AUS IMC students pitch child seat safety campaigns to RTA

Coming up with an idea can be easy, but selling it is a whole different story. Mass communication students at American University of Sharjah (AUS) had the opportunity to put into practice their integrated marketing communication education by pitching innovative child safety ideas before a panel of industry professionals.  

“We work on proposals for a single client every semester. This semester the client is the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), and the campaign is for child safety seat adoption. Students compete to see which team presents the best campaign. They produce a strategy document, known as a plan book, a set of creatives to be used across the various communication channels the students select (advertisements, out-of-home content, guerrilla marketing, and so on), and a presentation or a pitch,” said Dr. Harris Breslow, Associate Professor in Mass Communication.   

The campaign pitch is part of the course MCM 485 Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Campaigns, which sees students working in conjunction with a tier-one marketing communications agency to respond to a client’s request for proposal. This semester, the course is collaborating with Joe Lipscombe, Regional Director of Content at MEMAC Ogilvy; Ashraf Shakah, Regional Head of Public Relations for Ogilvy, Kassandra Panagiotopoulos, Content Strategist at MEMAC; and Thomas Edelmann, Founder of Road Safety UAE. 

Twenty students competed in three teams of seven in the campaign competition. Student Khalid Issa won the Best Presenter Award, student team Ebda’a won the Best Campaign Award, student team Neo won Best Integrated Strategy Award, and student team The Aces won Best Creatives and Best Presentation awards. 

“Judges appraise the student’s response to the campaign brief according to the degree of integration of strategy and creatives, the creativity and innovation of the students’ response, the quality of the creatives and the persuasive power of the campaign. In this respect, the judging simulates the decision-making process that real-world clients use when choosing an IMC firm for their campaign needs,” said Dr. Breslow.

The opportunity to put theory into practice was motivational for IMC student Lamya Tamim.

“Coming up with a campaign plan that includes strategies for social, digital and legacy media, as well as creative deliverables for RTA, was definitely challenging, but we learned a lot throughout the process. This will definitely be a great start to my career in marketing communications. This course provided us with a great opportunity to work with professionals in the field. I am honored to be working on a brief from MEMAC Ogilvy, one of the biggest advertising agencies in the UAE. Having the regional director of content strategy provide us with feedback throughout the semester and being one of the judges in the competition makes this experience feel a lot more official and beneficial,” she said.

Student Merna Shoukry Elashmawy, who had previous experience working with clients from the Museum of the Future through an internship with Alsayegh Media, said she was no longer as anxious pitching to clients.  

She added: “Our field is constantly changing, and the Department of Mass Communication continues to adapt to changes to ensure that we are prepared for our careers. As an AUS student, I hope I achieve a high position with the skills I learned. My experience in social media strategies has prepared me professionally both for my internship and for this pitch. Working closely with a marketing professional like Joe Lipscombe to help prepare for our pitch with the guidance of Professor Harris Breslow in Integrated Marketing Communications Campaigns has been wonderful.”

Describing the pitch competition as a great opportunity to enter the world of IMC professionals, student Alhanouf AlSultan said: “Getting the opportunity to work on a campaign provided by MEMAC Ogilvy has been a notable experience. The ability to work alongside a great team on a campaign that centers around a vital issue for a client as prestigious as RTA has proven to be exciting, challenging and rewarding. The IMC course provides a perfect transition from being a university student to becoming a working professional, and I’m sure we will carry this experience with us as we move forward in our future careers.”

The AUS Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication offers concentrations in journalism and IMC. The program seeks to engage students with the latest media industry trends through both on-campus and field learning and training. The program’s focal areas are digital storytelling, multiplatform communications, multimedia journalism, social media and social analytics. The program has been crafted by AUS’ faculty members—professionals with significant experience in their respective media industries— and has been approved by the UAE Ministry of Education and endorsed by industry professionals.

The IMC concentration combines advertising, public relations and marketing communications, offering skill-based courses and introducing students to new ways of storytelling including multimedia, digital media and immersive storytelling using virtual and augmented reality.

For more information on the Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, visit w.aus.edu/cas/bamc.