Brand Experience & Event Design

Branding and brand communication has shifted from transaction-oriented marketing to customer relationship marketing. The true power and value of a brand now reside in the minds and hearts of the customers. People often forget what a brand says or does, but they remember how a brand makes them feel.

In this minor, you will acquire the knowledge and skills to create compelling concepts for brand experiences and events. These concepts are designed not only to allow (future) customers to experience what your brand is about but also to encourage them to engage with your brand and ultimately fall in love with it. You will become an expert at creating brand ambassadors and fans, driving brand awareness and long-term brand performance through a customer-centric strategy. The focus in this minor is on the use of brand experience and brand events as a strategic marketing tool for building brand equity.

Experience marketing adds emotional value to a brand, touching the heart of the target group and inspiring them to act. Empathizing with your (target) customers and putting the customer needs at the heart of your design is key to creating meaningful experiences. On the other hand, brand marketers should really understand the core identity of their brand. They need to search for the soul in their brand, seeking the brand essence or brand DNA. It is this intangible concept that makes customers relate to your brand, setting it apart from competitors.

During the minor you will work on challenges and assignments according to the principle of ‘learning by doing’. The design thinking model is a useful tool that will be used to designing customer centric events and experiences. Lecturers and field experts will provide you with input, inspiration and feedback to support your learning experience. During the entire minor, intensive team coaching is provided.

Learning objectives

During the minor, you will learn to:

• design and create meaningful experiences or events around the core values of a brand.
• align with the brand's positioning and stand out from the competition.
• facilitate interaction between the brand and its target group.
• enhance long-term loyalty and foster emotional bonding.
• ensure brand performance and build brand equity. 

The programme takes place during one semester, and includes the following subjects, skills training and workshops:

• Experience marketing & experiential marketing
• Customer centric marketing
• Branding & Brand Strategy
• Market Research
• Design thinking method
• Creativity & Innovation

The minor programme is based on 'learning by doing', consisting of exercises, challenges and assignments, where knowledge and skills training are offered according to ‘just in time’ principle. This means no separate courses, exams or other summative tests, but programmatic assessment for 30 ECTS. This requires a high level of independence and personal responsibility from you with regard to self-starting skills and self-discipline. You are expected to manage your own learning process, continuously and actively collecting feedback, feed forward and feed up. Attendance at work sessions is not mandatory, but highly recommended; The pace is very high and the risk of lagging behind and/or missing the connection to content or group is therefore high.

Please note that the programme reflects a (logical) bundle of work-sessions and subjects that should be followed as such. It is not possible to combine (two or more) programmes in one single period.

Assessment

During the entire minor you will put together an individual portfolio consisting of completed assignments and challenges, and feedback from peers, experts and teachers, in which you demonstrate that you have acquired the necessary competences, knowledge and skills. This individual portfolio serves to determine whether you have met the desired learning outcomes. As such, there is no decision moment based on a single assessment; the decision is made based on rich information on your entire learning process.

Literature

All course materials and readings for the minor will be made available on the Canvas course site.

The timetable and teaching days will be published the month prior to the start of the minor. On average, there are 3 work sessions and lectures per week, each lasting approximately 3 hours, along with 6 hour workshops.

TExpect to be physically present at HU for 3 days per week. This minor is full-time with a study burden of total 840 hours / 30ECTS.

In our Course Guide you can find all relevant information about the programme in one practical document. Download it here for your convenience.

• Factsheet Brand Experience & Event Design
• Course guide Brand Experience & Event Design

To enter this programme, you need a foundation of introductory course(s) in Marketing Management.

English CEFR level B2. You have to be fluent in English writing and speaking.

Please note: If your English language ability proves to be insufficient to participate actively in (parts of) the courses you have chosen, we cannot be bound to the Learning Agreement, neither can we guarantee to offer you the required amount of study load (EC’s). Teachers might request you to take a diagnostic test at the start of the course to check if your English language ability is sufficient to successfully participate in that specific course. In all cases it is up to the programme manager to decide if your English language ability is sufficient to be eligible for the programme/course.

For excursions and field work, expect additional costs of € 250.