Undergraduate students in the Center for Leadership Education’s Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications course have created an in-class marketing agency called Blue Jay Marketing Communications. The agency is partnering with the American Marketing Association (AMA) to create a campaign guided by the preferences of Gen Z students and the AMA’s marketing goals. After surveying and interviewing students regarding their awareness and perception of the AMA and its offerings, the class developed tactics including social media content, promotional posts, on-campus events, and giveaways informed by their primary research findings.
Advertising and Integrated Marketing students at the men’s lacrosse game promoting the “Catch Your Success” campaign with a t-shirt toss.
The campaign strategically focuses on showcasing the AMA’s national and chapter-specific benefits at events that engage students. At the JHU vs. Michigan men’s lacrosse game on March 30th, the team implemented the “Catch Your Success” event. Class members on the men’s lacrosse team took the field and threw free t-shirts promoting the campaign into the stands, while a QR code on the scoreboard led the crowd to marketyourfuture.org to learn more about the AMA’s benefits.
According to Leslie Kendrick, senior lecturer with the CLE, this hands-on project is a transformative experience. “The experience of developing an in-class marketing agency and working with a real budget and leading non-profit in the marketing field is invaluable for my students.”
The Market Your Future campaign has been an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned outside of the classroom and see it come alive around them on their own campus. Agency CEO Harrison Sims (Biomedical Engineering, ‘24) believes that “by taking marketing classes, [he has] learned how to convey and sell complicated concepts to those who may not understand, which is helpful when [presenting his] complicated engineering research. As a student leader in the course, this has been a unique experience managing multidisciplinary teams with extremely varied skill sets.”
Not only have students benefited from the experiential learning in the course, the client has also
provided all class members with a complimentary collegiate membership to learn firsthand about the wide range of member benefits. Olga Kuzmich (Computer Science ‘27) said, “As a freshman majoring in computer science, I’ve embraced the opportunity to sharpen my leadership abilities through a managerial role within the research department of our client-based class. Leveraging my technical skills, I’ve contributed to in-depth interview analysis to get market insights. This synergy between technology and marketing inspired me to join our campus’s American Marketing Association to continue my marketing journey.”
With one week left in the campaign, students still have the opportunity to check out the agency’s remaining events:
Ace it with AMA: Pickleball Tournament: April 7 (1 – 3 p.m.), Johns Hopkins University
This pickleball tournament will promote AMA benefits to student athletes and encourage them to network with each other.
Picture Your Success: Free Headshots with FLI: April 11 (1:30 – 3:30 p.m.), Johns Hopkins University Students in Hopkins’ First-Generation, Limited Income Network will have the opportunity to get free headshots to use on their LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and more. Participants will also receive valuable information on professionalism and how to present yourself in the workplace. All participants will receive a notepad and pen to be used for interviews.
More information on all of the Market Your Future events can be found on the agency’s website: https://www.marketyourfuture.org/upcoming-events