My name is Verena, I’m 26 years old and from Germany. I was always dreaming of studying my postgraduate Marketing course in the heart of London and in a very international environment. I finally decided to study Marketing Communications at the Westminster Business School because of its very multi-faceted character, broad scope and practical application.
During the whole year, we were working on a variety of very interesting and challenging projects. But undoubtedly, the ‘cherry on top’ was the residential weekend in Cambridge as preparation for our individual dissertations.
One week before the workshop we were given a real client brief, on which we were working in smaller groups of 5-6 students. Our task was to apply the gained knowledge of all course modules and to create an Integrated Marketing Communications campaign on base of this case study and its requirements.
On Friday morning we all left together to Cambridge where we were welcomed by our course teachers in the Moller Centre. After arriving, the separate groups sat together and continued working on their presentations. During the whole preparation time, we were able to consult our teachers and discuss our ideas with them. Since everyone of them is an expert in their field with an extremely broad expertise, we were able to benefit of their advices a lot. They explained their point of views but supported us also in crafting the very individual character of our projects. Through these personal discussions, I personally was able to gain a deeper understanding of the different IMC tools, their practical application and interplay. All groups took the task very serious and worked until very late in order to show their best practice.
On Saturday morning we had time to finalise and practice our presentations before it got serious in presentation round 1 – we had to present our final projects in front of two teachers and compete with the presentations of 4 other groups. After this stage the best three overall presentations were announced for round 2 where the presentations were hold in front of all students. This allowed us to compare our own campaigns with the best ones and to see what we could have done differently. Overall, it was extremely interesting to observe the various approaches each group took. All presentations were based on the same brief but still very diverse campaigns were created.
Just like the motto ‘work hard, play hard’, on Saturday night we were rewarded with a formal and glamorous Champagne reception followed by a delicious three-course menu in Peterhouse College, the oldest college of the University of Cambridge. After the dinner, the final winners for the best IMC campaign presentation were announced and teachers as well as course reps found cordial and hearty words summarising the whole course years. The final day, Sunday, was free and we were able to discover Cambridge and its traditions – with punting on the canal.
Summarising, I have to state that I learned a lot during the weekend in Cambridge even though the lectures and seminars were already over. But also we all were able to get to know each other and the teachers better. I’m sure all of us will remember these days as the time when we all grew a little more together – in a magnificent and inspiring environment.
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