On TV with Class CNBC to Discuss Marketing. A Professor? No, Students

AN IN CLASS PROJECT TURNED INTO A FIXED GUEST SPOT IN A PROGRAM ON THE CHANNEL, WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF INTERACTING WITH STUDIO GUESTS

It started in a Bocconi classroom and ended (it is actually still happening) in front of the cameras on Marketing, Media and Money, a show on Class CNBC. This is the story of how a few Bocconi graduate students went from attending a media experience project on campus – to learn how to interact with the press and speak in front of a camera, courses that are often targeted at executives because of their public exposure – to going to the studio every week for a TV program prompting guests with questions and thoughts on their work.

“The project started on a trial basis last year, just for marketing graduate students. This year we opened it to all Master of Science students,” explains Stefania Borghini, Program Director of the Master of Science in Marketing Management. “After the in-class project, which was in collaboration with Class CNBC, we were involved in the editorial staff of a new show dedicated to marketing topics.”

Class liked the interaction in the classroom, and six Bocconi marketing students were invited as fixed guests of the show, with the task of interacting with the guests coming to the studio.

“The participation of the students made the format very fresh,” says Andrea Cabrini, Director of Class CNBC. “Their questions always require the episode’s guests to focus on matters typical of the younger generations. They’re always very prepared, not just on digital issues, but also on the most classical marketing issues.” The Director’s advice? “Don’t lose your twenty-something originality.”

Aura Di Flaviano, in her second year of Marketing Management, stresses the importance of this experience for students: “We are able to apply much of what we study to real cases that are discussed on air,” she explains. “They gave us carte blanche on the questions to ask guests and at the end of the episode, we vote on the most successful marketing campaigns and advertising spots.”

Participation in the Class CNBC program was yet another opportunity for students to put into practice what they study in the classroom: “I like giving my students challenges,” says Stefania Borghini. “I think that this in particular is a new and interactive learning experience, following the model of learning by doing.”

by Andrea Celauro