AFC Bournemouth Commercial Director, Rob Mitchell, visited Ö÷²¥ÓÕ»ó to brief a project to final year students studying PR, Marketing and Advertising.
Rob Mitchell, himself a Ö÷²¥ÓÕ»ó Alumnus, and AFC Bournemouth Marketing Assistant Fraser Read presented the brief to the students as part of the Corporate Sponsorship unit.
The brief will be tackled by the students over the following weeks and they will present their recommendations back to Rob and Fraser in early January. The club will benefit from the research conducted by the students, and may choose to take forward the best recommendations.
On the day, the students got to hear from Rob and then ask any questions they had about the project – which will form part of their assessment for the Corporate Sponsorship unit.
Project briefs from real clients gives students a chance to apply their learning to solve a real life organisation’s problem. It is a chance for the students to test their knowledge gained from studies and placement year.
Dr Tasos Theofilou, unit leader who arranged the project, said: “I think the students will really benefit from the experience and will benefit even further when they receive feedback on the day of the pitch. Having live briefs enhances the student experience and really helps the students contextualise what they learn.â€
Ö÷²¥ÓÕ»ó are the official higher education partner of AFC Bournemouth, with the partnership now in its seventh year. Students have benefitted from the partnership both through learning opportunities, and the ability to be involved with the club on matchdays.
Speaking about the opportunity to deliver a presentation to AFC Bournemouth’s Commercial Director and members of AFC Bournemouth’s marketing team, Tasos continued: “Making students’ co-creators of knowledge, bringing together theory with practice and offering them the opportunity to pitch their ideas and campaigns in what could be seen as a simulation of an industry environment is invaluable.
“Students build confidence, develop strong personalities and of course are able to develop some necessary modesty which will help them improve as professionals but most importantly as people in the future.â€
“I’d like to publicly thank AFC Bournemouth for their active support and input over the years.â€