in each year to cover printing costs.
Stationery and reading materials
Most study modules will recommend one or more core textbooks, which most students choose to purchase. Book costs vary between courses and further information is available in the University’s bookshop, Blackwell’s.
A good supply of these essential text books are available in the University libraries, which students can easily borrow or access directly whilst studying in the library.
You should budget £50 - £100 (minimum) per year for stationery and reading materials.
Material costs
Depending on the materials you choose to work with, you should budget a minimum of £50 - £150 (Year One), £50 - £150 (Year Two), and £150 - £500 (Final Year) to cover the production costs associated to your course, including things like your final year exhibition.
Field trips
All essential field trip costs will be included in your course fees. There may also be an opportunity to take part in optional field trip to a European destination that will be tailored to suit your course.
Placements
During Year Two, you will have the option to undertake a nine-week work experience placement. When considering this option, you should plan to budget for any accommodation, travel and living costs.
If you undertake work experience or a longer placement, you will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration. The Diploma in Professional Practice incurs a fee for the additional placement year.
Preparing for the financial side of student life is important, but there's no need to feel anxious and confused about it. We hope that our fees and funding pages will answer all your questions.
You might be able to get a scholarship to help fund your studies. We award scholarships to those international students who can demonstrate excellent achievement, passion, and dedication to their studies.
Please take a look at our International students page for information about fees, scholarships for international students, visas and much more.
Getting in touch
For more advice and guidance, you can contact our Student Financial Support Service.
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 2494
What's included in the course fees?
The School will cover the costs of any mandatory study trips.
In Final Year, the Nottingham School of Art & Design will provide infrastructure costs for your Showcase. If you’re selected to showcase your work at Graduate Fashion Week in London, the School will cover the cost of transporting your work and the exhibition stand.
Additional costs
Print and copy costs
The University allocates an annual printing and copying allowance of £20 depending on the course you are studying. For more details about costs for additional print and copying required over and above the annual allowance please see the Printing, photocopying and scanning information on the Library website.
Depending on the materials you choose to work with, you should budget a minimum of £50 - £200 in each year to cover printing costs.
Stationery and reading materials
Most study modules will recommend one or more core textbooks, which most students choose to purchase. Book costs vary between courses and further information is available in the University’s bookshop, Blackwell’s.
A good supply of these essential text books are available in the University libraries, which students can easily borrow or access directly whilst studying in the library.
You should budget £50 - £100 (minimum) per year for stationery and reading materials.
Material costs
Depending on the materials you choose to work with, you should budget a minimum of £50 - £150 (Year One), £50 - £150 (Year Two), and £150 - £500 (Final Year) to cover the production costs associated to your course, including things like your final year exhibition.
Field trips
All essential field trip costs will be included in your course fees. There may also be an opportunity to take part in optional field trip to a European destination that will be tailored to suit your course.
Placements
During Year Two, you will have the option to undertake a nine-week work experience placement. When considering this option, you should plan to budget for any accommodation, travel and living costs.
If you undertake work experience or a longer placement, you will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration. The Diploma in Professional Practice incurs a fee for the additional placement year.
How to apply
Apply through UCAS.
Getting in touch
If you need any more help or information, please email our Admissions team or call +44 (0)115 848 4200.
You can apply for this course through UCAS. If you are not applying to any other UK universities, you can apply directly to us on our NTU applicant portal.
Application advice
Apply early so that you have enough time to prepare – processing times for Student visas can vary, for example. After you've applied, we'll be sending you important emails throughout the application process – so check your emails regularly, including your junk mail folder.
Writing your personal statement
Be honest, thorough, and persuasive – we can only make a decision about your application based on what you tell us:
Would you like some advice on your study plans?
Our international teams are highly experienced in answering queries from students all over the world. We also have members of staff based in Vietnam, China, India and Nigeria and work with a worldwide network of education counsellors.
- Complete this simple form to keep in touch with the International Office.
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