|
July 11, 2008
Marketing classes take learning outside of the classroom
Assistant Marketing Professor Sukki Yoon helps students gain hands-on experience in market research and advertising.
At Bryant, the goal of all junior and senior-level courses is to prepare students for the transition from the classroom setting to the real world.
Sukki Yoon, assistant professor of marketing, believes that working with actual companies is one of the best ways to help students make the connection between textbook theories and concepts and real business practices.
 
(Photo on the left) (L-R) Whitney Blatsos ’09 (Pembroke, NH) and Krstyna Sadowski '09 (Chicopee, MA) worked with Mini Melts as part of a Market Research course. (Photo on the right) Sukki Yoon, assistant professor of marketing.
In the spring, student in his Market Research (MKT 312) and Advertising Management (MKT 371) classes spent the semester sharpening their skills and preparing for their careers.
Yoon’s market research students, as well as Assistant Professor of Marketing Michael Gravier’s class, worked with Mini Melts, an Inc. 500 company that specializes in gourmet frozen deserts. The advertising management class worked with Ahlers Designs, a gift specialty shop headquartered in Pawtucket with locations around the country.
(L-R) Aisha Whichard '09 (West Haven, CT) and Adrian Fowler '10 (Lumberton, NJ) enjoy the Mini Melts blind taste test, which was conducted in the spring as part of a Market Research class project.
“A hands-on project always gives you invaluable experience you simply cannot learn from a textbook,” says Whitney Blatsos ’09 (Pembroke, NH), who helped conduct market research for Mini Melts.
After examining the company, competitors, and the industry as a whole, Blatsos and her classmates conducted a blind taste test of Mini Melts ice cream in the Koffler Rotunda on campus. The results were shared with the company’s CEO, Tom Mosey, to help him learn more about his customers.
Students enjoyed samples of ice cream as part of the class project. The results went directly to the Mini Melts CEO, Tom Mosey.
“I think the students learned a lot about how market research is done and how to handle the unpredictable nature of dynamic market forces,” says Yoon. “It was nice to see how they apply the concepts covered in class to a real-life setting.”
The students in the advertising management class spent the semester devising a marketing plan for Gail Ahlers, the founder of Ahlers Designs, to help her expand the reach of the company she started in 1989.
“I found the Bryant students to be a group of vibrant and enthusiastic young adults who were willing learn,” she says.
Ahlers says that the company has already implemented several of the group’s ideas including enhancing the business’s position on search engines, creating a promotional video, and improving market segmentation strategies.
(L-R) Krista Hoffmaster '09 (Alfred, ME), Amanda Dunne '09 (Salem, NH), Founder of Ahlers Designs Gail Ahlers, Michelle Lynn ’09 (Westborough, MA) , Cassandra Goryl ’09 (Burrillville, RI), Taylor Flavin '08 (Milton, MA), and Assistant MArketing Professor Sukki Yoon.
“It was very helpful to have a group of intelligent young minds with a fresh perspective on my company,” says Ahlers. “Their proposals and insights were interesting and varied.”
By working with Ahlers, Michelle Lynn ’09 (Westborough, MA) had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges faced by an entrepreneur.
“The experience I gained from doing this project has taught me more than I ever could have learned from just a textbook,” she says.
This summer Gina DiMarco ’09 (Wantagh, NY) is applying the skills she learned in the classroom – and from working with Ahlers – in her position as an account coordinator intern at Harrison Leifer DiMarco (HLD) a marketing and public relations firm in New York City.
(L-R) Gina DiMarco ’09 (Wantagh, NY), Matthew DeFudis '09 (West Boylston, MA), Assistant Professor of Marketing Sukki Yoon, Founder of Ahlers Designs Gail Ahlers, Shaun Dawson '10 (Covertry, RI), and Jason Dodier '09 (Cranston, RI).
“Working with Gail and interning this summer at HLD makes everything I learned in the classroom come to life,” says DiMarco.
Cassandra Goryl, ’09 (Burrillville, RI), a communication major and marketing minor, says the project helped her understand different advertising techniques that she learned in the classroom.
“I feel like I remembered the concepts and applied to them to a greater extent because we had a real client to impress and persuade,” she says.
|
