XIC's foray in experimental learning

The students of the advertising and marketing course at Xaviers Institute of Communications (XIC) recently presented their work on 'The Live Client Project', a unique activity where they handled a real client as real advertising agencies would do.

The students were divided into six groups, with a mix of creative, marketing and account planning and worked with clients like Reliance Power, Edugroomers, Local Baniya, Lawrence & Mayo, Grabhouse.com, Love Knits and Mumbai police for a campaign on anti terrorism.

The aim of this project was to give students an experience of working with a client in preparation for a job in the marketing and advertising industry. "The idea was to give them a hands-on training. A dose of hard reality and an opportunity to translate the information they have received and learnt throughout the year into real time experience," said Margaret Da Costa, HOD, Advertising and Marketing Communication-XIC.

The six agencies that were created had their own identity, mission, vision and creative collateral. The students were given three areas to work on: agency structure, market research and campaign development.

"They had to prepare their collateral, do the environmental survey just as they would have to do for a client if they were working with a real agency and then create a campaign based on the client needs as well as the budget," informed Da Costa.

The students were judged at each level of the module - their collateral, their pitch and interaction with the client. Both, the clients and specific mentors scrutinized the agencies at each stage. They were finally judged by the jury members from the industry based on the final campaign that was created.

One of the most effective ways of learning is the opportunity to work directly with a client. It is more experimental rather than just bookish knowledge. Hypothetical client projects can simulate this experience.

But dealing with hypothetical clients is like becoming a chef who only makes food for his friends. "The challenge would only exist if they had to deal with an actual customer, who shot down their ideas and expressed displeasure as well as pleasure," said Da Costa.

This assignment served as a platform for students to face challenges, meet deadlines, and garner the learning which would eventually help them prepare for the industry they are making forays into. "It helped me tune into the professional space even before going out in the industry," said Neil Athayde, student, who worked on the client Reliance power. "Working on a big company did put us under a lot of pressure but as a group of eleven we divided work accordingly and made sure everything suited the standards of the client," he added.

Shivani Khare, who worked on Lawrence & Mayo also agreed, "We had to do a lot of ground research and work on the creative. Keeping up to the deadlines might have been a challenge, but at the same time it also pushed us to the edge."

Given the increasingly competitive real-world environment, client based projects like these are rewarding experiences for students, academic staff and clients. At the same time it also creates opportunities for professional networking/building and ensures student success in the real world.