CHICAGO, IL (June 30, 2008) - Although it is known for being one of the nation’s premiere urban arts and communications schools, Columbia College Chicago might not be the first institution that comes to mind when considering the growing landscape of global marketing.
However, this summer, Columbia College Chicago and FCB Prague, the Czech affiliate of Draftfcb, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, partnered to create the Summer Session in Prague. The goal of the month-long Global Marketing Workshop, was to expose senior level students to the global marketing issues in the Czech Republic and European Union, (e.g.. energy, immigration, and food pricing, among others).
Of the fourteen students chosen, twelve are Marketing Communications majors, one is studying Arts Entertainment and Media Management, and one student is from the Journalism Department. Each student brings their own individual viewpoint and diverse experience to the month-long program of study.
The relationship between Prague and Columbia College Chicago was initiated seven years ago through the Fiction Writing Department’s on-going Summer Writing Session. This summer marked the first ever study-abroad program for the Marketing Communications Department, further strengthening the Prague/Chicago connection.
The Prague Workshop, which was organized by Department Chair Margaret Sullivan and Associate Chair Tom Hamilton, provided students with access to the expertise of guest lecturers from various facets of the marketing and advertising community, including non-traditional media (Petr Frey, PhD, Director, Integrated Communications, FCB Prague); marketing cultural institutions (Zuzana Hudecová, Account Executive for Karlin Musical Theatre, FCB Prague); similarities and differences between Czech and other European consumers (Matěj Černý, copywriter, FCB Prague); and use of transit advertising in the Czech Republic and Europe (Tomaš Lauko, Strategic Supervisor, Carat Czech Republic).
Liz Gump, Senior Vice President of FCB Prague and a Chicago native, was integral in syllabus development and assembling the guest speakers for the summer program. In addition to her work with FCB Prague, Ms. Gump has been a guest professor of Commercial Communications at University of Economics Prague in the Department of International Relations.
The fourteen Columbia students, all of whom were personally interviewed by Associate Chair Tom Hamilton, engaged Columbia’s “hands-on, minds-on” learning approach during their time in Prague where they applied basic marketing principles to real-life, problem-solving situations with creative professionals. What better way to push the creative envelope than to be immersed in a beautiful city, rich with culture, history, and architecture, to work on an independent project to market a famous Czech glass company, and still finding time to meet with U.S. Ambassador Richard Graber. It seems art and marketing aren’t such strange bedfellows after all. Visit http://cms.colum.edu/prague to read the students’ blog entries.
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