Interview with Prof. Jia Jianmin | The Advantages of SME Marketing Programme

Prof. Jia Jianmin

Probably the First Programme with AI Marketing Concentration in Asia

Why is big data so important to marketing? Because it can help companies reach their targeted customers. For example, the effect of marketing is more obvious among the 5% customers chosen by AI, and thus 95% of marketing costs can be saved. “Companies may lose a small number of costumers, but the overall ROI is still high.” Prof. Jia is relentlessly committed to promoting digital marketing in recent years and introduces the AI Marketing concentration to the Master’s programme.

According to Prof. Jia, five courses out of the seven compulsory courses are related to “data”, including Marketing Research in the Digital Age, Big Data Marketing Strategy, Communications in the Digital Age, Digital and Social Media Marketing, Customer Relationship Management. Apart from traditional marketing courses, the elective ones cover cutting-edge areas like AI, the internet of things (IOT), retail technology, data mining and analysis for marketing studies. “Probably we are the first to launch the programme with AI marketing concentration in Asia. Companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, JD, Ping An, SenseTime, have huge demands for AI marketing talents, so we need to keep up with changes in the market and keep pace with the time”.

Internships at Big Names of the Field to Build Valuable Networks

Prof. Jia Jianmin was the Director of the Department of Marketing at CUHK Business School, and he also serves as a member of the National MBA Advisory Committee, and a member of the Expert Consultation of the Management Sciences Department of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has extensive networks both in the academia and industry.

In terms of teaching method, Prof. Jia introduced that the combination of cases studies and practices is applied to both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The programme provides data training for the undergraduates, leading them to analyze and explore the essence behind data. “For postgraduates, the programme offers internships at IT companies such as Tencent, SenseTime, and IBM, and financial companies, such as Ping An. Guided by practitioners, our students can solve practical problems for companies”. Prof. Jia said, “imparting knowledge is important, but we also hope to cultivate students’ capabilities of critical thinking and problem solving.”

International Faculty Team and English-Taught Education

“There is no doubt that our faculty and courses are on an international level”, said Prof. Jia. In line with the standards of other SME programmes, the faculty member of marketing programmes received Ph.D. degrees from prestigious universities overseas, providing multi-dimensional thinking and visions for students. Besides, many professors are industry experts in China’s market. Compared with their peers abroad, they have clear understandings of and sharp insights into China and Asia’s markets. “Combining China and the world, close linkage of marketing to data, technology, and innovation, are the advantages of this programme”.

The faculty team is composed of young scholars and experienced professors, as well as experts with many years of professional experience in marketing. Prof. Jia said, he hopes our education and training can cultivate our students to be the marketing talents with global perspective and Chinese tradition. He also hopes the students are also good at innovation and technological applications. According to his analysis, students mainly seek jobs in a wide range of industries, especially in the financial industry.