This document provides 11 sections that outline potential topics for a marketing dissertation. The sections cover relationship marketing, branding, direct marketing, marketing across cultures, marketing and consumer psychology, marketing online, mobile marketing, the 4Ps of marketing mix, marketing and social networks, and marketing ethics. Each section lists several specific questions or cases that could be examined for the dissertation.

1. MARKETING
Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing refers to the use of relationships rather than purely transactional means,
in order to not only acquire customers, but also to generate customer loyalty that results in repeat
custom for the firm. It is a very important area for modern businesses, and an ideal area on which
to base your marketing dissertation.
Why has Tesco's loyal card scheme been successful where competitors' schemes have
not?
Are switching costs effective barriers to customer churn in the airline industry?
How can Amazon.com charge a premium price over rivals such as Play.com?
What are the motivations and expectations behind loyalty schemes?
How and why does the relationship marketing-traditional marketing continuum vary
within an industry?
How does product quality affect customer loyalty among high and low touch products?
Can luxury goods retailers prevent barriers to switching?
How do retailers cope with polygamous behaviour among consumers?
How does customer loyalty at Waterstone's change when customers shop at their online
store rather than in the high street?
In what ways does Waterstone's improve its customer loyalty through its online store?
3.0 Branding
Branding is an umbrella term to refer to a wide body of literature examining how businesses can
use their brands to achieve a competitive advantage, through building brand equity, launching
brand extensions, managing global brands, and so forth. Marketing dissertations on branding
could be more specific to the following topics.
An examination of the relationship between perceived risk and brand equity: A
comparison of supermarket retailers.
Do consumers really understand a company's brand values? The case of Starbucks.
How does the relative importance of tangible and intangible brand values vary across
product types?
Do leading brands need to have the best products?
How is brand image affected by product availability?
Can brand image be transferred between industries? The case of Virgin Cola in the UK.
How does unethical behaviour affect brand image? The cases of Shell, Nike and
Starbucks.
How do firms use corporate social responsibility to build brand equity? The case of
Starbucks.
How can innovations sustain brands?

2. Can brand equity be transferred to a supermarket's own branded products?
4.0 Direct Marketing
The world of direct marketing is a complex one that involves a wide range of tools and
techniques that can be used to target consumers in a predominantly transactional manner. Direct
marketers rely on information and a series of direct marketing media such as direct mail,
magazines, newspapers, TV/radio, co-ops, telemarketing/teleservices and the Internet to
disseminate their messages and acquire new customers. Here follows some suggested topics of
direct marketing, which you could use for your marketing dissertation.
How does Tesco use its loyalty schemes to sell direct to the customer?
How does the importance of factors that influence direct selling vary according to
product type?
Do customers respond differently to short and long-term offers? The case of magazine
sales.
In what ways do toll-free (freephone) numbers influence consumers' response to direct
sales promotions?
How does the nationality (accent) of telemarketers influence customer response?
Do consumers know how to protect themselves from unscrupulous direct marketing
tactics?
How does message length affect the success of direct marketing messages? A comparison
of online and offline mediums.
Can direct marketing be used to build customer relationships or is it simply a
transactional medium to acquire new customers?
Can direct marketing be as effective as a group-orientated tool as it is an individual
orientated one?
How do prospecting methods differ in an online and offline environment? The case of the
book industry.
5.0 Marketing across Cultures
For some products and services, cultural considerations can play an important role in how
marketers interact with consumers. With the increasing globalisation of business, firms have to
pay greater attention to how national culture impacts upon consumer behaviour and customers'
reactions towards different types of marketing communication. Marketing across cultures is
becoming more prominent in business, as more and more businesses are expanding throughout
the world. This creates an ideal area to base your marketing dissertation on.
How does language impact upon brand identity? The case of Coca-Cola in the People's
Republic of China.
How does social class influence relationship-building activities? The case of supermarket
promotions in India.
What effect does family orientation have on marketing communications? The case of
tourism operators in the Philippines.
How do marketers take into account regional differences in "national" culture? The case
of banks in the Basque country and Catalonia, Spain.

3. Can automotive vendors afford to treat consumers as a homogenous mass? The case of
the North-South divide in Sweden.
How does individualism-collectivism influence the sales of mobile phones? The case of
the People's Republic of China.
How do supermarket chains overcome language differences in Switzerland?
How do banks vary their product offerings based on social class? The case of India.
How can national culture explain the prominence of Scottish whiskey sales in the global
whiskey market?
How can countries use national culture to help them promote major exports? The case of
the Champagne region, France.
6.0 Marketing and Consumer Psychology
Marketing is fundamentally underpinned by consumer behaviour, which can be largely explained
by examining consumer psychology. This highlights how consumers behave in each stage of the
buying process and why they react as they do. On this basis, marketers can design and implement
communication strategies that target specific customer groups based on their psychological
profiles. to base your marketing dissertation within the area of marketing and consumer
psychology, here are some suggestions for topics:
What motivates consumers to pass on marketing messages?
What are the antecedents of word-of-mouth communications? The case of blockbuster
marketing.
When word-of-mouth communications turn negative: What can be learnt from previous
mistakes?
How does gender effect information processing among consumers of luxury goods?
What role does motivation play in buying behaviour? An examination of the mobile
ringtone market in the UK.
How does gender effect selective distortion among luxury goods buyers?
What role does learning play among functional online advertisements?
Does the importance of beliefs and attitudes vary across low and high involvement
products?
An investigation of habitual buying behaviour and geographical location: The impact of
socio-economic status.
What effect does geographical location have on the relationship between variety-seeking
buying behaviour and habitual buying behaviour? An examination of when workers eat
out for lunch.
7.0 Marketing online
When marketing moves online the traditional rules are either broken or extended. Such
extensions include the need to take into account privacy, security, the greater ability to customise
and personalise user experiences, the changing nature of consumer behaviour and the interaction
of online and offline mediums. Marketing online is a subject that many companies now have to
consider, and the subject would create a useful marketing dissertation. More specific subjects are
suggested here.
How can firms customise their products? The case of Apple.

4. How can firms personalise their products? The case of Nike.
An assessment of the value of assortment to customers: The case of Dell Computers.
How does a consumer's perception of control affect their choice of brand? The case of
buying computers online.
How does visual constituency affect site identity and product attitude?
How does gender effect website preference?
How can firms successfully combine online and offline shopping features? The case of
Amazon.com/Toys-R-Us.
What product attributes are most valued by consumers in search, comparison and
purchase decision-making online?
How do consumers react to brand alliances online? The case of Amazon.com and Wal-
Mart.
An investigation of the antecedents of consumer behaviour in online auctions? The case
of eBay.
8.0 Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing has become the latest marketing communication medium to enable large
brands such as Coca-Cola, Nintendo, MTV, New Labour, Lastminute.com, and others to reach
customers and target customers in traditional and non-traditional ways. With the lowering of
mobile tariffs, including Internet browsing using mobile phones, this medium has becoming
increasingly important to marketers. Some topics are suggested here for you to base your
marketing dissertation on the area of mobile marketing.
How does permission-based marketing affect mobile marketers when implementing
international marketing campaigns?
How can brand image be conveyed in a mobile marketing environment?
Can an info brand be built through mobile marketing techniques?
What do customers want from mobile marketing messages? The case of low-cost airlines.
How does location influence mobile marketing communications?
What role does time play in mobile marketing communications?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of push and pull mobile marketing?
How can mobile marketing be used as a viral marketing tool?
How can mobile payment services increase revenue for mobile marketers? The case of
Vodafone.
How can customer relationship management (CRM) be applied in a mobile marketing
environment to improve customer loyalty?
9.0 The 4Ps (Price, Product, Promotion, Place) of marketing mix
The 4Ps, which have seen a number of extensions, are the cornerstones of the marketing mix that
marketing professions have available to them when trying to influence consumer decision-
making. To base your marketing dissertation in this area, there are some topic suggestions below.
How do price adjustment strategies vary in an online and offline environment? The case
of music sales.
Can an overt international pricing strategy negatively affect brand image? The case of
iTunes.

5. How effective are public relation campaigns following brand failures? The cases of Nike,
Shell, and Marks and Spencer.
How and why do firms vary the frequency of advertisements in an online and offline
environment? The case of Waterstone's.
An examination of the suitability of information and persuasive advertising based on the
nature of the product being sold.
How do the characteristics of companies that use comparison advertising vary from those
that do not use comparison advertising? The case of the alcoholic drinks industry in the
US.
What is the effect of the lack of controls online when advertising across international
borders?
Can point-of-purchase promotions be as effective in an online environment as they are
offline?
How important is location to customer choice in the airline industry in the UK?
How has the Internet helped unsought goods building brand awareness? The case of
comparison websites.
10.0 Marketing and Social Networks
Social networks (Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn) are not only changing the way
that many people use the Internet, but they are also presenting marketing practitioners with new
challenges when trying to reach and acquire customers online. At the same time, these social
networks have their own challenges in trying to acquire and retain customers when many of the
traditional principles of consumer behaviour no longer apply. As social networks become more
popular, a marketing dissertation in this area would be up to date and in line with current trends.
To what extent is the "new" Facebook the product of its users? An examination of
positive, neutral and negative user comments.
Why have functional applications on Facebook achieved so little success compared with
their fun counterparts?
How do Facebook applications turn users into cash? The relationship between total
installs, daily active users, and application valuation.
A comparison of the effectiveness of banner advertising on different social networks?
The cases of Facebook, Orkut, MySpace and Bebo.
What impact does newsfeed restriction have on consumers' attitudes towards using
Facebook?
Are social networks more persuasive than traditional word-of-mouth? An investigation of
product recommendations?
How does the "behaviour chain" vary between Facebook and Facebook applications?
How has Facebook used marketing communications to outstrip user growth when
compared with MySpace?
Do traditional customer loyalty typologies apply to consumer behaviour in social
networks?
In what ways have social networks used "peace technologies" to acquire new customers?
The case of "causes" on Facebook.

6. 11.0 Marketing Ethics
The power of the media and changing consumer attitudes are having a significant impact on how
firms are expected to behave, as well as how they should integrate ethics into their marketing
campaigns. On this basis, marketing ethics is interested in a range of issues from the business
case for ethical practices, to CSR programmes and cause-related marketing, and ethical issues
that must be taken into account during the marketing communications process. a marketing
dissertation on marketing ethics could include any of the following topics:
Is easyJet's low fare, online pricing strategy misleading or a justifiable way of managing
customer demand?
Is firms' use of Fair Trade branding misleading consumers?
What affect do published codes of conduct have on buying behaviour? The cases of The
Body Shop, Levi Strauss, and Marks and Spencer.
Are "happy hours" ethical? An application of the marketing communicator's rules of
behaviour.
How does ethical purchase intention and ethical awareness affect purchasing behaviour?
An examination of the sale of battery and free range chickens.
What impact do cause-related marketing campaigns have on consumer buying behaviour?
The case of Tesco's "Computers for Schools" vouchers.
Why do some controversial marketing communications work whilst other fail?
How have spam laws improved marketing ethics online?
What factors distinguish a consumer's choice of most and least social responsible firms?
How do firms use public relations to recover from consumer boycotts? The case of Shell
and Nestle.