Acceleration Media has worked closely with the Red & Yellow School, a Cape Town-based school of advertising, communications and marketing, as well as with other players in the digital marketing landscape, to equip students at the institution with practical knowledge about online marketing and advertising.
Speakers from Acceleration Media - a digital media planning and buying specialist - and other digital marketing agencies took part in an online marketing module aimed at students in Red & Yellow's Marketing and Advertising Communications course. The goal of this module was to equip young, aspiring marketing professionals with skills and knowledge in digital marketing and advertising that they can apply in the real-world.
As part of the course, students were exposed to examples of advertising briefs similar to those real-life clients might issue. This provided them the opportunity to craft digital strategies that would address the needs of the client, adding an important practical dimension to the module.
Says Diane Charton managing director at Acceleration Media: "It is important for any young marketing professional who is about to begin a career, or who hopes to advance his or her career, to understand the role that digital has to play in the marketing and communications mix.”
"Red & Yellow has taken an innovative approach to training its students in the digital environment by engaging with digital marketing agencies that can offer them practical training in this important environment. We look forward to engaging with Red & Yellow on an ongoing basis to develop the digital advertising skills of the marketing professionals of the future," says Charton.
"This online marketing workshop was one of the best ‘learning by doing' exercises we did this year," says John Cooney, Managing Director of the Red & Yellow School. "Like all of our courses, it was interactive and hands-on, aimed at giving students skills that they are able to apply immediately."
“While there are many online marketing courses that aim to equip students with technical skills and experience, there are too few that focus on the business strategy elements of digital marketing as an integrated part of the marketing and communications mix,” he adds.
"An increasing number of our students are becoming involved in online media planning, so this course answers a direct need in the market," Cooney says.
An important reason that this course was so successful was the fact speakers from across South Africa's digital marketing landscape collaborated with each other to deliver value to the students, says Charton. “All participants recognised the importance of coordinating this course together to help strengthen the industry by training young aspiring marketing professionals in the digital channel,” she adds.
The speakers involved in the course included:
* Nic van den Bergh - Isobar
* Andre Bottger - Acceleration Media
* Rob Stokes - Quirk * Richard Mullins - Acceleration eMarketing
* Allan Kent - Saatchi & Saatchi At Play
