International Marketing Field Study in Belgium & London (2018-2019)
In Fall 2018, I received the Figueroa Scholarship to travel to Belgium and London to study International Marketing. I studied the European marketing industry and the potential affects of Brexit on the European market at Pace University throughout the Fall 2018 semester. In January 2019, we traveled to Belgium and London to get a closer look at the marketing industry from companies such as Fedex, Sprinklr, Coca Cola, Wall Street Journal, Antwerp World Diamond Center, and Landor.
While visiting FedEx in London, they spoke about how they attempt to stand out from their competitors and how Brexit will affect them. One major thing FedEx focuses on is their employees. The retention of their employees is important to them as a company because they want to have employees who are passionate about where they work. Additionally, FedEx attempts to stand out from their competitors by displaying their social responsibility by using electric vehicles, electronic tablets, and environmentally friendly planes. Additionally, they focus on customer service. "The Purple Promise" was created to ensure every customer's experience is outstanding. They also spoke about how they believe Brexit can potentially affect them as a company. FedEx believes that Brexit can potentially create more opportunities that can help them stand out from their competitors considering some of their competitors aren't international.
FedEx, London
Sprinklr is a very unique platform used by many popular companies. In fact, 9 out of 10 of the world's most valuable brands use Sprinklr to create and monitor marketing content across multiple platforms. This company demonstrated their software step-by-step displaying how companies view results, schedule ads, and monitor success. This gave us a behind the scenes look at how companies implement this software in their marketing plans.
Sprinklr, London
During my time at The Wall Street Journal, I had the opportunity to learn about the company's priorities and goals as well as work in a group to create different creative strategies for The Wall Street Journal. They showcased how they implement experiential marketing within their campaigns. Additionally, they presented how they prioritize safety for the reporters that work for them showcasing their care and benefits for their employees. Lastly, we were given time to work within a group to come up with creative ideas and later present these and receive feedback from marketing executives at The Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street Journal, London
My experience at the Antwerp World Diamond Centre was hands-on, unique, and informative. I had the opportunity to learn about what its like working in the diamond industry, how to grade diamonds, and the history of diamonds. When working in the diamond industry, trust and reputation is key. There is a focus on trust and reputation in this industry considering the potential risk that comes along with working with something so valuable. Additionally, in this industry it is vital that you are able to speak multiple different languages. Being multilingual is important to ensure you have the ability to communicate with many different people all over the world without facing any difficulties, maximizing your opportunities. We were given the opportunity to see just how valuable these products are. We were taught the process of grading a diamond and were given the opportunity to grade different valued diamonds to test our knowledge.
Antwerp Diamond Center, Belgium
At the Coca-Cola Visitors Center in Belgium, we learned about their mission and were given a tour of the bottling plant. Coca-Cola emphasizes social responsibility in multiple different ways. Their mission focuses on making a better future. They display this by implementing transformative leadership priorities such as making drinks with less sugar, reducing litter, and economic development. Additionally, their responsible business behaviors involve using less water, emitting fewer carbon emissions, and using sustainable raw materials. Overall, Coca-Cola focuses heavily on social responsibility.
Coca-Cola, Belgium
While visiting Landor, a brand consulting firm, we learned about their background and had the opportunity to work in teams to create a men's grooming brand. Landor was started on a boat in San Fransisco over 70 years ago which makes them the oldest brand consulting agency. While creating the men's grooming brand in groups, we focused on how we would build the brand, what we would sell, and how we planned on advertising. Once completed, we were given the opportunity to pitch our ideas to executives at Landor to receive feedback and answer questions regarding ideas as they would when they are coming up with new products and campaigns.
Landor, London
Additional Images
Knotting Hill, London
Tower Bridge, London
Antwerp Central Station
Atomium, Belgium