When we were in New York, I taught the main Direct Marketing course at New York University for 10 years and loved nothing more than interacting with the students, a lot of whom eventually interned at our agency.
Now that we’re in Hollywood, FL I haven’t had many opportunities to work with students, but we do have two great interns. One of them is a marketing student at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami and she and her professor invited me to her class to speak and help create a Direct Marketing project.
We came up with the JWU Challenge: develop the creative for a startup online company that sells jewelry – and it’s not just jewelry. Each piece symbolizes something significant.
The objective is to drive ready-to-buy traffic to the website. The students also have to make a promotional YouTube video that will showcase the jewelry and emphasize its symbolic meanings.
The students will receive a significant percentage of any sales they make.
They’ll present their ideas in 10 weeks and I will join the professor as judges. Can’t wait to see what creative ideas the kids come up with!
We want to see:
How many people they drive to the website to leave their email addresses for special offers and our newsletter?
How many people come to the site and actually buy a piece of jewelry?
Which people come to the site to visit, and what are they looking at most?
My Dad was a jewelry manufacturer in New York for many years on West 36th Street. I somehow think he’s looking down and enjoying this challenge…!
About Lois GellerLois Geller is President and Owner of Lois Geller Marketing Group and headed agencies in New York and Toronto. Lois taught Direct Marketing at NYU. She’s the author of five marketing books, including Response: The Complete Guide to Profitable Direct Marketing. Follow @loisgeller on Twitter.
You made my day, Heidi by posting here about the course project for the students. Your uncle, Nat Ross, started the Direct Marketing Course at NYU, an was the first to teach the science. He was so wonderful to choose me to continue teaching it for 11 years.
Now I read some of your posts on Twitter and know that you’re a great teacher too…because I’ve learned so much from you “10 blog ideas…etc”. How proud Nat must be watching you become a leader in the field he pioneered.
Lois–Sounds like a great student project where everyone has skin in the game. When I used group projects for my graduate students, I brought in NFPs so that the students felt they were making a difference. Happy Marketing, Heidi Cohen