When I was taking my first marketing classes at WWU, I quickly learned about IMC. Through Dan’s MKTG 381class, Fundamentals Marketing Research, I was able to see some of the work his students warding in MKTG 483, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC. I was quickly interested as the work his IMC students were doing, was exactly what I wanted from a class. Seeing that students are actively creating marketing strategies and implementing them in real life, I found it to be most valuable. After finding out a class like IMC existed, I had to talk to Dan about the class.
As we made our way through the quarter, my thoughts on the class definitely changed. The first was that there is a lot of work, or there can be if you really want to learn from the class. I feel you could definitely just fly through the class, but with a class that has real-life experience, why would you want to miss out on that opportunity? My thought on the class is how challenging it must be to have a. bunch of college students, who are pretty much checked out due to graduation, manage a bunch of other college students, who are numb to the workload of marketing class. I personally definitely had my frustrations as a content creator but over time, I learned to accept that I am not the only one making the decisions on whether or not the product logo is into right spot on the video.
Dan has designed classes that are unlike those that I have taken in the past. I feel that this class truly sets you up in the best way to be a strong, well-presented marketer. Most topics from the class I had already had prior knowledge on with my experience in entrepreneurship classes and other endeavors like this videography business or the clothing company I started in Covid with my High School buddies. But I was also able to learn from our conversationist class and through work with my group, I was able to learn more about how to create an effective creative strategy with strong media planning and marketingmanagement. We also learned tons about content marketing, brand development,and the media production process as a marketer. Most of all, we would always find a way to mix talks about agile project management and how important it is for us as marketers to know how to be agile and adapt.
Overall, my experience in the Integrated Marketing Communications class at Western Washington University has been invaluable. While challenging at times due to the significant workload and coordinating with fellow students, it provided incredibly practical real-world experience.The hands-on approach of developing actual marketing strategies and creative campaigns was the biggest takeaway. Being able to apply concepts like creative briefs, media planning, content marketing, and brand development to real projects was immensely valuable compared to just learning the theories.Dan's focus on agile methodologies like scrum, kanban boards, and lean meetings also prepared me well for the fast-paced, iterative nature of modern marketing. Learning to be flexible and adapt campaigns based on data and feedback will be critical skills in my marketing career.Most importantly, the IMC class gave me confidence that I can take an integrated, multi-channel approach to promoting products, services or even my own professional brand. The ability to develop unified creative and media strategies across owned, earned and paid channels is a powerful toolkit.While intense at times, I'm grateful for the authentic, practical learning experience this class provided. The skills and real-world simulations have set me up for success as an innovative, adaptable marketing professional ready to drive integrated campaigns.
