1. Describe your interest in Medill's Integrated Marketing Communications
program. What experiences have led you to apply? How will this program help
you achieve your career goals? What experiences have drawn you toward a
career in integrated marketing communications and what steps you have taken
to prepare for or advance your career?
I plan to open a teahouse in Shanghai and make my brand like the Chinese
Starbucks to promote Chinese tea culture among Chinese young generations.
My career goal has been originated from a question lingering in my mind for
many years: why young Chinese people prefer coffee to our local tea. In the
online survey I conducted for McCafé, I found out that 85% of the responders
in China cared about the environment more than the beverages one café
provides. Likewise, I consider that this preference might also be applicable to
my teahouse business.
To further my career goal, I entered L’ Oréal China as a Merchandising Intern to
gain experiences on branding as well as visual effects of department stores.
Through three order templates I invented, I regulated the merchandising
processes and increased my work efficiency by 50 percent. Because of my
effort, I was well adapted to the fast-paced job and never worked over time.
Apart from shouldering responsibilities for orders and quotations of my
department, I took part in the launch work of a new brand-innéov. It was an
excellent chance for me to observe the whole process of preparation on market
researches, budget allocation and sales forecasts before a brand was born. The
experience enabled me to see branding in a new light: marketing played a
significant role in launching a new brand, of which success lied in deep
understanding of consumers’ demands and a well-managed as well as clear
targeted brand image.
In 2008, I joined AIESEC, the biggest NGO totally run by university students. I
was to expand our business into the market of English institutions in Shanghai.
Since depending on online research alone was not enough for me to know the
market well, I made 100 or more cold calls to my target clients. My persistence
won me two company visits, during which I acquired their demands on
candidates’ nationality, visa duration and housing fees. I comprehended that
understanding a market is not simply gathering a pile of information from the
internet, but hearing demands directly from target consumers.
Enriched from my various experiences, I designed my future plan in the
following steps:
Firstly, I need richer knowledge in marketing especially branding at the moment.
Therefore, I’m keen to dip myself into the real business environment which the
Integrated Marketing Communications program provides and absorb more
focused marketing strategies. By learning Marketing Finance and Statistics and
Market Researches, I can well manage my assets and costs. Besides, I think the
concentration on Brand and Advertising Strategies in the spring quarter really
suits me because learning Brand & Advertising Solutions as well as Building
Brand Equity courses will help me use influential media to expand brand
awareness. Moreover, studying Customer Value Innovation and Customer
Loyalty will improve my understanding of young Chinese tea-drinkers. I believe
that the resources Medill provides will build a strong basis for my future career.
Secondly, after my post-graduation, I plan to be a marketer in companies like
Starbucks for 3 to 6 years to gain experiences on brand management, product
promotions, real marketing strategies.
Finally, I am determined to run my own teahouse in Shanghai when equipped
with enough experiences, resources and understanding of the industry.
2. Choose a statistic that made a strong impression on you (any fact or set of
facts expressed in numbers, percentiles, etc.) Identify your source for the data
(publication, web page, broadcast report and date, etc.) What do you find
significant about this statistic? Why should anyone else care about it?
In the third year of university, I conducted an online survey during a market
research project for McCafé in China to investigate the customer preferences in
their choice of cafés. Among 289 respondents, 97.9% of whom were aged from
20 to 35, the range of people we consider as target consumers of McCafé. 85%
of the respondents showed great preference for relaxing environment with
wireless network in Cafés. In other words, an inconsiderable part of favor
comes from the environment where they enjoy beverages.
In comparison, as for the local teahouses I used to go in Shanghai, I found out
that the many of them had no network services and were decorated with
depressing dark colors, which I considered was one of the reasons that many
young tea-drinkers I knew turned away from them. In other words, such kind of
young Chinese people may find nowhere appealing for them to enjoy tea.
Hence, to confirm my guess, I need further investigation on whether there is a
real potential market for my teahouse and how I can launch a win-win success
between my business and the ultimate goal of promotion for tea cultures
among young Chinese people. These thoughts are all brought by the important
statistics revealed in my market research project and are the main motivations
I want to pursue more knowledge in Medill’s IMC program.
3. What do you see as the biggest challenge you would face as a student in
Medill's IMC program, and what strategies you would use to overcome it?
As a girl who has been brought up within the traditions of Chinese education, I
strongly desire to explore a more diversified world and think in a multi-angle
way.
In my spare time, I dedicated myself to many volunteer works, where I was
impressed with the diverse culture presented by people from all over the world.
During the summer of 2010, I spent two memorable weeks in University of
Oxford, where I witnessed great difference between the Western and Eastern
buying behaviors. Similarly, I may confront with such difference in the U.S. It is
my personal belief that standing in others’ shoes is a critical quality that a
marketer should possess. Hence, I regard the different customer psychologies
formed by American culture as the biggest challenge I would face whilst
studying on the IMC program.
As for me, a girl with little knowledge on American customers, I can overcome
the challenge by following a range of strategies.
Firstly, commercial advertising, an important means of communication between
the products of a certain company and its potential customers, reveals a lot
about customer psychology. Watching different commercial advertisements
may be the best way for me to learn the way how Americans think. Moreover, I
can seek to closely analyze American culture in all its diversity.
Secondly, by studying plenty of classic company cases concerning marketing
strategies in America, I can find out reasons for each success and failure,
marketing methods used in each case and reactions presented by different
target consumers.
Last but not least, working in teams is also a smart choice. This would enable
me to expand my horizons and diversify my ideas via brainstorming with
classmates all over the world. As a saying goes, “four eyes see more than two.”
Diverse ways of thinking and opinions allow me to have direct access to new
perspectives.
In conclusion, although I am not an American native, I can still overcome the
challenges of different thinking habits and cultural differences through
open-mindedness and my own determination. I believe that all the strategies
can work in a similar way when I fulfill my career goal in Shanghai, China.
共（1126 字）