Responsible Marketing

This is a theme course of SPD theme 2: Strategic Design for Social and Sustainable Innovation.

In responsible marketing, students will learn how organizations can facilitate adoption of "meaningful and sustainable" solutions that can help in the move to a circular society. Segmentation based on benefits sought and jobs-to-be done will be essential to target early adopters that can influence the mass-market via word-of-mouth (offline and online). The course will discuss sustainability/performance trade-offs in the context of responsible solutions, and how marketing strategies and tactics can mitigate these trade-offs. Students will also learn how companies are moving from green marketing to sufficiency marketing, in which the sole focus is not on selling more but enough products. For true transitions to occur, the course will also tackle the roles of multiple parties in the value chain (think retailers and food/packaging waste) and in the innovation ecosystem (think electric boating in the Amsterdam canals).

The study goals of this course will be assessed by:

- Individual essay (50%)

- Presentation on Circular MarkStrat results (50%)

Individual essay on analyzing and applying the responsible marketing strategies of a chosen organization (based on articles and lecture material): 50%. Individual peer review of essay after 3 weeks (feedback moment: formative assignment).

Group presentation on Circular MarkStrat team results and strategies with individual questions: 50%. Students play a simulation game in 8 rounds; in each round they need to take multiple responsible marketing decisions. At the end they need to present their final results of their 'products' in the market and the effectiveness of their responsible marketing strategies. Each individual team member will receive questions about the decisions taken.