(UPDATED 1/15/2026)

Best Ways to Reach Me

• Canvas Messaging (preferred)
• Email: spencer_ross@uml.edu
• Phone: x45305, WhatsApp

Basic Course Information

• Course Meeting: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30a-1:45p, PTB 140
• Office Location, PTB 232 (If on campus)
• Office Hours: Tuesdays/Thursdays 9:30-11:00am or make an appointment on Calendly
• Canvas Course Section

Table of Contents

• What’s this course about?
• What materials will you need?
• How will you be evaluated?
• What’s being evaluated?
• My course policies (AI Policy Revised Spring 2026; tldr: NO)

What’s this course about?

The ethics of AI in marketing. The outcomes of increased online gambling on addiction. The cultural juggernaut that is Taylor Swift… Changes in society impact marketers’ situational analyses and inform their new strategies. But why? And moreso, how? This highly topical course is designed to get you understanding how societal events, trends, and issues directly relate to marketing. This course takes place in three parts: first, we’ll be discussing and evaluating the relationship between markets and society, paying special attention on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Second, we’ll be analyzing and debating a series of societal topics as they relate to the way marketers might think. And finally, we’ll have some fun with cultural trends in society– how they become big and how marketers leverage them for good and for tacky. By the end of this course, you’ll have sharpened your critical thinking skills as a marketer, and be able to apply those skills to developing marketing strategy.

What should you be able to know after successfully completing this course?

GOALS	OBJECTIVES
You’ll know/understand:	You’ll be able to:
The benefits of staying current with societal issues and events and how the “real world” shapes strategic thinking in marketing.	Evaluate a series of topical macroenvironmental level issues.
	Analyze a macro level issue in depth, as it relates to market outcomes.
	Demonstrate the joint effects of several macro level issues on a business.
The role and boundaries of the marketplace, relative to other institutions, in positively impacting consumer and societal well-being.	Understand role of government and policy on business, as it applies to various societal levels.
	Contrast systemic issues with structural issues to challenge the limits of marketplace impact.
	Critique the role of institutions as they relate to how society “negotiates” macro level issues.
The importance of ethical reasoning in marketing strategy to address macro level societal issues.	Consider and relate a variety of sustainable and ethical frameworks.
	Develop ethical reasoning skills about marketplace impact on macro level social issues (and vice versa).
	Apply sustainable and ethical frameworks to marketing dilemmas.
The multi-stakeholder complexity of societal issues that affect the marketplace and impact marketing strategy.	Evaluate the differing needs of marketplace stakeholders within different societal contexts and issues and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
	Identify the potential societal impact of a firm that uses stakeholder marketing frameworks.
	Imagine creative marketing solutions to macro level societal issues.
The market-shaping effect of consumer culture on marketing strategy.	Explain how consumer sociology and trends in consumer culture impact marketing decisions.
	Assess how celebrity and institutional marketers have created and/or leveraged (pop) cultural trends.
	Experiment with understanding how culture can influence marketing solutions to macro issues.

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What materials will you need to be successful in this course?

Readings

Marketplace Dignity: Transforming How We Engage with Customers Across Their Journey, Wharton School Press, $22 (recommended, though not required)

I’ll also provide you with some PDFs and/or links to relevant articles for background.

As business students, you should naturally be visiting business related news sites (e.g., WSJ, FT, Bloomberg, Mashable, Business Insider) and coming to each class ready to share articles and events relating to the topics of the day.

As this course is designed to be topically relevant, readings will be posted on Canvas (see below) the week before the planned topic. You’ll also be responsible for bringing your own readings/links/clips to class.

CANVAS

I’ll post links and readings here, as well as assignment submissions here, the gradebook will be here, etc.

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How will you be evaluated?

Summary (Points)

Assignment	% Contribution to Course Grade
Market Dynamics Journals (11 @ 3%)	33
Course Engagement	20
Manning BeHub Research Credits	2
Hackathon Sprint (one graded)	15
Grand Hackathon Sprint	25
Project Peer Evaluation (online link)	5

Performance Scale (Points)

Excellent to Good	Satisfactory	Unsatisfactory but Passing	Failing
94 – 100 = A 90 – < 94 = A- 87 – < 90 = B+ 84 – < 87 = B	80 – < 84 = B- 77 – < 80 = C+ 74 – < 77 = C	70 – < 74 = C- 67 – < 70 = D+ 64 – < 67 = D 60 – < 64 = D-	0 – < 60 = F

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What’s being evaluated?

MARKET DYNAMICS Journals (11 @ 3% = 33%)

Most weeks, you’ll be writing a weekly reflection on which you’ll have to evaluate sociocultural market changes as reflected in your lives (personal and/or professional). You’ll be asked to provide examples of something marketing-related that’s going on in the news and use frameworks and theories presented in class to elaborate on why they’re relevant to what marketing managers are concerned about. You’re welcome to pick a different story to reflect on each week or to reflect on a developing story as it unfolds. The point of the market dynamics journals is to keep you current in your awareness of market contexts, to relate topical marketplace issues to your own lives and careers, and to hone your critical thinking skills over time.

Course Engagement (20%)

Communication skills are extremely important in marketing (after all, it’s one of the things we do!), which is why I grade course engagement on active participation and contribution, not mere class attendance (you’ll note I don’t have a formal attendance policy). I also expect everyone to actively engage in class discussions, any class exercises, and make quality contributions/discussions on Canvas. All of this counts as engagement. Therefore, course engagement is a function of: (in-class active participation + outside-class on Canvas)*(volume)*(quality).

Both inside and outside of classtime, I encourage us to work hard to create and maintain a supportive, respectful, and empathetic environment. There will be a diversity of valid, lived experiences coming to the table– especially as we discuss topical marketplace issues that may uniquely affect each of us. While I’ll help guide you, the class should be a thought lab to express your critical and analytical thinking, while also considering the valid backgrounds of others inside and outside of the class.

While you must be present in classes to be able to participate in them, I guarantee attendance alone will not earn a full 20% engagement mark (for example, attendance but no participation may earn closer to 80% while no attendance but a lot of participation may earn closer to 70%). Your involvement and participation are vital to the success of yours and your peers’ learning experiences; consistency and quality matter. I encourage actual, real discussion in and out of classtime. The point of course engagement is to foster communication and collaboration skills with peers, as well as to actively, critically engage the content, both inside and outside class lecture.

Manning BeHub (Behavioral Hub) Research Credits (2%)

You’re required to participate in at least 2.0 credits of Manning BeHub research studies (or, if you choose, see me for an alternative credit task) as part of your course grade. 2.0 credits is approximately 2-4 studies in a semester (1.0 credit = 1% of final course grade). Most studies take between 10-20 minutes per study. If you accumulate credits for my course in excess of the 2.0, up to an additional 2.0 credits may be awarded as extra course credit

Many studies will be online studies that can be done at home, though occasionally, in-person “lab” studies will be offered for credit or other incentives. I’ll send out announcements via Canvas to the class as the BeHub periodically announces new study availability. You may also direct BeHub questions to me as one of its co-administrators. Study availability may be ongoing through the semester. However, studies are usually only open for limited periods of time before they expire and are then unavailable for participating credit. Please make sure you participate in studies before they are closed. The point of participating in research studies is that these studies will help your professors (including me) generate knowledge and insight about business, as well as give you firsthand experience by going through the process of how business research is conducted.

HACKATHON Sprints (15%)

Most weeks, we’ll be addressing a particular societal topic with marketplace impact. For each of those weeks, one class will be spent discussing some background to the topic, analyzing the topic, and addressing its marketing impact through different lenses. The other class will have a “hackathon sprint.”

In small groups of approximately 3-4, I will give you a snap potential “client” scenario in class. You’ll have 20 minutes to use your critical readings on the topic and frameworks and theories presented in class to develop potential solutions to these real-world problems. Each week, at the end of the sprint time, one group will be selected at random to make a 5-7 min presentation of their solutions to the class. You’ll then lead the rest of the class in a Q&A on your solution. The point of these hackathons is to evaluate both your critical reasoning skills, your ability to synthesize new materials, and your ability to use these skills collaboratively.

GRAND HACKATHON SPRINT (25%)

The culmination of the course is a Grand Hackathon that will be even more complex and integrative. Teams will leverage what they are learning in class with developing a situational analysis and an impact solution, complete with strategic and tactical execution. All teams will present for the Grand Hackathon.

The point of the Grand Hackathon is to showcase written and oral communications skills, to work on interpersonal skills in a teamwork collaboration, and to demonstrate in an integrative fashion how societal pressures affect marketplace strategy and execution.

Online Peer Evaluation (5%)

A link to a rigorous online peer evaluation form will be distributed in the last week of class. Failure to submit the evaluation by the assigned date will be an automatic “0” (zero) for your own evaluation score, as I use your peers’ scores to calculate your own evaluation grade. If you can’t be bothered to give your peers their scores, I won’t be bothered to calculate your score.

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For general Terms and Conditions of the course, please visit my course policies page