THE GLOBAL VILLAGE MARKETING CASE STUDY

During second term, we had the great opportunity to work with the Global Village Marketing team for the end of term assessment project of  DCT’s Tourism, Events and Retail Business Certificate students. Initiated by my DCT colleague Megan French-Ritsch, I was delighted to collaborate as it was a real life ‘learning by doing’ opportunity for the students; working on a case study relevant to their curriculum. Students also felt privileged and excited as Global Village is a Dubai landmark close to their hearts.

Their Mission

Early in the term, the Global Village Marketing team invited us to the briefing, shared their KPIs, current strategies, and gave the students a chance to experience the park. Their mission? By the end of term, submit their marketing plan to help improve the performance of Global Village in 2020-21. The management team encouraged all student groups to think out of the box, challenge the existing set-up and make suggestions.

“It changed my perspective on how I viewed marketing (…). Marketing includes a business offering, mission, vision, values, purpose and etc. It is in need of creativity, innovation, research and planning on how a business would outshine, stand-out or differentiate themselves from other business.” Princess, Certificate in Tourism student.

The Academic Support

The case study was not just approached as an assessment but also more as an opportunity to put into practice the Marketing planning process students were learning that term. With the support of DCT’s Academic team,  we ensured our students understood the expected flow and reasoning behind the process. We also encouraged student creativity (collateral design, videos, creating marketing personas…), team work, collaboration, and communication by:

• Dedicating 30 minutes of each Marketing class period to provide guidance on the case study’s project management and timeline.
• Facilitating a Six Thinking Hats brainstorming session to help students to think differently, and come up with new ideas.
• Providing practical guidance on writing the reports and on presentation skills (including rehearsals, personal tips from experience). Eventually this turned into rehearsing video presentations due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

“I have also learnt to continuously expand and go beyond what you have done by practicing, receiving feedback, responding to it ...” Princess, Certificate in Tourism student.

The Learning Outcome

It was an amazing experience for everyone involved! Students got to really explore the Marketing planning process but also real hands-on experience in other subjects such as workplace communication, selling techniques and business fundamentals. They also learnt some essential soft skills such as stress management, group work, leadership, and change management, essential in any working environment.

To conclude, we were extremely proud of the students work, the final presentations and the overall learning curve. But most rewarding was to see the pride on their face. Hopefully, some of these students ideas will be useful to the wonderful Global Village team.