Residency Wrap-Up

In the next two weeks, Medill’s IMC students will complete the most practical component of their academic program – the summer residency. The 11-week spell spent on a real-world project has been a thoroughly enriching, yet unique experience. For one thing the dual pressure of working professionally with a grade at the back of the mind is something I am sure none of us has ever experienced, nor is likely to. Another interesting facet has been the exposure to different company setups and different types of projects. And third, whether one may describe it as ‘on-the-job-training’ or ‘an academic internship’, there has been a great amount of learning, the kind one can never get in the classroom.

There are two interesting parts to residency grading. Part of the evalution criteria lies in making a short video about the experience. The main goal of this video is aptly summed up by Medill IMC Residency Advisor Caitlin Lyttle Crotty, “…to help you learn how to talk about your residency in terms of a business problem that you solved.” If granted permission by residency sponsors, these videos will also be posted on YouTube, a platform which in the past few years as you may know has become entwined with all things captured on a video camera.

A residency-related special treat also awaits incoming students and this forms another portion of our grades. All summer residents will get to briefly present their work on stage at the Forum during the Fall Quarter. The administration has made these presentations mandatory for newbies – a move that will really help immerse new students into the program.

New students, prospective employers and others intrigued by the nature of the summer residency may wish to explore http://www.youtube.com/IMCResidency2007, where last year’s summer residents tell you about their experiences.

………Ateeq Abdul Rauf

Shanghai Residency: Tour Diary

Medill IMC’s global residents are back from sumptuous Shanghai.

Shanghai was sizzling…in more ways than one. In the more apparent way, the weather was rather warm. It was common to experience temperatures up to 90 degrees during the day and, on top of that, the women among us had to wear business casual and high heels. But Shanghai also sizzled because it was a great trip in terms of the exposure we received to a new culture, new people and, of course, a new way of working.

19 students and two faculty members made the two week sojourn to China. The IMC student contingent was split into four groups. Two groups worked on the corporate side (Pizza Hut and KFC), while two teams were assigned ad agency projects (Draftfcb and McCann Erickson).

The team working on Dannon (a Draftfcb client) led a very healthy lifestyle during the trip as their work involved understanding breakfast preferences for Chinese locals. They woke up very early to be on the streets at 7 AM to observe food stands (and consequently fall asleep by 9 in the evening).

The Pizza Hut group had their entire schedule mapped out by by the client (including the weekends). The Pizza Hut staff also ensured that the team had their fair share of Pizza Hut cuisine!

Serious work in Shanghai

The KFC team tuned into amazing presentations one after the other and visited the offices of three client partners: Ogilvy-Shanghai (a creative agency), Synovate (a market research agency), and Tencent QQ (an online portal and instant messaging service).

The students assigned to Puma, a McCann Erickson client, also found themselves traversing the Shanghai streets to visit sports stores. McCann Erickson had given the IMCers a lot to explore, and they were assigned to build Puma’s brand image in the face of stiff international and local competition.

IMC’s global residency teams also listened to a presentation by Yum! Brands on KFC, Pizza Hut and East Dawning (a Chinese fast food restaurant). The same afternoon Prof. Frank Mulhern gave a talk on “What is IMC” for Yum! Brands - China employees and had in-depth discussions with them afterwards.

The KFC team with employees of YUM! Brands - China

It wasn’t all work though. Yes, we worked hard, but we played even harder. We went out at night. The students collectively tried many cuisines around Shanghai. Several of us took a trip on Huangpu River to appreciate the magnificent night view.

The IMC Welcome Drink on the night of July 7 was a great success. The venue, Bar Rouge, has a breathtaking view and served as a great treat for the newly arriving IMCers. In addition to the touring group, 7 alumni and 6 from the upcoming class of 2009 joined us (even though only two were part of my contact list). 3 more potential IMC candidates also arrived to pleasantly surprise us, and one of them had traveled all the way from Beijing!

Before returning we also gathered for a Shanghai experience-sharing dinner. We also united once more to celebrate the birthdays of our beloved Prof. Mulhern and classmate Bronwen Murray.

All in all we had a great time in Shanghai.

……….Wendy Hsiao-wen Chen

Back to Work

Tttttrrrrinnnnggg! The alarm wails through the air. It’s 7.30 AM on a mid-summer Monday morning. And after a lapse of nearly 12 months, I am on the job again.

It’s been a superb fall, winter and spring at Medill IMC. But for now at least, it’s a return to the real world. Nearly all my fellow classmates at Medill IMC have been enrolled in the three-unit summer residency. The summer program, a substitute for coursework, is highly recommended and gives students a chance to exhibit practical application of the learnings over the past three quarters.

Comparing a residency to an academic quarter in the classroom is like comparing an apple to a peach. Both have their pros and cons. But the great thing about the IMC program at Medill is that it allows you the opportunity to experience both. And even though I personally prefer coursework, there is a feeling this 11-week exercise may be equally significant, if not more so, when it comes to my future career.

Residencies are also important to most students as they fund tuition for the summer quarter.

You will find Medill IMC students applying their trade in residencies of every description this summer. From the very best advertising agencies in America located in sky-touching high-rises in downtown Chicago… to a small-scale computer software firm 10 minutes from the Medill IMC home at the McCormick Tribune Center… to the division of a fried chicken, fast food chain half way across the world in Shanghai…to a well-reputed chemical firm in a little known town in the heart of Michigan…to a beautiful office in a small suburb outside of Denver…to the Kellogg Media Management Center at Fisk Hall…to the breathtaking, rustic, mountainous city of sweet Portland… and on and on.

You will also find interesting diversity in the work being done as well, ranging from the very data-centric analytics residency to the tactical implementation of an IMC branding strategy to cutting-edge work in media management.

A notable thing about the residency is that it makes you work hard during the week and relax during the weekend. Working hours are typical of a regular job; in fact, employers of residents are expected to treat students like full-time staff members. And although the long hours leave little time to do anything else during the week, this also means that the weekend is available at your mercy to indulge in whichever way you please.

Talking about weeknights…since I have chosen to pen this blog on one, I think this is an opportune time to end it here.

……….Ateeq Abdul Rauf

Off We Go To Shanghai

While most of our classmates are all over the country working hard at their individual residences, a group of us have been hanging out in Evanston for the past two weeks. What have we been up to? Here’s a short update from those of us going on the Global Residency!

This summer, 19 IMC students are heading to Shanghai for two weeks as part of the first-ever Global Residency program. Accompanied and advised by two professors, Tom Hayden and Frank Mulhern, students formed teams to work on four projects for three multinational companies: Yum! Brands (KFC), Yum! Brands (Pizza Hut), Draftfcb (client: Kraft), and McCann-Erickson (client: Puma). We had three days of mini-courses and meetings before leaving for Shanghai and will be on-site from July 7 to 18. But that’s not all. All the teams will keep working on their project after they return to the U.S. The final presentation and proposals to our respective clients will keep us busy until the end of August. Our first class was on Wednesday, and we were so inspired by Don Schultz’s lectures and the guest speakers’ presentations. In a very short time, we learned a lot about marketing in China from both Don and Ron Jacobs, president of Jacobs & Clevenger. Both of them also made some observations about global marketing, especially the Indian and Japanese markets, to help immerse us in “a whole new world” outside the U.S.

Prof Martin Block joined us on Thursday afternoon to introduce newly updated research that was conducted in China for 10 quarters up till the first 2 quarters of this year (it’s REALLY FRESH!). Besides the lectures, students had to deliver a presentation that afternoon on eight areas in the Chinese market using a new tool called MindManager (mind-mapping software). We had another assignment due the next day: each team was to present their discoveries so far on their specific projects (KFC, Pizza Hut, Puma and Kraft). You know what made that difficult? The four teams either got a) very limited information about the project, b) too much information about the project, or c) some information about the project in Mandarin Chinese! The challenge continued when Don Schultz gave us 1.5 hours (originally the lunch break) to shift our product-focused presentations to customer-centric ones. Who are our consumers? What do we know about them? What more do we aspire to know about them?

Currently all four groups are raring to go. We will meet as a full team again on Tuesday, July 1 and then fly to Shanghai for our exciting on-site exploration. We will definitely work as hard as everyone else doing individual residencies!

……….Wendy Chen

Medill InNUvation

I remember Kellogg Professor Wolcott, while teaching Corporate Innovations and New Ventures, saying, “Innovation now is like marketing in the ‘80s. It [innovation] will be prevalent sooner [rather] than later.” I couldn’t agree with him more. Having spent seven years in marketing-related jobs, I have constantly witnessed the magical power of innovation. The brands I managed always achieved significant growth through meaningful innovation including product inventions and new marketing ideas. I firmly believe that as time goes on, innovation will become more and more important not only for technology companies but also for the traditional consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

Many guest speakers for IMC classes have mentioned the importance of innovation. Karen Zahorsky, working for Omnicom’s strategic group, is an example. In Professor John Greening’s Branding and Advertising Decisions class, Ms Zahorsky said, “The first thing clients are demanding now is: ‘Give me something I haven’t already got.’”

Without an innovative mindset, I don’t think it is possible to deliver exceptional results. This is the reason why I joined InNUvation and became the president of Medill InNUvation. My appreciation for the challenges of innovation have really grown since I joined the club.

To promote the spirit of innovation, InNUvation was designed as Northwestern University’s only interdisciplinary student club to provide a platform for cross-school idea exchange. Its different school chapters include Medill, Kellogg, McCormick and Weinberg. The annual InNUvation grand event is Venture Challenge, which offers a top prize of $12,000 for a new business idea.

On May 12, 2008, the final competition of this year’s Venture Challenge took place at the Medill School. Medill Dean John Lavine, in his remarks at the opening of the final competition, stressed the importance and the commitment of Medill to media innovation. I was truly inspired by his ambition in this area. Even though this year’s winner was a breakthrough cancer invention from medical and Kellogg students, media innovation has been on top of the list for the past couple of years. This year two teams from Medill IMC participated in the semi-final round (careerNancy.com: Sunny Yang, Paul Sturm and Min Young Cho; and ProLingual: Fion Huang, Evanne Lee, Gary Liao (Masters of Product Development) and Annabel Yang). After the event, these semi-finalists said it was a phenomenal experience and they would definitely encourage other students to join the competition even if it was just to go through the whole process.

Medill InNUvation has set up an official Web site (thanks to Wendy Chen and Aping Wang) to serve as the first step towards increasing awareness of InNUvation at Medill. We also have a team, led by Kefu Huang and Fion Huang and comprising Jessica Chang, Sindy Wan and Noah Yeh, dedicated to the innovation hub development, which aims to drive mobile marketing and the study of new media. The first test market of the innovation hub intends to bridge the gap between marketing, packaged goods and media companies via mobile applications.

We see great progress in new media development with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Young generations have grown up in an atmosphere of fast media changes. However, many traditional companies are struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation and find new media difficult to apply for marketing purposes. Some have come to Medill IMC for answers and solutions. We believe this media innovation hub is a great opportunity for companies to acquire ideas as well as for students to demonstrate their talent in new media management.

Come and join us at Medill InNUvation. You will learn something that you didn’t even know you could learn.

……….Fion (Chenying) Huang