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Course information

Learning outcomes

This class will teach students the value of creativity in organizations, particularly in marketing. While creativity and innovation are frequently mentioned in company mission statements, companies often struggle to foster them internally. Students will learn why creativity fails in organizations and how to prevent these issues. 

The course focuses specifically on group and organizational creativity, emphasizing
cross-functional creativity and its significance in areas like new product development and marketing communications. Students are encouraged to see themselves as future change agents within organizations. They will acquire tools to establish processes and environments that promote creativity with tangible outcomes. 

The overall goal of this class is to enhance students’ appreciation for creativity and to provide strategies for nurturing it throughout the organization, especially in marketing operations.

Content

• Brainstorming
• Various divergence and convergence techniques
• Ethnographic methods
• New product development
• Brand storytelling

Teacher

Hedon Blakaj

Study material

Reading materials will be uploaded on MyCourses before the course starts.

Workload
 

• Class participation
• Individual assignments
• Independent work
• Group assignment and peer evaluation

Lectures are highly interactive. Student presentations are expected. Students must prepare for each session and are assumed to participate actively in the classroom discussions.

Prerequisites

Recommended prerequisites: Markkinoinnin perusteet (Introduction to Marketing) or Markkinoinnin johtaminen (Marketing management).

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated based on their class participation (during and before lectures), individual essays, class exercises, and a group assignment. 

The group assignment will be the biggest contributor to the overall grade. Groups may be expected to complete peer evaluations to ensure balanced participation.

Passing the course requires completing assignments and obtaining at least 50%.

Teaching time and location

This course is taught fully online via Zoom. Lectures are highly interactive and participation is expected. Students must prepare for each session and are assumed to participate actively in the classroom discussions.

The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the final assignments starting from the final assignment date.

Exam instructions at the Open UniversityOpen University exam halls

Further information

Equivalences to other courses: MARK-C0079 Driving Creativity and Innovation in Marketing: User-Centric Innovations, MARK-C1079 Driving Creativity and Innovation in Marketing: Consumer Insights and Creative Transformations,23C79000 New Product Development,23C79050 Innovations in an Age of Constant Change, 23E76050 Creativity in Marketing.

Online learning environment for the course  

MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.

Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses (link will be updated later)

More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.

Registration and course fee

Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below: 

Registration for this course starts on 23.3.2026 at 9.00  
Registration for this course ends on  at 23.59

It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.

The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules

If you are an attending degree student at Aalto University, it is possible for you to complete this course for free of charge during summer 2026. Registration is done normally in Sisu. Please make sure that you have the correct course code in your study plan before registering to the course. You can check the course code from the top of this page.

Instructions for course registration (for Aalto degree students)

Read more about Aalto University's summer studies:
Summer studies The number of participants is limited to 50. 
This course is organized by the Aalto University Open University.

Activating Aalto ID and Multifactor Authentication

You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course.
Instructions for activating your Aalto user ID

Once you have activated your Aalto user ID, also enable multifactor authentication. Some of Aalto University's services require multifactor authentication.

Instructions for using Multifactor Authentication