On January 6-7, the DMAW Educational Foundation hosted a two-day seminar for marketing professors from colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic area. Here are three reasons why this annual coming-together is good news for you.
- Many of your new hires in the next few years will come from the schools where these professors teach marketing: Bowie State, American U., Drexel, James Madison, Christopher Newport, George Mason, Towson, Virginia State University, Radford, Johns Hopkins, Salisbury, UDC, Robert Morris, GWU, Pennsylvania State… the number of participating colleges and universities is growing.
- Twenty-three attending professors heard about industry trends from your experienced marketing colleagues. For example:
- Janet Tonner, CDR Fundraising Group, told attendees how CDRFG attributes the effect of its popular “Wounded Warrior” television messaging [DRTV] alongside such other channels as direct mail, email, telemarketing and advertising.
- Steve MacKley, Beaconfire/Red Engine, evaluated “snackable content” like infographics and email banners and reviewed online software applications like piktochart and CANVA. One of the attending professors endorsed piktochart, saying, “My students really appreciate an assignment where they can be creative.”
- Aynat Ravin is in charge of helping Marriott figure out how to attract Millennials to the company’s rewards program. The challenge to choose among Marriott’s 18 separate brands proved not-so-easy, said Aynat, but PI attendees appreciated learning which strategies worked and which fell short.
- Steve Zdanowicz described how Quad Graphics/BLUESOHO helps clients leverage data and insights to take the message beyond print to mobile. This popular session scored high across the board.
- With the growing focus on data and technology, Chris Beauchemin and Kris Murphy from LMO Advertising presented a marketing automation study.
- CDRFG’s Katy Jordan and Courtney Mulcahy joined LMO’s Kris Murphy to arm professors with the carry-home career information marketing students need right now: job descriptions, required qualifications, and salary ranges.
One hundred percent of attending professors said they will recommend the Professors’ Institute to colleagues. Professors’ Institute is your best – maybe your only — connection to the young professionals who will be entering your marketplace next year and beyond.
Finally, thank you, Production Management Group and Merkle for your generous sponsorship of the DMAW/EF Professor’s Institute!
P.S. Two other DMAW/EF programs — Mentor-for-A-Day and the Spring and Fall Collegiate MAXI Awards — also offer chances for marketing professionals to interact with the new generation. To get involved with any DMAW/EF program, contact DMAW/EF Program Co-Chairs Liz Murphy and Katy Jordan. Email addresses are listed at dmawef.org.