This video shows the Industry Workshop with DirectLine. “It was exciting and it was vibrant, and it was absolutely fantastic, one of the best things I’ve ever done” said one student.
“I’m sure I’ll be more confident and prepared as a result of this fantastic opportunity to learn with Unilever.” Student
Industry workshops bring Pearson College students together with company representatives to work together on real business problems. Industry partners provide a real-life business challenge for the class with teams of students working together and presenting to the business who provide feedback on their ideas.
This guest teaching activity bridges the gap between higher education and the world of work by introducing real-life scenarios, while also inspiring students into new careers and providing businesses with valuable new ideas.
Businesses who have worked with Pearson College in this way include Salesforce, BT, L’Oreal, Direct Line, Savills and Unilever.
Industry Workshop at Unilever
Pearson College students visit Unilever
Pearson College students took part in an Industry Workshop at Unilever headquarters on Victoria Embankment. They were able to hear from a range of senior company figures.
One student shared his experience:
“Walter Susini – Vice President of Global Brands Creative Excellence, talked brilliantly on how different Unilever brands are developed and then marketed to customers. This has given me a great insight into top level innovative marketing and brand development ready for our marketing module in the New Year. We were then set the task of analysing a brand we loved and the reasons behind this, before explaining our analysis to the group.”
“Debbie Weinstein, Vice President of Global Media gave a talk on viral media and how Unilever have been using it strategically to promote some of their products. She then set us a competition in groups to design a marketing campaign with innovative use of media. We presented our ideas in groups of three to different judges, the winner of each went into a final where we presented to everyone (including Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO, who just entered the room!). The winning team had a great idea, pitched it very well and were given the prize of dinner on Unilever!”
“I think the practice and development of team work and presentation skills during the tasks we were set is really great preparation for graduate and internship selection days as these are exactly the sort of activities that are set. I’m sure I’ll be more confident and prepared as a result of this fantastic opportunity to learn with Unilever.”
Savills Challenge
Pearson College student take part in an inudstry workshop with Savills
Global Property Agent Savills took part in an Industry workshop when they needed help with their graduate marketing campaign.
“A truly invaluable experience as it provided a flavour of real-life commercial tasks”
Student Emma Alison
Bursting with enthusiasm, students were allocated into teams of three and given the task of critically assessing Savills’ previous graduate campaigns, whilst also providing a ‘mock up’ of how their future campaigns could look and feel.
These ideas were to be presented to some of the senior Savills staff who would award the winners with a truly magnificent prize. Firstly, not only would an internship be up for grabs, but the contributed ideas would be used to construct the genuine article – the Savills Graduate Marketing campaign of 2014.
Student Emma Alison commented:
“I personally thrived on the competitive nature of the task, sparking off ideas with my peers and embracing a lot of creativity. Before this challenge I hadn’t considered a career in Marketing, but now I feel this is an area I would really love to explore.”
“The challenge was a truly invaluable experience as it provided a flavour of real-life commercial tasks which you simply cannot experience from a text book alone.”
“What’s more, networking with Savills has opened new doors as I am thrilled to say I have been offered the chance to undertake work-experience within their PR department. Bring on the next challenge!”
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