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Earlier this month, York University’s Schulich School of Business launched a Future of Marketing course intended to help undergraduate students stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving marketing landscape. Taught by Schulich professors David Rice and Martin Waxman, it is believed to be the first university course of its kind in the world.
The course’s lectures and content focus on cutting-edge topics, including generative artificial intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT, synthetic media, neuromarketing and biometrics, chatbots, augmented and virtual reality, and the metaverse. Living up to its name, the course will also delve into even more futuristic marketing concepts such as advertising in dreams and persuasion through brain-computer interfaces.
“The course challenges students to reimagine marketing and society in a time of rapid technological change,” says Rice. “While other universities are debating the use of ChatGPT in the classroom, we encourage its use so that students can learn first-hand what the potential and limitations are of generative AI technology, and imagine how it may alter the marketing future.”
To help ensure students are coming away with real-world skills, each class includes an experiential exercise where students have the opportunity to test their abilities and creativity with cutting-edge applications. Adding yet another practical element, the course wraps up with a pitch night in a boardroom format similar to CBC’s hit show “Dragons’ Den,” where student teams present their concepts for a new marketing technology, product or service to a group of senior marketing executives.
Later this year, Schulich is planning to expand the reach of this new course by offering it online through the Future of Marketing Institute, a global think tank based at the Schulich School of Business, of which Professor Rice is the executive director and Waxman is the associate director.