The Media School

Bournemouth University and CIM attracts top speakers and full house

7 April 2009

A dynamic marketing event attracted 200 students and marketers on the 4th March in Dorset. The Media School and Chartered Institute of Marketing's Annual Communications Lecture was heralded as a fantastic success.

The Institute's Third Annual Communications Lecture has been jointly organised by students from Bournemouth University and is a popular diary date for marketers and business professionals in Dorset.

Hosted at The UK's No.1 New University, Bournemouth (Source : The Guardian University Guide), the lecture discussed the marketing communications challenges that organisations faced and their responses to tough economic times in 2009.

Former graduates from Bournemouth University, Ryan D'Cruz, brand content manager for Mediacom and Andy Le Duc, brand manager for Thorpe Park, thrilled the audience with video clips and shared their experiences of marketing with the audience. The students enjoyed hearing successful graduate's stories and how their time at Bournemouth University has helped them forge a successful career. Equally Ryan and Andy found it a rewarding experience to present to former tutors.

Leigh Goodwin, a 4th year student on BA Marketing was part of the student committee that organised the event, "It was a fantastic success and was very well received by students, lecturers and CIM members alike. All three speakers kept the audience captivated, with presentations varying from the latest advertising and media campaigns, to the realities of marketing in a recession and what it takes to brand a theme park! Organising the event did seem daunting at first with the previous lectures being so successful, but it was worth it and we ran something that we were all very proud of".

The graduates were also joined by Rob Healey, European head of marketing at Panasonic System Solutions who often mentors Bournemouth students who have their placement year at Panasonic. He gave an insightful presentation into the challenges facing the giant corporation in 2009. He was able to produce very clear evidence of market challenges and show how focused Panasonic is with its marketing strategies.

Members of the CIM thanked all the students who were involved for organising another successful year of communication lectures and said in their eyes Bournemouth University were producing the top marketing graduates in the country.