Welcome to the course

Hello there. My name is Nick Passenger. And I’m the Principal Lecturer in Business and Marketing here at the University of Central Lancashire. I’m joined here today by our Course Leader for Marketing, Dr. Maria Sherrington. We’d like to extend a warm welcome to learners joining this sustainable marketing course. At the time of joining the course, learners are probably wondering about the course and what we can offer them. So, Maria, what is the course about? So this course is about sustainable marketing. And it explores this topic in four instalments. So we start off by taking a general perspective, looking at corporate social responsibility, or CSR for short. And through each week, that perspective focuses in somewhat.

So the second week is about sustainability as one aspect of CSR. Then in the third week, we explore responsible marketing. And then in the final week, we turn our attention to responsible consumption. OK, so who would you say this course is for? So the course content is relevant for a wide range of learners with different motivations. So it’s relevant for those who are currently studying a business or marketing related course, or someone who is considering that line of study. The course is also tailored to those currently working within a business or an organisation, because aspects of CSR, sustainability, and responsible marketing need to be acknowledged and addressed by everyone.

So the course is also of great interest to consumers in general who take an active interest in issues associated with the climate emergency that we are currently experiencing. So you can see here that learners are likely to join us for a range of reasons and from a variety of backgrounds. And this will make for a situation whereby learners can gain fantastic insight from each other. And what do you believe the course is aiming to do? So this course is guided by two questions. So first of all, what is sustainable marketing, and why does it matter? And then secondly, how do sustainable companies operate, and what role can consumers play?

So over the course of the four weeks, the intention is that our learners will develop the answers to these questions. Some of the learning will take place as a result of individual learners working with the course materials. But very importantly, plenty of learning will be social in character, whereby learners participate in discussions on set topics. And this potential for social learning is very exciting because we’re expecting learners from many different countries, all with their cultural perspective that will add new insight and enrich the learning of others on the course.

However, we’re hoping that it will go further than this and that individuals in their role as consumers, or business professionals, will think about their impact on our planet and start making some positive changes. OK, so that makes perfect sense. So what do you, therefore, believe the takeaways will be from this particular course? So this course is pragmatic in its approach. It will unpack the theory associated with the key concepts of CSR, sustainability, and responsible marketing and consumption. But it will very much explore the application of sustainable approaches by looking at what companies and consumers are doing and can do in order to do their bit to address the climate emergency.

So on an everyday basis we hear plenty of big words being used in media such as “carbon footprint” and the “Sharing Economy” without necessarily being altogether clear about what those terms mean. So for that reason, the course will assist learners by explaining some fundamental concepts such as “carbon footprint” and the “Sharing Economy.” Thank you for that. What else do you believe we can tell learners at this early stage? I think we can tell learners that they will be challenged to think about some everyday activities in ways that perhaps they haven’t done previously.

So simple activities such as shopping for groceries or buying a takeaway coffee can have implications for not just consumers themselves, but for the environment, for the growers of coffee beans, and so on. However, a lot of these items are everyday items, and generally what we as marketers term as low involvement products. And they may not get consumers’ consideration in a way that they deserve. So during the weeks to come, we will be exploring alternative ways of consumption as well as the idea of not consuming and not buying at all. We will be tapping into not just the buying of products, but also what you may do with products when you no longer need them.

So all in all, I think that we can tell learners that they will come away with answers to the questions of what sustainable marketing is and why it’s important. And having explored the case studies on the course and developed further insight into what responsible consumption is, learners should expect that they will find themselves asking further questions of themselves both in their role as consumers and professionals. Excellent. So thanks for that. We’re looking forward to sharing these experiences with the learners. So once again, welcome to the course. And hopefully you’ll enjoy it.