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Inside IMC is now on Twitter! We are, predictably, “insideimc” - so follow us here. There isn’t that much going on now as we’re all on our one-week break before residencies start, but once people begin working there’ll be more interesting stuff going on. We’re still not sure if we will use Twitter for more general stuff, or if we will post updates from random classmates - let’s see how this will take on a life of its own. More importantly, if you have a Twitter account, let’s get connected!

……….Rachelle Goh

1 Quarter, 7 Classes!!?!

We recently tracked down Noah Yeh to tell us more about the 4 classes he’s taking and 3 classes he’s auditing. This is what he had to say…

“I’m certainly not the best student to write on this topic - many of my classmates have a much deeper understanding about what we are learning right now. The only reason I’m writing about this is that I am taking way too many classes (Nishant said that they should charge me double for my tuition)! Anyway, there are both good and bad sides to taking so many classes. I’ll try my best to talk about all the classes I have attended, and since I’m not a journalist, it’s just going to be my personal perspective. Hope it helps!”

Branding and Advertising Decisions
This class is one of my favorites. I think Professor John Greening did an excellent job in explaining all the branding concepts and took us through real cases to make sure that we understand how to apply the concepts to the real world. Branding is inevitably vague, and according to the professor, he intentionally made it unclear so we can think through all the concepts ourselves instead of being limited to one single format. Also worth mentioning is that there were a lot of great speakers who came to our class and talked about their companies’ branding concepts. It’s a great opportunity for both learning and networking. A guy from Google came to talk just a few days ago. Though I have heard the same stuff several times, Google still has the ability to amaze me over and over.

Customer Loyalty
Professor Paul Wang is from Taiwan and his class has been very interactive and dynamic. Every student in this class has to lead the discussion of one of the cases in our course packet, which is a very good opportunity to practice logical thinking and presentations. The professor said that the class really is not about customer loyalty but about making sound judgments for us to face future marketing or business challenges. Professor Wang is extremely energetic and funny, maybe one of the most passionate people I’ve ever seen (Professor Greening also included). Although he prefers small classes, I still strongly recommend this class for future students.

Law and Ethics
This is a required class.

Marketing Mix
Professor Martin Block is a rather interesting person. As an international student, I really have a hard time understanding if he is telling a joke or being serious. According to the professor, this class should be the core of IMC. The cases and practice problems should be very helpful for people who are doing database in the future. There is also a real case for the final. Even if you don’t want to do database in the future, I personally think this class is still worth taking because if you have someone else do data analysis for you, at least you will know what to say to them. Strong evidence and data to back up marketing decisions will be extremely important in the future. The class also gives you an overall understanding of the relationships between manufacturers and retailers.

Marketing Modeling
Professor Randy Hlavac is a very patient teacher. This modeling class is about what database marketers do before and after all the data analysis and SPSS. This class really gives us a direction about, besides all the statistical stuff, how we make the models right and how we get the results we want. I remember hearing Professor Hlavac say that it’s not the neural network or the regression model we have to focus on. Rather, he focuses on taking us through each step of how to do the research right. I also think the projects the students are doing with Professor Hlavac are very interesting; if you are taking the analysis and insight concentration this is one class you cannot miss.

Media and Integrated Marketing (Kellogg)
I have learned so much from this Kellogg media management track class. Professor Bobby Calder really bridged the gap between Prof Greening’s branding class and the media introduction class (at Kellogg) from last quarter. I learned how to communicate my branding concept with the right kind of media. There is no doubt the media environment has been changing drastically, making this a very interesting area to study. The professor gives really good insights and examples close to our lives, including American Idol and the new James Bond movie. If you are interested in media, applying for the Kellogg media management track will be a really smart choice.

Analytic Skills
I also attended Professor Ed Malthouse’s analytic skills class - it’s basically advanced statistics. Professor Malthouse is a really good professor and very passionate about statistics. If you are very interested in stats, he is the best role model to follow.

……….Noah Yeh

Brand You

“Stylish, elegant, wine (and beer…).” These are the words my classmates associate with me, how they perceive me. I wanted to be perceived as a crazy genius, but it is just not possible because, as we learned in our branding decisions class, PERCEPTION IS REALITY.

What about you? What is your favorite brand? Oh, and what is a brand anyway? If you want a sneak preview of the “Branding and Advertising Decisions” class taught by Professor John Greening, here is the answer: A brand is a promise kept; it lives in the consumer’s mind.

Welcome to the brand communications track. To choose this concentration, I’ve come a long way. I completed two required quarters (fall and winter) struggling with numbers – statistics, finance and database marketing (of course there are other courses as well). Coming from a long advertising agency and brand management career background, I wanted to cultivate the data-driven, quantitative marketing tools to analyze the data and measure marketing effectiveness. Although dealing with SPSS and statistic significance was painful for me, those classes were really helpful. In the end, I decided to over-invest in my strengths and to sharpen my brand communications skills further. I am taking Branding and Advertising Decisions, Customer Loyalty and Practicum: Marketing and Communications Research this spring quarter.

Elective Courses for Brand Communications:
• Branding & Advertising Decisions (required)
• Marketing Public Relations
• Crisis Management
• Global Marketing
• Entertainment Marketing
• Word-of-Mouth Marketing
• Investor Relations
• Internal Communications

What I like about this track is that I acquire knowledge not only by studying, but by doing. I have three Harvard Business School cases every week as well as real-time client-sponsored projects for the classes. Case studies help me analyze diverse business problems and come up with solutions for managerial decision-making. Client-sponsored live cases help me stay up-to-date with the marketing environment outside school and push my limits as I try to discover the consumer insights. I have to be a supportive teammate and a good leader in order to for my team’s projects to succeed.

Seth Godin, bestselling author of Permission Marketing and Purple Cow, firmly believes that in the age of Google, MySpace, YouTube and blogging, everyone is a brand. Your time at Medill IMC is a great opportunity for you – and me – to learn from the big brands and build the brand called YOU.

……….Hye Sun (Sunny) Yang

Now I Can Die Happy

There’s a new love in my life. He’s exciting, sleek, and has the smoothest moves. Sure, sometimes he has gas, and at present he’s sort of dirty - but he’s all mine.

He’s also a scooter. Blooter the Scooter, to be exact. I fell in love with scooters on a trip to Asia this past winter. The crowded streets of Shanghai were not ideal for a test ride, however. People had little restraint for stepping right out in front of you, taxi drivers were more like kamikaze pilots, and depending on the time of the day, the air is at times downright unbreathable.

But I was fascinated. Within my sister Julie’s apartment complex was an E-Mart superstore, China’s answer to Wal-Mart. Since Julie’s refrigerator was the size of a shoebox, we frequented the E-Mart nearly every day for fresh food. And every day, when walking through the front door, there was a veritable army of scooters lined up, their headlights as eyes, staring me down. Julie would sigh and roll her eyes as I, like clockwork, stopped to sit on some of them, play with buttons, and scheme about how I could get one of these US$200 beauties back to the US.

Next came Thailand, a scooter haven. In fact, it was the only way to get around, as Bangkok traffic was typically at a standstill, and scooting in between lanes was easy. Although I had a rather unfortunate incident involving some hot pavement and my knees and feet, I came back to the States feeling a sense of loss for having to give up my week-long scooter rental.

Chicago winters clearly aren’t conducive to scooting, so my yearning for a scooter was tabled until Spring Break rolled around. My parents begged me to reconsider: “It’s so dangerous!” “You live in Chicago, it’ll just get stolen!” “How will you get to your residency this summer?” But I was hooked. I spent the next week on Craigslist.com searching in earnest for the precise model and color I wanted. On the last day, my search ended.

The Yamaha Vino 125 in royal blue would be all mine, and I was to name him Blooter (thanks Carly). For the first couple of days, Blooter and I were a shaky pair, but as recently as last week, I drove my 5’11” roommate to Dominick’s and stored about 20 lbs. of groceries in Blooter’s tiny frame.

And so, Blooter and I will live happily ever after - at least until the next Evanston winter.

……….Kara Bogart

From Marketing in Morocco to IMC in the U.S.

IMC… I first heard this word at Kraft Morocco in 2004. My boss had just come back from company training  at the Kraft Marketing Academy in Dubai, and she seemed very excited. “Kraft is rolling out a new approach to marketing. We’ll change the way we do things here.” She tried to explain IMC to me, but I didn’t really get it. So of course, I googled the word, and Medill popped up. How I ended up here? That’s another story.

I grew up and spent most of my life in Morocco. I got my bachelor’s degree in marketing and worked for six years before coming to Medill IMC. My first work experience was at the Coca-Cola North & West Africa Division in Casablanca. I started as a trainee and later became marketing project manager on new beverages. At Coke, I worked on the launch of Play, an energy drink targeted to young, trendy consumers, and learned how to “get the basics right,” as my former boss used to say. My second job was in brand management at Kraft Foods Morocco. I worked on powdered beverages and later on coffee, for almost four years.

In 2006, I joined the Bouregreg Agency, a government institution in charge of a large-scale development project in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. As a marketing manager, I launched a communication campaign to build public awareness and attract foreign investors for the project.

Marketing in Morocco is both challenging and exciting. Some quick facts to put things in perspective… Half of the population live in rural areas. More than one-third of consumers are illiterate. And trade is very fragmented – small shops make up 80% of the retail structure. Now imagine the implications for a marketer. Distribution trucks travel across the mountains to reach small shops scattered throughout the country, promotional programs are executed in remote areas where infrastructure is virtually non-existent, and messages are loaded with visual cues to be understood by consumers who cannot read. For a multinational company, it’s even more challenging because on top of everything, marketers need to follow international guidelines and adapt the brand’s global strategy to the local market.

What brought me to IMC? Well, I guess I wanted to learn more about marketing, and I wanted to learn it from the experts. Medill IMC is the #1 program in integrated marketing communications. I wasn’t sure I would be admitted, but I gave it a try, and it worked. When I told my mom that I was going to request an educational leave from the Bouregreg Agency to study in the U.S., she looked at me in a weird way and said, “You are out of your mind. Who wants to go back to school after six years? Plus, you have a good job!” Well, yes, I had a good job. I also had a nice salary and a nice car. But I still had a lot of things to learn in order to be a good marketer. I needed to learn the best practices, and I had to go find them in another country.

Every day at Medill IMC is a new learning experience. I am discovering new concepts and tools. I am also getting familiar with things that were almost rocket science to me. You may find this funny, but I had never heard the words “wiki” and “blog” before coming to Medill. I did not know how to edit a video. And I was terrified by SPSS. Coming to Medill IMC was a difficult decision, but I am glad I made it. I am also glad I gained enough work experience before deciding to complete my master’s. I know now why some of my marketing tactics failed and what I should have done differently.

I will be going back to Morocco in December, and I am already excited about all the ideas that I will be taking home with me. And, you know what? I think the agency should double, triple… No, wait, they should add five zeros to my salary, because I will be bringing tons of revolutionary ideas to the office!

……….Myriam Chemaou