Course Details

AI-Native Marketing: The Intelligent Marketing Operating System
MKTG-468-0
1.0 CR
Elective
PASS / NO CREDIT
Yes (may vary by section)
DESCRIPTION
I designed this course with a simple premise. Most companies have bolted AI onto marketing without changing how marketing really works. The tools improve isolated tasks, but not the system they plug into. A generative AI tool may write great ad copy that the personalization engine never sees. A predictive model can flag high-propensity customers that the campaign execution platform can't reach in time. The tools work. The system doesn't. This course teaches you to architect marketing as an AI-native system. The course is based on a framework I have developed, called the Intelligent Marketing Operating System (I-MOS) that treats marketing as a continuous, connected system rather than a collection of disconnected campaigns and tools. Think of it the way you think about the operating system on your phone: it doesn't do any single task, but without it, nothing runs reliably. I-MOS has two dimensions. The first is seven marketing workflows that define what marketing must accomplish: understand the customer (Sense, Focus), design customer journeys and campaigns (Design, Orchestrate); and execute and optimize the campaigns (Attract, Execute, Learn). The second is an operating architecture that makes the workflows run as a connected whole. We will get into the architecture in detail during the course. For now, the key insight is simple: the output of each workflow feeds the next, and the system learns continuously. Two things make this moment different from anything that came before in marketing. Generative AI can now produce and personalize content at a speed that was unimaginable two years ago. And Agentic AI offers software agents that can reason, plan, and act on their own within boundaries you set. Generative AI gave marketing a powerful new engine. Agentic AI provides the nervous system that connects sense to action to learning. Together, they make a true marketing operating system possible for the first time. The course is anchored in Jobs-to-be-Done: the functional and emotional needs that drive customer behavior. Every workflow starts with the customer, not the technology. I-MOS ensures that the system's efficiency never replaces customer insight. This is an important concept I call the Insight Gap, which is the strategic judgment that only humans can provide. This course will equip you with both analytical skills (technology, data, decision logic) and creative expertise (content, storytelling, brand voice). The course includes seven original case studies, a hands-on lab, and a Capstone Project where your team will design an AI-First Marketing Playbook for a real brand. This is a greenfield course. Every case and module was created in 2026.
TRACKS
Marketing Major
Technology Management Pathway
SCHEDULE SUMMARY
Spring 2026
CH
EV

CH (Chicago)
EV (Evanston)
DayTime
Evening
Saturdays
Popup
PREREQUISITES
Prerequisites:
All Students: (MKTG-430-0 OR MKTG-430-5 OR MKTG-435-0 OR MKTGM-430-0)