Our Strategic Marketing MSc is a globally recognised programme designed to prepare you for a successful career in marketing and leadership. It is ranked 7th in the UK and 25th in the world in the QS World University Rankings: Masters in Marketing Ranking 2026.

This programme equips you with the advanced knowledge and practical skills required to thrive in today’s fast-evolving marketing landscape. You’ll explore the full marketing spectrum, including Marketing Strategy, Communications and Branding, Market Research, Digital Marketing and Social Media plus Big Data Marketing Analytics.

A unique feature of the programme is the flexibility to tailor your individual project to align with your career goals. Eligible students can choose from three pathways: a traditional academic project, a company-sponsored project, or an internship-based project.

Overview

  • Start dateSeptember
  • Duration1 year
  • DeliveryTaught modules 60%, individual project 40%
  • QualificationMSc
  • Study typeFull-time
  • CampusCranfield campus

Who is it for?

  • Recent graduates who want to boost their academic credentials and prepare for a first professional role in marketing.
  • Marketing professionals looking to enhance their knowledge and skills and progress their career.

Class profile 2024/25

Gender:
Male: 31% - Female 69%
Age range:
21 to 40 years
Average age:
25 years
Number of nationalities: 6
Nationality: UK: 4% - International: 96%
Total number of students:
26
Average class size: 26

Rankings

This course is recognised in International Business Rankings, consistently ranking top 10 in the UK across them all. These include:

  • 7th in the UK and 25th in the world: QS World University Rankings: Masters in Marketing Ranking 2026

Why this course?

  • This course is designed with senior marketing practitioners to give you up-to-date knowledge and skills in strategic marketing.
  • You will benefit from an interactive teaching approach by leading international faculty, authors of best-selling marketing texts and of articles in highly ranked journals.
  • You will develop practical skills through your participation in a marketing consulting project provided by an external business client, and through international marketing case studies.
  • You will have access to master classes with reputable industry partners who provide insight into cutting-edge and innovative marketing techniques and practices.
  • The diverse, multi-national cohort provides an international learning opportunity enabling you to share marketing insight and experience.
  • The internship-based individual project provides an opportunity to gain real-world experience in a company, while applying your academic learning to real marketing challenges. It not only enhances your practical skills but also strengthens your professional network and boosts your employability – giving you a competitive edge in the job market.
  • Our unique, self-contained campus, just one hour from London, offers a friendly postgraduate-focused learning environment, with small class sizes and unrivalled access to lecturers and support staff.
 


Cranfield and the Strategic Marketing MSc have been truly transformative. From day one, the dynamic learning environment, collaborative culture, and exposure to real-world projects has made every moment enriching. A highlight was being part of the winning team in the Estée Lauder Marketing Consultancy Project - it gave me invaluable hands-on experience with a global brand and brought classroom theory to life.

My internship at Ringway was another game-changer as it gave me an opportunity to gain experience in the UK job market. Few universities provide such immediate, practical opportunities to apply what you’ve learned. Cranfield made that possible.

Two months after completing the Strategic Marketing MSc, I was offered a Marketing Executive role in a company that manufactures British vitamin supplements. And now, after seven months in the company, I have been promoted to a Marketing Manager. I had to design a three-year Marketing Strategy for the brand; this is the reason why the Marketing Consultancy Project as well as the Marketing Communication modules were really useful and helped me to define the best option for the brand.

» Continue reading

Embarking on the Strategic Marketing MSc journey at Cranfield School of Management was a pivotal step in my career. The program’s comprehensive curriculum delved into the core aspects of marketing, from digital strategies to consumer behaviour, equipping me with the knowledge to tackle modern marketing challenges.

» Continue reading

Huge thanks to Professor Dr Tamira King, whose insights during our retail management classes laid the groundwork for understanding this dynamic world. Those classroom discussions are no longer just theories. Now, I'm living them, watching how consumer psychology translates into product placement and how a simple shelf arrangement can tell a story.

As I step into the future, I do so with the confidence, knowledge, and resilience that my time at Cranfield has instilled in me. I am excited to embark on new challenges and opportunities, ever mindful of the values of innovation, collaboration, and excellence that have been the hallmark of my experience at Cranfield.

The Strategic Marketing course provided a well-rounded curriculum covering the many facets of marketing, including branding, retailing, marketing communications, and sales management, while encouraging us to think critically and apply our learning to real businesses.

» Continue reading

Informed by Industry

Our Strategic Marketing MSc faculty are experts in their field and have considerable industry experience. They work with the operating boards of many of the world's leading multinationals so bring the latest insights and best practice to their lectures.

Our faculty are supported by a team of international visiting industry speakers and professors who also bring the latest thinking and best practice into the classroom.

The leadership of the course is informed by a panel of high-profile marketing professionals, the Practice Advisory Board. Our Practice Advisory Board informs the design and development of the master's in marketing programme. Comprising leading figures from the world of marketing, it recommends additions and amendments to the course to reinforce its relevance to the modern marketing world.

Course details

The course has been developed to produce practical, proactive strategic marketers, and our teaching methods are specifically geared towards encouraging participation, self-development and team working. As well as studying core modules, you will complete a marketing consulting project carried out in teams, you will also undertake an individual project, which can be either an academic or company sponsored project.

Course delivery

Taught modules 60%, individual project 40%

Marketing Consulting Project module

The Marketing Consulting Project module simulates a real-life consultancy assignment. You will work in teams in a time-constrained environment, competing against your class colleagues to make the strongest marketing strategy presentation to senior executives from partner firms. You will attend a briefing meeting to define the project, research the situation and consider your options. You will then formulate your recommendations and present them to company leaders at the final client presentation. On completion you will receive feedback from your supervisor and an industry expert. Companies students have worked with include Google, Nike, Cobra Beer, InterContinental Hotels Group, Acer and Sainsbury’s.

Marketing Consultancy Project

Find out more


Individual project (academic or company-sponsored)

The culmination of the learning process is your opportunity to undertake an individual project, which can be either an academic or company-sponsored project in an area of marketing or sales you are passionate about (usually involving direct research with either customers or marketing professionals/managers). Some of the companies our students have delivered sponsored projects for include Unilever, Oracle, Boodles, Unisnacks, TAG Catering Equipment.

Company thesis project - Boodles
Visit to Boodles as part of a sponsored project


Course modules

Compulsory modules
All the modules in the following list need to be taken as part of this course.

Strategic Marketing for Sustainable Organisations

Module Leader
  • Professor Vasilis Theoharakis
Aim

    A crucial competence for marketers is marketing strategy: in simple terms, analysing how the target market divides into segments, which of these segments are key targets for the firm, what the firm’s value proposition to each segment is, and what financial results can be expected over a planning period of typically 3 years. This module teaches Cranfield’s world-leading step-by-step process for developing such a marketing strategy and documenting it in a marketing plan.

    The module enables you to define or refine a marketing strategy aligned with the organisation's purpose, mission, and vision. The strategic marketing plan underpins all aspects of marketing and is concerned about the organisation's impact on stakeholders. For example, the firm’s brand or brands need to be aligned with the value proposition while also delivering on the brand promise. To help you integrate learning across these different marketing disciplines, this module is assessed through an integrated assignment alongside the Consumer Behaviour module.

Syllabus
    • Strategic marketing in context
    • The strategic marketing planning process
    • Purpose, mission and organisational objectives
    • The Marketing Audit and analytical tools
    • Competitor identification maps and market segmentation
    • Marketing capabilities, value proposition and positioning
    • Product/Market Portfolio
    • Marketing objectives and strategies
    • Product and pricing strategy.
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

  1. Understand the evolution and role of marketing and be able to evaluate the characteristics of a purposeful organisation.
  2. Appreciate a series of marketing strategy tools and techniques and their application in practice.
  3. Develop a successful marketing planning process and understand the construction and evaluation of a strategic marketing plan.
  4. Structure and prepare a comprehensive customer-centric strategic marketing plan.
  5. Evaluate marketing plans prepared by others.

Consumer Behaviour in a Global Context

Module Leader
  • Dr Dennis Esch
Aim

    Customer analysis and insight have become very important domains in the marketing domain. Understanding these areas allows senior managers to develop an innovative marketing strategy based on real customer insights that emerge through strong analysis.

Syllabus

    The module covers:

    • Shaping perceptions, attitudes and intentions
    • Understanding the consumer environment
    • Affecting behaviour
    • Decision-making and choice architecture
    • Utilising heuristics & biases
    • Analysing changing customer needs and demands
    • Segmenting markets
    • Generating customer insight
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

  1. Critically analyse the behaviour of potential customers in different settings: B2B and B2C settings.
  2. Evaluate how marketing stimuli can affect consumer affect, cognition and behaviour across different brands and settings across the globe.
  3. Recommend and apply appropriate bases of segmentation to consumer and industrial markets.
  4. Devise an attractive target market strategy considering all factors within the decision-making process, including cultural context and settings.

Accounting and Finance for Strategic Marketing

Module Leader
  • Dr Matthias Nnadi
Aim

    The aim of the Accounting and Finance module is to introduce a number of traditional and contemporary accounting approaches that will increase the visibility of financial information and support management decision making.

Syllabus

    The module has five main themes:

    • Interpretation of financial statements;
    • Exploring the relationship between accounting information, management decision making, financial strategies, and financial performance;
    • Applying traditional and contemporary accounting tools and techniques, which can be applied to support business management decisions;
    • Exploring the many cost trade-offs between business processes (Make v Buy).
    • Appreciation of financial governance and legal requirements in procurement strategies.
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

  1. Generate financial information from transaction data;
  2. Judge the effect of decisions, transactions and events on financial performance;
  3. Apply an appropriate costing approaches to solve a range of business issues;
  4. Valuate financial information to make informed management decisions.

Sales and Revenue Management

Module Leader
  • Andrew Hough
Aim

    The purpose of this module is to provide students with concepts and tools that are critical for B2B customer management. It will benefit those who aspire to work in B2B marketing or sales (which includes advertising agencies and other professional services), and also those who aspire to B2C marketing roles, where an understanding of supply chain collaboration will be helpful.

Syllabus
    • Professional selling theory and practice
    • Sales management theory and practice
    • Buyer behaviour and its impact on buyer-seller relationships
    • Sales strategy and Key Account Management
    • Live client briefing
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

  1. Select appropriate sales theories, tools, and frameworks to apply to business problems and opportunities.
  2. Develop ethical and sustainable solutions to sales-related problems and opportunities.
  3. Critically appraise a real-world sales-related problem or opportunity and compose a written plan presenting recommendations for a senior management audience.

CRM and Customer Experience

Module Leader
  • Dr Tamira King
Aim

    The aim is for students to understand the role of CRM and CE in the overall business strategy as well as the marketing mix. As a result of this Module students will be confident in their ability to conceive a CRM and or CE programme.

Syllabus

    The module covers:

    • Key concepts of CRM and CE
    • Customer profitability – theory, measurement and practice thereof
    • Customer experience – definition, management, the critical role of employees
    • CRM programme management – design, business processes, technology, capabilities, governance and implementation
    • Learning – data analysis, learning from customers
    • Measurement and evaluation of CRM
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

  1. Apply CRM and CEkey concepts
  2. Evaluate and critically assess the relationship between CRM and CE to the rest of the business activities of the firm.
  3. Develop a strategic approach to CRM and CE for their firms.
  4. Improve CRM and CE practices within their firms.

Retail and omnichannel management

Module Leader
  • Dr Tamira King
Aim

    Many goods and services are sold through retailers, and managing retail processes is essential for both retailers and manufacturers. The module highlights the important role which retail plays in contemporary economies and how it permeates our lives. It enables you to gain an understanding of how retailing is managed and strategically explores how retailers obtain competitive advantage. You will have strategic models and tools to analyse the retailing environment and demonstrates key retailing strategies which enable retailers to enhance their performance.

    Face-to-face retail is, however, only one of a number of marketing and distribution channels through which marketing, sales and service occurs. In today’s world, multiple channels may be combined in the same customer journey. So the module also covers how to develop an omnichannel strategy in both B2C and B2B contexts.

    Working for a retailer or within an organisation that sells a product or service through retailers is likely to be a first destination for many graduates of this programme. And irrespective of sector, channel management is critical to most senior marketing management posts. Therefore, this module provides vital skills for a marketing career.

Syllabus
    • Analytical retail models
    • Retail communications: space management, visual merchandising and atmospherics
    • Customer service
    • Legal and ethical issues in retailing
    • Omnichannel developments and how to manage them
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Critique and analyse models for analysis to improve strategic and operational omnichannel retailing situations and journey.
  2. Critically evaluate the strategic choices of elements of the (e-)retail mix, including: e/store layout; and (web)atmospherics and the importance of customer service and retail ethics.
  3. Critically evaluate a retailer’s current strategy and implement recommendations for future omnichannel strategy by applying retail theories and models on omnichannel experience.
  4. Evaluate how strategic moves towards sustainability is changing the practice of retailing.

Managing Brands

Module Leader
  • Dr Sharifah Alwi
Aim

    In many businesses, from consumer goods to industrial services, the primary assets are increasingly intangible. First amongst these is the brand, whether this consists of a portfolio of branded businesses or the corporate brand itself. In both instances, the brand asset needs to be managed to build customer loyalty and resourced so that the competitive advantage it generates can be sustained.

    Similarly, one way the equity that lies in the brand can be leveraged is by appropriately extending the brand. Managing the brand, therefore, requires insights into brand preferences and repeat purchasing patterns. It also requires a clear understanding of the levers of successful brand strategies and the tenets of managing brands in the new digital world. The course covers each of these aspects, and brand management is discussed both in a national and international context.

Syllabus
    • Product, service, and corporate brands
    • Brand equity and the value brands create for customers and companies
    • Brand equity concepts (awareness, identity, image, loyalty) and brand positioning across entities, industries, cultures, and contexts
    • Brand strategies and brand differentiation
    • Brand architecture and brand extensions
    • Brand building in the digital age
    • Sustainability, diversity, equality, and inclusivity (DEI) brands
    • Brand measurement
    • Rebranding and brand challenges
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

  1. Apply skills and critical knowledge for successfully managing branded products, services, and corporations.
  2. Critically make the case for brand investment and strategies to be implemented in diverse settings and entities across geographic regions.
  3. Evaluate how the new digital world, sustainability, diversity, equality, and inclusivity are changing the practice of brand management.
  4. Develop, design and recommend the brand identity and strategy as a foundation for successful brand positioning.

Marketing Communication

Module Leader
  • Dr Marwa Tourky
Aim

    The aim of the module is to enable students to understand and critically apply the various aspects of marketing communications from initial analysis of the market through to the development of strategies incorporating an expanding range of communications techniques. As a result, they will be able to write their own marketing communication plans and critically debate contemporary issues in marketing communications.

    The subjects covered are communications theory, communication campaigns, marketing communications planning, implementation and evaluation, and coordination, integration and orchestration of the marketing communications mix with particular reference to advertising, publicity and digital media (i.e. paid, earned and owned media). The module may incorporate an industry guest speaker.

Syllabus

    This module covers the following topics:

    • An introduction to communications theory and marketing communications decision making process.
    • Integrated marketing communication.
    • The role of traditional paid communications, such as advertising via TV, press, radio, outdoor, endorsement and sponsorship.
    • The role of digital communications including viral marketing and the role of social networks.
    • The role of earned media communications, including public relations and crisis management.
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a systematic and comprehensive understanding, interpretation and application of the theory and practice of marketing communications in contemporary commercial and non-commercial across various audiences.
  2. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of the validity of a variety of consumer-based models relating to the development of effective promotional activities and the use of persuasion tools in different scenarios.
  3. Evaluate the effectiveness of various communications tools and appraise marketing communications mediums and creative executions.
  4. Critically evaluate key marketing communications challenges facing organisations and develop critical awareness of the associated ethical issues and the interrelationships with media and society, and propose customer focused solutions.
  5. Express personal ideas and analytical ability in relation to case-based material and apply knowledge of marketing communications by justifying and developing an integrated communications plan as part of an overall strategic marketing plan.

Research Methods for Business Impact

Module Leader
  • Dr Joshua Haist
Aim

    The module is primarily designed to provide you with an understanding of what is required to undertake successful academic studies and to conduct research in business contexts considering that todays’ managers

    • are paid to make decisions
    • are expected to make ‘informed’ decisions (i.e. based on evidence)
    • are evaluated on the basis of the outcomes from their decisions
Syllabus

    Introduction to evidence-based management

    • Study skills
    • The elements of evidence-based management
    • Uses and misuses of generative AI

    Conducting research in management

    • Defining management problems
    • Reviewing the literature

    Understanding and evaluating qualitative research methods

    • Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research
    •  Qualitative data analysis

    Understanding and evaluating quantitative research methods

    • Designing questionnaires and conducting surveys
    • Quantitative data analysis

    Presenting research evidence & academic writing

    • Translating data into information to support management decisions
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Critically evaluate evidence in order to inform management decisions.
  2. Assess and select appropriate methods of qualitative and quantitative data collection to gather a varied range of evidence to support decision.
  3. Choose and apply appropriate methods of qualitative and quantitative data analysis to gain insights from data and explore the implications of decisions.
  4. Access different sources of evidence to gain a comprehensive and critically reflective understanding of organisational issues.
  5. Design and formulate high quality academic and business documents employing critical, evidence-based thinking.

Digital Marketing

Module Leader
  • Dr Marwa Tourky
Aim

    The aim of this module is to enable you to understand why digital marketing is critical to all organisations and to investigate how this is constructed. On completion of this module, you will be able to competently create a digital marketing plan for organisations.

Syllabus
    • The digital marketing toolbox (email, websites, social media, search engine optimisation, paid search).
    • Digital marketing frameworks.
    • Ethical issues in digital marketing.
    • Sustainability issues in digital marketing.
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Investigate digital marketing frameworks applied by an organisation.
  2. Critically evaluate the digital marketing applied by an organisation.
  3. Create an integrated strategic marketing communications plan.

Big Data, Insight and Analytics

Module Leader
  • Dr Dennis Esch
Aim

    The module aims to demystify the area of big data, statistical methods and insight to prepare you for a career in a marketing environment defined by big data, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Rather than a strict focus on data science, statistics and methods, the module balances developing an understanding of analytical techniques with how marketing leaders make decisions using (big data) insight. Gartner has introduced the term “citizen data scientist†to describe competent practitioners that can engage in data discovery and know when they need professional help.

    You will learn how to competently analyse both qualitative and quantitative data aided by sophisticated software tools, which will be useful for both your future careers and your thesis writing process.

Syllabus

    The syllabus comprises two components: Big Data Analytics and Insight, and Individual Project Preparation.

    Big Data Analytics and Insight

    • The big data revolution
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Issues of implementation and realising the benefits of big data marketing analytics
    • Using JMP software
    • Data discovery, exploration and visualisation process (e.g., CRISP)
    • Marketing analytics (exploration, explanation and prediction) and their application to marketing practices (segmentation, targeting, positioning and customer experience)
    • Using NVivo (e.g., coding, using case codes, notating, running queries)
    • Thematic coding
    • Sentiment analysis
    • Mining user-generated content for marketing insights

    Individual Project Preparation

    • Develop and apply appropriate analytical techniques to solve identified research problems, based on a clear understanding of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
    • Analysing quantitative data using JMP
    • Analysing qualitative data using NVivo.
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

  1. Develop and apply appropriate analytical techniques to solve identified problems, based on a clear understanding of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
  2. Develop and apply marketing analytics (data exploration and modelling) to marketing practices (segmentation, targeting, positioning and customer management).
  3. Plan, organise and prepare their Individual Project.

Marketing Consulting Project

Module Leader
  • Professor Vasilis Theoharakis
Aim

    This is an integrative module allowing you to apply that which you have learnt to date in a practical manner. You will work in your learning teams and role-play a management consulting team competitively against the other learning teams. All teams will address the same brief: a genuine business opportunity for a particular company. You will have one week to understand the brief, gather the relevant data, use appropriate tools / frameworks and generate innovative, pragmatic and achievable recommendations. Your presentations will be judged by a panel that includes a company marketing executive dealing with the problem.

Syllabus
    • Select and justify what marketing theories, frameworks and perspectives are applicable and to deploy this methodology intelligently to a real-life situation.
    • Clearly develop a capacity for problem solving and creative thinking through addressing a real marketing problem.
    • Work with colleagues in a competitive situation, under time pressure and with incomplete access to information, people and data.
    • Develop management consulting skills by providing expert and credible advice and presenting a solution in a very succinct and compelling manner.
    • Demonstrate the application of sound financial analysis to marketing recommendations.

     

Intended learning outcomes

This module is intended to enable you to apply marketing theory in a real and complex situation. On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

  1. Scope a marketing, retailing or sales research project and develop an appropriate set of research questions/project objectives.
  2. Plan and execute a long-term research project work programme with reference to the key project management processes (time, risk management, contingency, resourcing).
  3. Select and justify methodologies and analytical tools appropriate to the task and apply them correctly to a live marketing, retailing or sales problem.
  4. Collect, review, analyse and critically evaluate literature, data, and information to make evidence-based decisions which lead to justified conclusions/ recommendations.
  5. Write and communicate concisely, informatively and persuasively in order for reports/presentations to achieve their intended effect.

Individual Project

Module Leader
  • Dr Sharifah Alwi
Aim

    The aim of the individual project is to train you to undertake a major marketing, retailing or sales-related research project independently and to present an individual project, which meets university requirements. This will require you to demonstrate project management abilities, develop skills in critical appraisal and research methods, as well as the ability to present your thoughts clearly.

    Each student is allocated an individual project supervisor (either Cranfield staff or Cranfield registered teacher).

    The individual project can have one of three possible formats:

    • An empirical individual project
    • A company-sponsored (empirical) individual project
    • A systematic review of a suitable area of the marketing, sales or retailing literature
Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

  1. Scope a marketing, retailing or sales research project and develop an appropriate set of research questions/project objectives.
  2. Plan and execute a long-term research project work programme with reference to the key project management processes (time, risk management, contingency, resourcing).
  3. Select and justify methodologies and analytical tools appropriate to the task and apply them correctly to a live marketing, retailing or sales problem.
  4. Collect, review, analyse and critically evaluate literature, data, and information to make evidence-based decisions which lead to justified conclusions/ recommendations.
  5. Design and critically reflect on learning and activities over the time of the internship and/or the refinement of individual’s career plans.
  6. Write and communicate concisely, informatively and persuasively in order for reports/presentations to achieve their intended effect.

Elective modules
The module below is offered as part of students’ preparation for the Certificate in Market Research examination, and is elective.

Certificate in Market Research

Aim

    The Strategic Marketing MSc is currently the only Master's degree in the UK that is accredited by the MRS for its Certificate in Market Research). This means that while studying for your Master's in marketing, you also have the opportunity to work towards achieving the MRS Certificate in Market Research. This qualification and with appropriate work experience – gained either before or after being awarded the MRS Certificate – means you will be eligible to join the Market Research Society.

Keeping our courses up-to-date and current requires constant innovation and change. The modules we offer reflect the needs of business and industry and the research interests of our staff. As a result, they may change or be withdrawn due to research developments, legislation changes or for a variety of other reasons. Changes may also be designed to improve the student learning experience or to respond to feedback from students, external examiners, accreditation bodies and industrial advisory panels.

To give you a taster, we have detailed the compulsory and elective (where applicable) modules which are currently affiliated with this course. All modules are indicative only and may be subject to change for your year of entry.




Accreditation

CIM Accredited Degree

The Strategic Marketing MSc is a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) accredited degree, enabling you to achieve CIM’s professional marketing qualifications and awards alongside your Cranfield degree.  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 professionals.


MRS logo

The Strategic Marketing MSc is currently the only Master's degree in the UK that is accredited by the MRS for its Certificate in Market Research). This means that while studying for your Master's in marketing, you also have the opportunity to work towards achieving the MRS Certificate in Market Research. This qualification and with appropriate work experience – gained either before or after being awarded the MRS Certificate – means you will be eligible to join the Market Research Society.

Your career

The Careers and Employability Service offers a comprehensive service to help you develop a set of career management skills that will remain with you throughout your career.

During your course you will receive support and guidance to help you plan an effective strategy for your personal and professional development, whether you are looking to secure your first management role, or wanting take your career to the next level.

Cranfield Strategic Marketing MSc graduates have secured jobs with a diverse range of companies including British Gas, Proctor & Gamble, Amazon, Vodafone, TJX, Kerry, Christian Dior, Henkel, GE, Schlumberger, Ernst & Young, Estée Lauder, Coca-Cola, Mars, Beiersdorf, KMPG Nunwood, Chaumet and Microsoft. Their roles have included Customer Insight Consultant, Junior Manager, Buying and Merchandising Graduate Programme trainee, Marketing Manager and Associate Consultant.

How to apply

To apply you will need to register to use our online system. Once you have set up an account you will be able to create, save and amend your application form before submitting it.

Application deadlines

There is a high demand for places on our courses and we recommend you submit your application as early as possible. 

  • Applications from international and European students requiring a visa to study in the UK must submit their application by Monday 21 July 2025.
  • There is no application deadline for UK applicants, but places are limited, so we recommend you submit your application as early as possible.

Once your online application has been submitted together with your supporting documentation, it will be processed by our admissions team. You will then be advised by email if you are successful, unsuccessful, or whether the course director would like to interview you before a decision is made. Applicants based outside of the UK may be interviewed either by telephone or video conference.

Read our Application Guide for a step-by-step explanation of the application process from pre-application through to joining us at Cranfield.