Experiential Learning at Elmira College, Part 4 of 4: Entertainment and Sports Marketing
Elmira, NY (08/29/2019) — It is one thing to learn about things like sports, fashion, or entertainment marketing in the classroom. It is quite another to tour an NHL hockey arena with a major sports marketing agency, meet with fashion designer Andy Hilfiger in New York City, or visit a regional television studio or international studio in NYC. At Elmira College, Associate Professor of Marketing and Corning Incorporated Foundation Chair in Business, Alison Wolfe, uses experiential learning to open new doors for what students have often seen as a glamorous but distant career path.
This course MKT3915, entitled "Entertainment, Media, and Sports Marketing: An Experiential Learning Experience," examines the best marketing practices and leading marketing strategies utilized in the entertainment, media, and sports industries. The Term III course was offered in both the Spring 2017 and 2018 terms.
Through a series of real-life case studies, experiential learning experiences, and interactive lectures involving industry experts, students gained a better understanding of the marketing practices and strategies of these industries to better prepare them for a professional career in one of these fields. Just a few of the sites students visited in this course included:
- Big Spaceship, a Brooklyn-based digital marketing agency that serves some of the industry's biggest names through a unique collaborative working environment, hosted by employee and Elmira College alumnus Olga Bermudez Paiva '12. Paiva and her colleagues provided educational presentations to the marketing students.
- A behind-the-scenes tour of the NBC studio in Manhattan, where students had the opportunity to learn about their history, production, and creative process through first-hand experience
- ARTISTIX, the current fashion design venture of Andy Hilfiger, hosted by Elmira native Hilfiger himself.
- The PRxNE conference, held in Corning, New York, for the Northeast district of the Public Relations Society of America, featuring keynotes and breakout sessions ranging from using video to marketing to millennials.
- Watkins Glen International, known as the "Mecca of North American road racing" as well as home to some of the largest music events in history, provided behind the scenes review of this fascinating and "fast" sport.
- Tioga Downs Casino Resort in Nichols, New York, provided a dynamic and educational presentation from the marketing team on the entertainment and gaming industry.
- Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG), where Senior Director of Creative Services and Marketing Rob Cassetti provided an outstanding perspective on "marketing art," as well as creating an educational and entertaining view of glass including their 2300° events.
- Tipping Point Communications located in Rochester, New York, provided educational marketing presentations and a tour of their agency hosted by the CEO, president, and several agency professionals. The students were able to observe a real marketing agency and ask professionals about their work environment.
- KeyBank Center, a major event center that is home to the Buffalo Sabres NHL hockey team, hosted by Buffalo-area marketing firm Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The marketing and operations team provided an educational presentation and tour for the marketing students.
- Other sites included local and regional venues such as the Clemens Center, WETM-TV, and Community Broadcasters in Elmira, and the New York Kitchen in Canandaigua, New York. The course also featured guest speakers such as, Elmira College Theatre Professor John Kelly, and a serial entrepreneur and event promoter Matthew Hufnagel, and multimedia content as well as traditional classroom instruction and a real-world project assignment.
This was not just a one-way learning experience for the students, who had the opportunity to interact with these professionals and later wrote blog posts about their experiences. For example, past student from the Class of 2018, Marissa Issacs, reflected on her learning experiences by observing, "Overall, the marketing of sports, media, and entertainment is far from the basics I believed. So far it seems to be all about knowing your target market. Marketing each is identifying how one wants to minimize the risks that are involved and how to get the attention of those they need, whether that be social media or a billboard."
Wolfe, who makes extensive use of experiential learning in business and marketing education at Elmira College, leveraged her former background in the corporate world and her relationships within the marketing industry to make this course a reality. For twelve years she has led regular annual "study abroad" courses and numerous other experiential learning courses in marketing education at Elmira College, and decided to develop MKT3915 as a natural extension of an important pedagogical trend in postsecondary education - supplementing classroom instruction with more real-world exposure and more interaction with experts in the field.
This experiential learning course provided students with the opportunity to learn more about the entertainment, media, and sports industries, while gaining valuable experience on topics ranging from brand management to market research and metrics. This course, along with other Elmira College courses, offers students the ability to gain career skills by engaging in learning experiences with actual practitioners in the field.
Rave Reviews for MKT3915
Following are just a few of the many positive comments from students attending Wolfe's new experiential course program on marketing in entertainment, media, and sports:
"This was an amazing opportunity. Thank you for taking time out of your day to not only prepare to present to us but actually teach us what you each do. It was very cool to see the concepts we are learning in class and reading about being put to use and in such a fun and positive environment. This was one of the best field experiential learning field trips I have ever taken."
"I really enjoyed the opportunity to visit Tipping Point Communications. [Their] keen sense of humor and outstanding examples made us feel empowered to have future careers like them. Our two hours at TPC was an amazing learning experience. I truly appreciated their time..."
"Thank you! I am from Nigeria studying in USA. I must say this has been an amazing experience to learn from you - dynamic and inspiring marketing professionals."
"Thank you. I was SO impressed with the TEAM at WETM-TV. You could tell each person had knowledge and passion for what you each do at the station. I hope to be part of a team that shares the same passion."
(This is the fourth in a four-part series of articles on experiential learning for business and marketing students at Elmira College.)
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