WillowWood Blog

We are very lucky here at WillowWood School to have parents who are willing to support the school in many ways. On Tuesday May 8th we welcomed  Gillian Gardner, a freelance marketing producer and proud Mom of our very own Georgia in Grade 11, to talk with the Introduction to Marketing and Introduction to Business classes about her chosen profession. As a producer it is Gillian’s role to oversee the production of television advertising campaigns.

Gillian started by breaking down the process of producing commercials and it
became evident that there are many people that have to work closely together in order to bring an initial client concept to our TV screens. The students were very interested in the process hiring of actors and actresses, especially the salaries that can be earned (upwards of $50,000 per commercial for celebrity appearances! Regular actors may earn $1500 per commercial). The students were able to see some of Gillian’s final commercials that have run for Tim Horton’s and KFC amongst others, as well as the story boards and schedules that help bring the ideas to our screens.

Gillian finished by discussing her own career path, the skills that are necessary for a career in TV advertising, the time commitments required and the impact upon family life that such a profession brings about. As always our students had a range of questions to ask and they were answered honestly to give a realistic overview of the industry. We would like to thank Gillian for giving up her afternoon to come and speak to the classes and for offering an enlightening look at this aspect of Marketing. We are always looking for parents who would like to come in to speak to our classes about their chosen careers as it offers a valuable learning experience to all of our students and staff.

Andy Hall / Simon Busse

On Thursday April 26^th the Grade 11 Introduction to Marketing class welcomed Mark Ferris, Manger of Integrated Marketing and Communications at Coca Cola Canada, to Willowwood and were treated to an enjoyable interactive, informative presentation that discussed a wide range of Marketing related topics.

Mark began with an account of his own educational background, before discussing his career path that took him from a degree in Marketing into employment with Budweiser, before his move to Coca Cola five years ago.  In this time he has developed the Sprite brand and worked on numerous projects for the Coca Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero brands, with him being responsible for all marketing activities connected to the latter two products across the whole of Canada – quite a responsibility!

Mark discussed the marketing basics such as brand awareness, methods of placing a product within grocery stores, developing TV commercials, Coca-Cola’s music promotions and market research that gains valuable feedback on the products Coca Cola develops for sale.  The students were keen to ask a variety of questions and were given honest, to the point responses, with Mark letting us in on a few trade secrets along the way.  Many of us present were blown away by the sheer size of the Coca Cola operation world wide, with the company operating a $1 billion per year marketing budget.  Mark himself manages a budget of $6.5 million per year – yet again, quite a responsibility!

We are delighted and very grateful that Mark could spare time in his busy schedule to come and speak to the class.  We thank him for the samples of Coca-Cola and his very generous gift of a Coca-Cola / i-Tunes gift card for each student.  We hope that we can make this a regular visit over the coming years and that the other Business classes will benefit from such an insightful and entertaining presentation.

Andy Hall

The Grade 12 International Business students visited the Rogers Centre on Wednesday 2nd May to meet with Rob Jack, Manager of Social Marketing for the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club. Using the main boardroom the students spent an hour discussing a range of topics, such as current marketing methods employed, for example, the current promotion of the Jays as “Canada’s Team” and the game day events like Schools Day.

The students were encouraged to ask questions where possible and did so with the usual Willowwood enthusiasm. Topics of questioning ranged from the current slump of star batter and face of the franchise Jose Bautista, to the lack of star name signings, to the choice of Marketing as a career option. Rob’s answers were honest and informative, with him stressing the importance of thinking of the whole business model and not just one or two players. The students will use this experience to develop a marketing strategy for the Toronto Blue Jays as part of their ISU project over the coming weeks. As part of this work they will consider how to promote the club in the GTA, across Canada and finally to an international market.

After our conversations the students were able to take in the actual product and enjoyed watching the Blue Jays soundly beat the reigning American League Champions, the Texas Rangers, 11 – 5! We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rob Jack for taking an hour out of his busy schedule to meet with us and give us such an interesting insight into the whole organization. Go Jays go!

-Andy Hall