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Master in Marketing

The marketing paradigm has changed. Marketers are expected to adapt to fast changes in market demands and to become thought leaders when it comes to innovation, sustainability-driven value creation and product-led growth. Customer-centricity is not a buzzword: it is now a “must” for marketing profesionals. 

To address these demands, the Master in Marketing program offers two specialized tracks:

  • Consumer and Luxury Track: Focused on more traditional marketing areas like consumer behavior, retail, and luxury management.
  • Product and Tech Track: Designed for tech-driven students aspiring to excel in product-led growth and customer-centric innovation.

To deliver compelling customer-centric value creation, students are challenged on both soft and hard skills learning.   

Our goal  is to train the next leading generation of experts in marketing who excel in strategic thinking, data-driven decision making, product-led growth and digital innovation while displaying an entrepreneurial and sustainability-driven mindset.

New Product and Tech Track

Find out more about the new Product and Tech Track in this video with Gachoucha Kretz, the Academic Director.

Course Portfolio


  • Carry out market visits (analysis of competition, clients and insights, company's strengths and assets) and identify value creation opportunities (product innovation, product development, market expansion, business development)
  • Design and develop concepts backed by both a creative and a data-driven approach and turn them into new value propositions on the market (aligning brand vision and impact with the overall corporate strategy)
  • Craft and roll out go-to-market strategies and implement them, from developing products and brands to promoting and distributing them)
  • Elaborate and defend a marketing plan to pitch new value propositions and justify budget investments
  • Acquire the necessary customer-centric and product-led growth mindset to meet the fast-changing demands of product leadership roles
  • Quizzes, exercices
  • Case studies
  • Business games and role-playing games
  • Action projects
  • Professional immersions
  • A master's thesis (research paper)
  1. Strategic thinking and management:
    • Design-thinking and product development
    • Strategic Marketing Management
    • Strategic Brand Management
  2. Data-driven decision-making and digital innovation:
    • Data analytics for marketing
    • Marketing & Engineering
    • Digital marketing
  3. Entrepreneurship and new business models: 
    • Reinventing your business model with Odyssey 3.14
    • Pricing strategy
    • Optional: Startup launch courses in collaboration with HEC Startup Launchpad  
  4. Sustainability-driven marketing:
    • Sustainable marketing

* The courses listed on this page (their content, order, titles, etc.) are subject to changes as deemed necessary by the Academic Director.

Elective Courses

In the second part of the curriculum, students can choose specialization courses to deepen their knowledge in a topical field of marketing and business. 

  • Marketing specifics: 
    • B4B Marketing
    • Consumer behavior 
    • Marketing 4.0.
    • (R)e-tail strategies
    • B2B Marketing
    • Consumer neuroscience, AI & ethics
    • Data science and AI for marketers
  • Business development for startups
  • Luxury management 
     

    * The courses listed on this page (their content, order, titles, etc.) are subject to changes as deemed necessary by the Academic Director. 

Specialization Courses

  • Digital transformation and customer-centricity 
  • Product discovery 
  • Product UX and design
  • Product management 
  • Product-led growth 
  • Digital strategies and product marketing management 
  • Sales 
  • Account management
  • Investment in tech 
  • AI-and sustainability-powered courses
     

Elective Courses
 

  • Business development for startups
  • Sales and key accounts
  • B2B 
  • AI-powered courses


* The courses listed on this page (their content, order, titles, etc.) are subject to changes as deemed necessary by the Academic Director.

Along with the core courses’ curriculum, students follow seminars aiming at developing career-oriented skills and at supporting the personal growth necessary to any today’s leader. 

Professional career seminars: 

  • Executive careers in marketing 

  • Pitching your ideas 

  • Job market workshops in collaboration with the Career Services 

Personal development seminars: 

INTAKE SEMINAR

  • Intelligence Emotionnelle
  • Pitching your ideas
  • Negociation, The P&G persuasive selling method
  • Leadership
  • Soft Skills
  • Presentation slides

All along the curriculum, students have the opportunity to apply newly acquired theoretical knowledge and frameworks in a real-life setting.

Business simulation:

Students participate in a marketing serious game in teams and develop new products they launch on the market within highly competitive environments. 

Business cases: 

  • The L’Oréal Bootcamp: a two-day design-thinking marathon where students provide a readily implementable solution to a strategic marketing issue raised by one of L’Oréal brands. For example: 
    • how to develop customer-centricity in travel retail; 
    • how to respond to DNVBs in the luxury cosmetic division; 
    • how to make a hair color brand meaningful to younger generations; 
    • how to leverage an iconic brand to develop business while transiting towards sustainability. 
  • The DDB Challenge: for a week, students provide strategic consultancy to one of DDB’s (advertising agency) clients on a hot marketing issue. For example:
    • how to make a theme park more customer-centric; 
    • how to launch a blockbuster in the video games industry.

Students wishing to launch their startup company while continuing their marketing education can do so.

First term: 

  • Students follow core courses to acquire the necessary credits then apply to the startup launchpad. 
  • In case of successful application, they can follow up with the HEC Startup launchpad courses. Should their application fail, they can go on with the marketing program curriculum.  

Second term: 

  • Students accepted into the Launchpad follow the Launchpad courses and grab the opportunity to develop their startup project. 

For 10 weeks, students carry out a consulting project with a company to help them solve a strategic issue. Students work in teams, two days a week, meet with the company and provide output along the way in landmark meetings. A final presentation closes the consulting mission and provides a fully-documented answer to the issue raised by the partner company. 
 

When possible, students participate in a study trip where they can learn about local businesses and grab the opportunity to network locally with companies of interest. 

At the end of the program, students hand in a thesis on a topic of their choice. The thesis can be fully research-based or more practitioner-oriented. Each student benefits from the tutorship of a member of the HEC Paris faculty. 

The thesis is a one-of-kind opportunity to combine conceptual thinking, hands-on practice and business decision-making in the same exercise. 

It provides students with the opportunity to broaden their scope of interest, to deepen their expertise on a topic and to attract companies’ attention on the job market.

The professional experience requirement is satisfied when the student completes a professional experience of at least 4 months in fields related to their coursework at HEC Paris. It is, however, important to stress that this professional experience may not be an internship per se.

Our policy at HEC Paris is that the best type of internship is a full-time job! We strongly encourage our students to look for permanent hiring as soon as the academic year starts.

In order to maximize the students’ career opportunities, job market workshops aim to better prepare them for their job search and cover topics like CV presentation, assessment centers and handling interviews. This specific individual support complements the services brought by the Career department.

As an international business school, HEC Paris welcomes students from all over the world. Almost one hundred nationalities live on the campus. It's a fantastic opportunity to discover other cultures and to share exceptional moments, and it's important that students can communicate as much as they wish.

HEC Paris Learning Center of Languages aims at helping students to learn or strengthen any language they would like, providing a wide range of I.T. and print resources.

Students do not need to speak French to enroll in the program as all core courses and most electives are offered in English. However, some knowledge of French can be useful to enjoy the full HEC experience, become professionally bicultural and optimize networking with French students and alumni. This is why HEC Paris offers optional French language classes.

Prior to their studies, students may also register for a two week French language course (TEF certificate – all levels) in August. This is an exceptional opportunity to learn French before joining the Campus (extra fees are applicable).


Certificates

Sponsored by a company, Certificates are a set of interdisciplinary courses corresponding to approximately 100 contact hours as well as business projects and other types of field work related to a given sector. Each student selected (in the 1st semester) for a certificate will be awarded an additional HEC certificate if he/she validates all the requirements of the course.

Certification

This program is accredited to grant a Master’s degree under European Standards and, by extension, are registered on RNCP (Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles)

See the RNCP document for MKG

 

 Logo RNCP


The grade of master, or master's degree, is acquired through various diplomas, officially establishes the level of training at bac + 5. It comes after the bachelor's degree (bac + 3) and precedes the doctorate (bac + 8). It is translated into a number of credits (ECTS): a student with a diploma conferring the grade of master has accumulated 300 ECTS (180 during their bachelor's degree and 120 for the master's degree) during his or her higher education studies, allowing him or her to continue on to a doctorate. Degrees were introduced in France to facilitate European mobility of students and the integration of diplomas between European countries

HEC Paris is accredited by the “Bienvenue en France” certification, by the Campus France organization and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation for the quality of the reception of its international students. We have obtained the highest level of accreditation, recognizing the quality of HEC Paris for reception in all the criteria provided:

  • The quality and accessibility of information
  • Reception facilities and the integration process within school and life in France
  • Academic support and availability of English-speaking staff and the teaching community
  • Housing and quality of life on campus
  • The quality of post-graduation follow-up and career placement

 

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Your Degree

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Our degrees are verified by the Verifdiploma, service in France and abroad.

Disability Program for Learners

This program is adapted and open to people with disabilities.

Click here to find out more about the HEC Paris Disability Mission

Contact us : esh@hec.fr

 

Latest update: 19/03/2025

The content on the website is not binding. All information, dates, prices, course content may change over time.