Students deliver global marketing solutions

The Advanced Diploma of Business (Public Relations) and Advanced Diploma of Marketing and Communications students worked in teams to develop their campaign for Neyuh Leather as part of a global work integrated learning (WIL) project.

The project also included students from RMIT Vietnam and Kirkwood Community College in the United States.

The teams were given a live brief which required them to come up with a marketing campaign for Neyuh Leather so they could launch their products in the US and Australian markets.

The whole campaign was based around a new promotional strategy for the company to create brand awareness and promote their goods which are produced locally in Vietnam.

The basis of the campaign's media strategy was to use integrated marketing and communication tactics, which needed to include social media advertising.

Throughout the semester students heard from a range of guest speakers and took part in workshops to help them understand global communication protocols and the nuances of conducting online meetings and briefings.

Marketing and Communications student Sam Wales, who was part of the winning team, described the project as a once in a lifetime opportunity and the peak of his schooling to date.

“Participating in the Neyuh leather Global WIL project has been one of the best experiences in my life,” he said.

“I have made new friends from across the globe and back home, and have developed skills that I can take directly into the workplace.”

At the end of semester 20 students from Melbourne travelled to Vietnam to meet up with their global teammates and present their campaign to the client at the RMIT campus in Ho Chi Minh City.

Felicity Burns, Teacher, School of Vocational Business Education, said the client was impressed with the students’ professionalism and ideas and will be implementing some of their recommendations in their future campaigns.

“I was very proud to see the students produce such quality work while operating in a global team and with an international client. I witnessed the challenges of this project from start to finish so just seeing the positive results made it all worthwhile,” she said

“Projects like these ensure learning is practical and memorable and allow students to be proud of the skills they've developed by completing a real life project.

“This looks great on their CVs and they now have more of the global skills and graduate attributes that employers are looking for.” 

The winning team's concept literally brought tears to the client’s eyes, in a good way.

They produced an emotional campaign based on the story behind the artisans that are trained and work with Neyuh Leather, crafting the hand-made products. Their campaign idea, "Yours Truly", became a love letter to the customer and will be rolled out across the company’s packaging and promotions globally.

Huyen Nguyen, Managing Director, Neyuh Leather, said: “The students made a big impact on us. Watching their presentations was such a precious time and we look forward to applying their great ideas to our business to help make our vision come true.”

Story: Ainslie Logsdon