Name and position of the participant lecturer and other supporting staff if relevant

Zita, KOMÁR PhD

Assistant professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of Marketing and Communication Science, Department of Marketing and Design communication

Name of the course and discipline, level and year of study and any useful background info.

Creative Media Planning and Advertising (Marketing Master degree course, 1-2 year)

intensive week project

Name of community partner and/or any other supporting partners (public or private sector)

NEO Magyar Segítőkutya Közhasznú Egyesület (NEO Hungarian Service Dog Association)

CERL project title(s)

Awareness raising marketing campaigns for NEO

Can you provide any tangible info – e.g. module descriptor, learning outcomes, assignments, assessment criteria – please copy paste below if yes – NB Get module code

NEO described their need for more professional campaigns that support their fundraising and social awareness raising work.

4 group assignments included a campaign and proposal for CSR cooperation, fundraising 1% tax offering, youth and wider population’s awareness on the work of service dogs

How was it taught:

1.      number of students

2.      student groupwork or individual,

3.      how they worked with the partner,

4.      how the project proceeded,

5.      any reflection done with students,

6.      evaluation or formal assessment of their learning,

7.      Could or should we follow up with students?

8.      tech used

9.      Anything else interesting?

10.   For how long have you been teaching this course, and since when there is a community partner involved?

1.      21 students

2.      groupwork, project-work

3.      students worked on the partner’s marketing communication strategy, creating an advertising campaign for the partner (student groups worked together as creative agencies, providing different creative and marketing solutions to the presented case of the partner)

4.      NEO presented the case on the first day (day 1), then student’s groups of 4 (playing the role of competing creative agencies) put together a marketing plan and a creative advertising campaign in consonance with the presented key ideas and goals of the partner (day 2-4). The groups focused on understanding and solving real life marketing problems and presented their campaigns to the partner and other student groups on the last day of the course (day 5). Community partner, lecturers and students evaluated and discussed all presentations together and the partner started to implement the result into real life in the weeks to follow.

5.      Student reflected on their own and each other’s works during the project week and later, at the end of the semester they had oral consultations with the lecturers to discuss their learnings and professional outcomes of the course. Some students (2) even started to work with the community partner as volunteers, which was an unexpected and extremely satisfying result of the course.

6.      Students had to take an oral exam at the end of the course, which contained their personal and group level reflections on their work and also a professional discussion of the implemented marketing solutions and the creative campaign itself in order to develop their skills and deepen the understanding of the course material and the importance of community engaged learning.

7.      We plan to follow up with students by keeping in touch with the volunteers of last year (inviting them to next year’s course as “brand ambassadors” and student mentors) and also we have agreed to continue the work with the partner on marketing planning, creative and strategical communication projects (implemented into next year’s course).

8.      none

9.      Students became extremely engaged and interested in working with community partner as they realized this was a unique opportunity to create a marketing campaign that might have a real impact (so that the learning material transparently concluded in practical project-based peer-learning situations). They have also reflected on the emotional sides of helping community partners in solving real life issues by putting their professional knowledge into the service of a good cause. They have understood that marketing is not only important for multinational companies, it’s rather more essential to small organizations with high social impact but low financial opportunities to hire a marketing specialist.

10.   I have been teaching this course since 2016 (4 courses yearly of which we have 2 regular courses and 2 intensive week courses in each semester) with different co-working colleagues. Since 2017 we’ve been involving community partners in the course and started to work together with Corvinus Science Shop in 2018.

What did you CHANGE about your programme/course in relation to CERL during CIRCLET?

We put more emphasis on the community partner’s issues and expectations, so we started to have more discussions before the course and worked together on the presented cases. This way as lecturers we became more involved in projects. We also had a follow up session with the science shop staff, community partner and the lecturers not only for evaluating the course project collaboration but also to think about how the multiple campaign ideas designed by students can be prioritized and implemented.

CHALLENGES and how you overcame them?

It was not easy to understand the point of the community partner and to find partners with specific marketing communication projects and achievable goals. It also took time to fit their availability with the time schedule of the semester – which can be very different then the organization’s own time schedule. Finally, we agreed to have more pre-work (before the course) and actively worked together with the partner on the case and the presented marketing brief. At the same time, we asked Corvinus Science Shop to pre-select the possible partners for us and also to connect us with these partners and to support the first steps and meetings as professional “matchmakers”. The latter made it easier to understand different points of view and to find common ground.

What did your STUDENTS LEARN or how will they benefit?

Students learned how to implement marketing ideas into real life projects, experienced intensive, peer-learning based groupwork and understood that both creativity and professional knowledge are needed to solve a case which all have made them become more committed to this field. They have also become more self-reflective and more open to different points of view, and managed to try what it feels like to work for a creative agency, and present to a customer. This way students had an insight into the life and tasks of a marketing specialist and became more open to the idea to work for smaller companies, organizations or even to support these organizations as professional volunteers later on.

What do you think the BENEFIT was TO THE PARTNER?

The partner received many different ideas and solutions presented to them regarding their existing (sometimes blocking) problem, and also reported to have understood the basics of marketing. This way the course shaped the mindset of parties involved (students, partners, lecturers) and made them become more aware of the importance and different manifestations of marketing for them.

HOW could/will you IMPROVE YOUR CERL teaching practice next time?

We will work with the same community partner for a longer period of time (not just 1 or 2 semesters) to help them in the long run, moreover, we also plan to create a threefold cooperation between the partner, the lecturer and the students with more emphasis on the student actions.

3 TANGIBLE PIECES OF ADVICE you would give to someone starting a CERL project with students?

1. Select the community partner carefully and have as many preparatory discussions as you can to make sure you share the same goals;

2. Put students into a non-conventional learning atmosphere and let them manage and lead actions so that they can experience leadership and co-working (project-based learning) rather than teaching them how to solve a case;

3. Involve local science shop agencies and other professionals so that they can help you prepare for the course 

Any good, QUOTABLE FEEDBACK you received from students, partners, colleagues, family, etc.?

“I have never imagined that I will work for a non-profit company, but now I can’t imagine to work on multinational company’s campaigns again. It was so rewarding for me to join this course, not just professionally but personally as well” (student feedback)

“Now I understand what marketing is good for and why we need it.” (partner’s feedback)