Marketing Students Engage in Joint Project with Jesuit Peers in London

by Katherine Gortz on 10/08/2019

10/08/2019

International marketing students traveled to London for the second annual marketing project with students at Fordham University’s London campus. Students held conversations with professional practitioners in the fields of international marketing and sustainability marketing, and they took part in real-life experiences at businesses. This year’s project involves 16 students from SLU-Madrid and seven from Fordham who have committed to two weekend-long encounters - the first in London and the second in Madrid this November.

Joint marketing project with students at Fordham's London campus.

This year's annual joint marketing project involves 16 SLU-Madrid students and seven students from Fordham's London campus. They have committed to two weekend-long encounters, one in London and another in Madrid, which will focus on different aspects of sustainability, social and corporate responsibility.

The weekend program was organized and proctored by Fordham’s Professor Ergem Senyuva Tohumcu (Sustainability Marketing) and SLU-Madrid’s Dr. Gonzalo Moreno (International Marketing), together with Fr. Richard P. Salmi, S.J. (Dean of the Fordham University London Campus) and Dr. Dave Howden (Chair of the SLU-Madrid Business Department).

Over the course of the weekend in London, students heard from distinguished guest speakers including Arlinda Mezzini, head of marketing for Bloomberg BNF, Nishant Parek, an entrepreneur who co-founded a fashion studio called KAPDAA, and Felicitas Ader, a strategic insight consultant with a special interest in the development of sustainable business solutions. Participants also visited the Fourpure Brewery, where they heard the true but inspiring story of the founding brothers Tom and Dan, who leveraged their passions for homebrewing and road-tripping to land a position at the front line of the modern craft beer scene.

The weekend came to a close with a Mini-Hackathon, in which students discovered a set of business opportunities that they will elaborate upon at the second encounter in Madrid. All events were organized around the topic of social and environmentally responsible business practices, as well as social and corporate responsibility in general.

At the conclusion of the weekend, students expressed a particular interest in B Corporations, a new trend in which businesses meeting prescribed standards for social and environmental sustainability, transparency and accountability can receive a special certification. In response, the program for the weekend in Madrid will be tailored around this particular topic.

"The international marketing trip to London impacted me in ways I could never have expected," says Caroline Osborn, a junior originally from Denver, Colorado, who is pursuing a major in Spanish. "The opportunity to learn from and engage in dialogue with accomplished professionals in the field of marketing allowed us to envision an optimistic future in which business leaders can respect corporate and social responsibility, balancing profits and purpose. I'm already looking forward to delving in further during the Madrid weekend in November."

SLU-Madrid, and SLU-Madrid’s Business Department in particular, would like to thank the Fordham London Campus team for their hospitality.