Real briefs. Real results.

Marketing and Advertising

The world needs storytellers and the marketing industry needs brilliant creative brains – like yours. Learn to work like an agency, think like a strategist, and graduate with the portfolio to prove it.

View Courses Book an Open Day 

Advertising student art work for Gradfest 2024

Your Marketing and Advertising degree means live briefs from real brands, real deadlines to hit, and the only marketing degree in the UK recognised by three professional bodies at once.

Learn by doing

You’ll work on live briefs set by real brands from year one, so you graduate with a portfolio, not just a personal statement.

Get ahead before you graduate

With hands-on industry experience during your degree, you’ll work with real employers who are already looking for people like you.

Your experience, accredited

One qualification, three industry stamps of approval — CIM, PRCA and IDM all recognise our Marketing degree course, giving you credibility most graduates spend years building after they leave.

The real thing

You won't sit a single exam on these courses — you'll be assessed through campaigns, pitches and case studies, the same way the industry actually judges your work.

An image of the Atrium building with text that reads

Why Study Advertising?

Student chidiebere Ejiogu leans on their lap and smiles at the camera while sat in front of a red backdrop

An example of student work that shows mockups of subway ads. The ads are for Louis Vuitton 'The Cafe' and show line drawings of a person drinking coffee and coffee being poured.

Advertising - BA (Hons)

Discover how to turn ideas into influence, build your creative confidence and strategic skills to craft advertising that makes people stop, think, and engage.

Marketing and Advertising Add to course compare

Marketing - BSc (Hons)

You’ll leave with valuable experience and credentials from CIM, PRCA, and IDM, ready to make your mark.

Marketing and Advertising Add to course compare

Marketing including Foundation Year - BSc (Hons)

The Marketing Foundation Year introduces you to key business and marketing concepts while developing essential academic and professional skills.

Marketing and Advertising Saved

Strategic and Digital Marketing - MSc

Think critically, innovate, and build your confidence in applying AI-driven marketing strategies to real work-based challenges, grounded in core studies of sustainable marketing and experiential marketing design.

Marketing and Advertising Add to course compare

Did you know?

Marketing at USW is top in Wales for overall student satisfaction and top in the UK for teaching quality (National Student Survey 2026).

Did you know?

Top in the UK

Marketing and Public Relations at USW is top in the UK.

Guardian University Guide 2027

Marketing at USW is top in Wales for overall student satisfaction and top in the UK for teaching quality (National Student Survey 2026).

WHY USW?

Work for Nike

You'll work on live briefs from major brands like Nike, Au Vodka and Google, developed for our Advertising students — with the deadlines and expectations of the real thing, because that's exactly what it is. Live briefs have included major brands like Amazon, Clarins, Fosters, and Pringles, and working with these projects has led to internships and job opportunities.

Sell yourself

You'll have opportunities to work to a real budget and a real deadline set by a working agency — and if it's good enough, they might use it for real.

Don’t just present it – pitch it

The advertising industry doesn’t do exams. It runs on pitch decks, presentations and campaigns – and that’s exactly what you’ll get familiar with here.

On-the-job tools

Get hands-on with the same platforms marketers use every day — Google Analytics, HubSpot and Hootsuite — so you can list hands-on experience with industry-standard software on your CV.

Graduate Futures

Graduate Futures is our careers fair designed to boost employability and connect students directly with industry. Bringing together a wide range of employers, the event helps students explore opportunities, gain insights, and build the confidence and connections needed for their next steps.

Great Facilities

Our Cardiff students have access to a range of facilities to support them in their studies from a podcasting suite and photography studio perfect for student collaboration.

Cardiff

Our courses are based in the heart of Cardiff, ensuring that you have access to our partners on our doorstep in the capital city.

Cardiff Campus

Creative Graduate Festival

Creative Graduate Festival is an online showcase of final-year work from students across the USW Creative’ creative courses. It highlights the ideas, skills, and projects developed by students as they prepare for careers in the creative industries.

Creative Graduate Festival 2025

Discovering my passion for Marketing Management

Chloe Buckley

Marketing student

A partnership between universities brought me to USW

Tina Hjertas

Advertising student

A student sat at a table, they are looking up and away from the camera.

Blending creativity and strategy through Marketing

Holly-Rose Jenkins

Marketing student

Working on live briefs and finding my creative path

Ivan Jenkins-Jones

Advertising student

Advancing my Marketing career with International Accreditation

Christopher Chidiebere Ejiogu

Marketing student

Blending business and creativity in Advertising

Sven Krister-Marnot

Advertising student

Marketing at USW helped launch my career with practical experience

Sam Dunlop

Marketing student

Getting creative in Cardiff – what to expect from an Advertising degree at USW

Jenna Drennan

Advertising student

Studying Marketing at USW gave me career goals, communication skills and real-world experience

Cole Vyas

Marketing student

Why I chose to study Advertising in Cardiff: a city that sparks ideas

Max Hussein

Advertising student

Take a virtual tour

Study in the heart of Cardiff

Cardiff is one of the most affordable cities in the UK too, so it’s perfect for cash-strapped students. There’s always something happening or new places to discover.

Cardiff Campus

Your student experience

Students' Union

Four students sat on steps outside the Cardiff Campus.

Support and Wellbeing

Student holing a lacrosse stick and wearing a USW Women’s Lacrosse tshirt.

Clubs and Societies

Upcoming Open Days

View all Open Days

Come and meet us on campus and see what makes us special. Discover our facilities, explore the campus, and meet academics from your course.

Undergraduate Open Day

24 October

Undergraduate Open Day

21 November

Digital Prospectus

Create your own personalised digital prospectus and explore the University of South Wales your way. Check out career-focused courses, see what student life’s really like, and build something around what matters to you.

Digital Prospectus