The seventh edition of the Summer School Intercultural Branding, Marketing, Communication, International Careers was hosted by the Media Management program and the Competence & Career Center. Hochschule RheinMain (HSRM) welcomed international students from the following universities to Wiesbaden: Auburn University, Alabama (USA), The University of Kansas (USA), University of Wisconsin-Platteville (USA), University of Cape Town (South Africa), Temasek Polytechnic (Singapore) and Vega School Cape Town (South Africa).

Beyond the classroom

During the week, the Summer School offered a varied program for the students from HSRM and abroad. Apart from problem-based learning tasks set by the software developer and partner Seibert Media GmbH from Wiesbaden, HSRM organized a sightseeing program; among other places, the participants visited Frankfurt and Heidelberg.

Attracting Gen Y and X graduates to your workforce

On the last day, the international teams presented their solutions to our project partner Seibert Media during a final presentation. The task was to design a media campaign to attract new employees in the age groups of 40 to 50 years. The international teams considered strategies, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of Seibert Media, developed a personal profile of a potential employee and created Google Ads campaigns, classic advertising posters, newspaper ads and radio jingles. The teams also suggested events such as “A Day Out with Seibert” or a workshop at Seibert Media to get to know the company and its culture on-site. The social media campaigns used an authentic hashtag and an unagitated, professional appearance by Seibert Media in social networks while avoiding emojis. The “My Seibert Story” team proposed a personal storytelling strategy, in which Seibert Media employees talk about their career at the company, providing the target group with stories to identify with. Instead of an on-site event, they suggested a live streaming event to build a connection with the company.

Feedback from and to the students

Professor Hollingsworth from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (USA) provided final feedback to the participants of the Summer School, stating, “In a pitch, it is important to tell a story and keep the statistics short.” Media Marketing Professor Christoph Kochhan then handed out certificates to all participants.
Alisha is studying Communication and Media Management in Singapore and her impression of the Summer School was very positive: “My favorite part was the trip to Heidelberg and the insights into a German IT company. The problem-based task was interesting and challenging at the same time; I really enjoyed working in an international team,” she reported.