Department Marketing & Digital
The Department of Marketing & Digital brings together continuing education, degree programmes, research and knowledge transfer at the intersection of customer value and technological innovation. Guided by a strong entrepreneurial focus and a clear view of what matters, we are committed to strengthening the employability of our participants. We achieve this through a competence-oriented, systematically structured learning and development environment.
Shaping the future at the intersection of customer value and technology.
The Department of Marketing & Digital at HWZ stands for entrepreneurial education that is closely aligned with current developments and market needs. It creates spaces for orientation for both leaders and practitioners who seek to understand and actively shape digital transformation. We combine strategic foresight with technological expertise and human-centred thinking in one of the most dynamic fields of the economy.
Our continuing education portfolio is embedded in a systemic framework that connects three interrelated areas of competence.
- Executive education in communication
- Executive education in marketing
- Executive education in sales & retail
In addition, our department is responsible for the design and delivery of selected continuing education programmes in the area of integrating digital competences at leadership level:
Together with our students and partner organisations, we also set the right priorities in our degree programmes to strengthen the communication leaders of tomorrow:
What sets our department apart
Our didactic model is guided by “Human Vision”. It describes a mindset that brings technology, market needs and humanistic perspectives into balance. Each programme is both a building block and a stage of development. In this way, we consistently enable access (to knowledge, networks and markets), value (for practice and career), skills (for the digital reality) and outcomes (for organisations and society).
1. Strategy & transformation
We empower decision-makers to think about digital business models, organisational structures and leadership approaches in a customer-centric way. For us, transformation means taking responsibility in a strategic, agile and future-oriented manner.
2. Connection & experience
Customer centricity begins with understanding, evolves into meaningful connections and culminates in experiences. We teach how relevant sequences of interactions are created from data, empathy and technology across the entire customer journey and all touchpoints.
3. Technology & AI integration
From AI and data-driven marketing to the ethical dimensions of digital systems, we provide orientation in a rapidly evolving technological landscape, in a practice-oriented, critically reflected and directly applicable way.
4. Exchange & growth
Modern sales approaches combine structured methods with a strong understanding of people. Our programmes foster sales capability as well as an understanding of sustainable growth in both B2B and B2C contexts.
Bringing knowledge into impact: research and development collaborations
n addition to our continuing education portfolio and our involvement in degree programmes, we actively engage in practice-oriented research at the intersection of market, technology and society. Our project formats are designed for companies and organisations that seek to explore specific questions using scientifically grounded methods, whether through exploratory market studies, experimental pilots or the development of digital prototypes.
Our expertise ranges from AI-supported communication analysis and the study of new value creation logics in the platform economy to research on consumer behaviour in fragmented attention economies. Together with organisations, we design knowledge transfer projects that generate clear, evidence-based, practice-relevant and actionable value.
Such collaborations can be funded either by the participating organisation or through third-party funding. This may include instruments such as Innosuisse innovation vouchers, industry-specific funding programmes or public project funding. As a private, compact and agile university, we place particular emphasis on co-creation, transparent communication and methodological clarity. In this way, we generate insights that can be directly applied.
Research areas of the Department of Marketing & Digital at HWZ
The structure of the Department of Marketing & Digital is based on a holistic framework that systematically connects four key areas of competence: Strategy & Transformation, Connection & Experience, Technology & AI Integration, and Exchange & Growth. At its core is the ambition to combine technological developments with entrepreneurial thinking and humanistic foresight.
This structure not only provides orientation within our educational offering, but also forms the conceptual foundation for our applied research. The resulting thematic areas enable modular project collaborations that can be tailored to specific needs, ranging from exploratory studies and prototype development to knowledge transfer formats.
Impact of digital business model innovation on brand management and organisational culture
Decision-making processes in hybrid marketing, sales and corporate leadership structures (AI-augmented leadership)
Organisational resilience in the tension between automation and agility
Strategic foresight through data-driven market intelligence
Success factors of digital business strategy in SMEs
Potential partners: strategy consultancies, corporate development units, corporate innovation hubs, Innosuisse projects with a focus on business model transformation
AI-based personalisation vs. privacy expectations: balancing the customer journey
Emotion analytics in experience optimisation
Impact of agentic marketing on customer satisfaction
Sustainability as an experiential factor in brand communication
Measurement models for 'customer trust' in digital ecosystems
Data-driven enablement of customer and stakeholder relationships
Potential partners: CX platform providers, agencies, retail and service companies, insurers, NGOs with a focus on user centricity
Explainable AI in marketing decision-making: trust and transparency
Ethical evaluation frameworks for automated communication
Use of generative AI in content creation and evaluation
Data strategies for SMEs: from data governance to applied analytics
Interface economy: how APIs are redefining marketing processes
Potential partners: tech start-ups, SaaS providers, AI specialists, IT departments of larger organisations, public sector organisations with a focus on digitalisation
Predictive sales: how AI is transforming the sales cycle
Behavioural pricing in digital contexts
Impact of digital channels on B2B purchasing decision processes
AI-supported needs assessment in customer service
Value-based selling: data-driven sales argumentation
Potential partners: sales organisations, platform providers, CRM and ERP integrators, business development units, MedTech and industrial companies
Collaborations & Network
The Department of Marketing & Digital works closely with educational institutions and industry organisations. These partnerships strengthen the exchange between continuing education, research and practice, and help to identify and further develop emerging trends in marketing, communication and technology at an early stage.
Institutional executive education partnerships
Ad School
MAZ – Institut für Journalismus und Kommunikation
Schweizerische Textakademie
Patronage partners
Com Impact
SWA – Schweizer Werbe-Auftraggeberverband
LSA – Leading Swiss Agencies
