Assignment Submission : Reflection 

 Submitted by : Deborah Cruz                 Page 1 

 Marketing a B - School 

 Challenge    I work in a Private B- school as Head of Marketing and Admissions team . As a background the B - School   offers Management programs for people with prior work experience of minimum two years . We believe   that we operate in a very niche space as we are a private B- school that offers one year full time   management program ( Most B- schools in India offer a management program that is full time and is of 2   year duration . In addition , these 2 year programs open for fresh graduates and have no minimum work   experience criterion ) 

 The B – School is now planning to enter into the space of 2 year MBA program . The target group will now   include graduates who are fresh out of undergraduate colleges . The new program , ( MBA 2.0 for our   discussion ) presented a real “ Wicked Problem ” for the school in more than one ways . The areas up for   discussions ranged from what courses should be offered in order position ourselves differently to how we   make ourselves heard in a very noisy , busy and competitive marketplace . 

 To me as head of marketing , the biggest problem was the human problem . The target group of fresh   graduates was completely alien to us . We had no idea of their aspirations , what they are looking for , what   are their compelling reasons to do a management education . The entire team was looking at us to provide   inputs on the audience so as to help in decision making . Above everything else , I was very aware that we   are not selling a product , it about a young person ’s career and we have to do a good job in representing   the aspirations and dreams of the young people to our management team . 

 Selection   There was a lot of urgency in the leadership team to get an understanding of the target audience and the   owner and leader of the B- School commissioned a primary market research . They sent out a quantitative   research tool to around 150 plus respondents to understand their demographics and areas of interest   post their graduation . In a weeks time we had spent good money to generate a thick report which only   concluded that most fresh graduates want to pursue post - graduation . Management education did not   figure a top choice . The study provided no real insights on the Target group . 

 As marketing , I was looking for deeper insights .   At this point I decided to use the visualization tool with a   small group of target audience . As mentioned in the video – the visualization tool helps to get the specifics   to get a better understanding of our users ( target group ) and is useful for extrapolation . . I had with me   two other faculty members who also wanted to be part of the process and observe and gain insights for   their area of work , which was curriculum design . 

 Assignment Submission : Reflection 

 Submitted by : Deborah Cruz                 Page 2 

 Application   I reached out to a study center ( In India , most admissions are through a competitive examinations and   there are centers which provide guidance on preparing for these exams ) to arrange a meeting with a small   group of around 14 students who were keen to pursue management education .   Before I walked in I was   very apprehensive about using the tool and whether I would be judged by this group of young students .   But both the students and we experienced something unexpected 

 I started by   putting them at ease and telling them that   this exercise was about them , to help them get a   better understanding of their own goals , and clarity on what they really want to do in life . 

 I asked them to do the following exercise 

 1 . I invited them to imagine their most joyous moment in life ? What would that be ?   After around 7 

 mins of reflection time and writing I asked them to sketch the same . 

 2 . I asked them to reflect on the primary motivation that makes that moment joyous ?   Sketch the 

 motivation . 

 3 . I asked them to reflect on what would it require to achieve that moment ? Draw the motivation 

 on   paper . 

 The entire exercise took around 90 mins and in between we invited people to share their future “ happy   stories ” if they were comfortable . All of them sketched out the 3 – 5 pictures . Color pencils- pens , posits   etc . were provided to help the bring their emotions on paper . 

 Insight    We later analyzed the sketches and looked for patterns to gain insights on the dreams and aspirations of   the audience .   We learned new things about our audience – what matters to them , what motivates them   above all what they think their strengths and talents are . The insights we gained were like a treasure trove .   For starters , the students immediately connected with us – they had never been exposed to an exercise   or a time that allowed them to envision their future happiness . For a few students it was an overwhelming   experience as they were able to connect to their deepest desires that they had buried inside due to   pressure to do academically well . As an example we had sketches of “ Café by the Beach ” ; “ A sports   manager managing Manchester united ” ; sketches of students “ delivering convocation address at B   school ” , gifting a luxury car for their parents . 

 These insights will influence our Go to market approach and our overall communication plan from a   marketing perspective . They were also valuable pointers that emerged to inform the curriculum design 

 I would like to share a few of our learnings . A key insight that we gathered was that the primary motivation   for these fresh graduates was a validation of their abilities and talents by their parents .   Parents are also   key decision makers in the final choice of the B School . Thus parents have now become a key stakeholder   in the entire go to market strategy . This was a brand new insight for us .This kind of insight did not emerge   from the quantitative research undertaken earlier . The experience has significantly increased my   confidence on using design thinking in areas that involve human emotions , particularly when I need to   develop communication strategy . The greatest insight for me was that what the words can can not capture   our deepest desires and visualization is a very effective tool to express the unstated desires of the   audience . 

 Assignment Submission : Reflection 

 Submitted by : Deborah Cruz                 Page 3 

 Approach    Visualization or envisioning is a powerful tool . It was very effective to highlight the nuances that were   missed in the quantitative research .   For my Marketing problem , as a next step , I will use mind mapping   tool to assimilate insights gathered from all sources to build a design criterion for our MBA 2.0 .   It will   ensure that we involve the stakeholders and bring all perspectives to the table for ideation and   deliberation . 

 On the Visualization tool – I would like to use the tool in the other areas of our academic engagements .   For example Visualization can be a very useful tool for us to use designing our convocation ceremony . We   can use the tool to extrapolate the desired emotions and experience . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Deborah Cruz, Deborah Cruz, Deborah Cruz
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Assignment Submission : Reflection 

 Submitted by : Deborah Cruz                 Page 1 

 Marketing a B - School 

 Challenge    I work in a Private B- school as Head of Marketing and Admissions team . As a background the B - School   offers Management programs for people with prior work experience of minimum two years . We believe   that we operate in a very niche space as we are a private B- school that offers one year full time   management program ( Most B- schools in India offer a management program that is full time and is of 2   year duration . In addition , these 2 year programs open for fresh graduates and have no minimum work   experience criterion ) 

 The B – School is now planning to enter into the space of 2 year MBA program . The target group will now   include graduates who are fresh out of undergraduate colleges . The new program , ( MBA 2.0 for our   discussion ) presented a real “ Wicked Problem ” for the school in more than one ways . The areas up for   discussions ranged from what courses should be offered in order position ourselves differently to how we   make ourselves heard in a very noisy , busy and competitive marketplace . 

 To me as head of marketing , the biggest problem was the human problem . The target group of fresh   graduates was completely alien to us . We had no idea of their aspirations , what they are looking for , what   are their compelling reasons to do a management education . The entire team was looking at us to provide   inputs on the audience so as to help in decision making . Above everything else , I was very aware that we   are not selling a product , it about a young person ’s career and we have to do a good job in representing   the aspirations and dreams of the young people to our management team . 

 Selection   There was a lot of urgency in the leadership team to get an understanding of the target audience and the   owner and leader of the B- School commissioned a primary market research . They sent out a quantitative   research tool to around 150 plus respondents to understand their demographics and areas of interest   post their graduation . In a weeks time we had spent good money to generate a thick report which only   concluded that most fresh graduates want to pursue post - graduation . Management education did not   figure a top choice . The study provided no real insights on the Target group . 

 As marketing , I was looking for deeper insights .   At this point I decided to use the visualization tool with a   small group of target audience . As mentioned in the video – the visualization tool helps to get the specifics   to get a better understanding of our users ( target group ) and is useful for extrapolation . . I had with me   two other faculty members who also wanted to be part of the process and observe and gain insights for   their area of work , which was curriculum design . 

 Assignment Submission : Reflection 

 Submitted by : Deborah Cruz                 Page 2 

 Application   I reached out to a study center ( In India , most admissions are through a competitive examinations and   there are centers which provide guidance on preparing for these exams ) to arrange a meeting with a small   group of around 14 students who were keen to pursue management education .   Before I walked in I was   very apprehensive about using the tool and whether I would be judged by this group of young students .   But both the students and we experienced something unexpected 

 I started by   putting them at ease and telling them that   this exercise was about them , to help them get a   better understanding of their own goals , and clarity on what they really want to do in life . 

 I asked them to do the following exercise 

 1 . I invited them to imagine their most joyous moment in life ? What would that be ?   After around 7 

 mins of reflection time and writing I asked them to sketch the same . 

 2 . I asked them to reflect on the primary motivation that makes that moment joyous ?   Sketch the 

 motivation . 

 3 . I asked them to reflect on what would it require to achieve that moment ? Draw the motivation 

 on   paper . 

 The entire exercise took around 90 mins and in between we invited people to share their future “ happy   stories ” if they were comfortable . All of them sketched out the 3 – 5 pictures . Color pencils- pens , posits   etc . were provided to help the bring their emotions on paper . 

 Insight    We later analyzed the sketches and looked for patterns to gain insights on the dreams and aspirations of   the audience .   We learned new things about our audience – what matters to them , what motivates them   above all what they think their strengths and talents are . The insights we gained were like a treasure trove .   For starters , the students immediately connected with us – they had never been exposed to an exercise   or a time that allowed them to envision their future happiness . For a few students it was an overwhelming   experience as they were able to connect to their deepest desires that they had buried inside due to   pressure to do academically well . As an example we had sketches of “ Café by the Beach ” ; “ A sports   manager managing Manchester united ” ; sketches of students “ delivering convocation address at B   school ” , gifting a luxury car for their parents . 

 These insights will influence our Go to market approach and our overall communication plan from a   marketing perspective . They were also valuable pointers that emerged to inform the curriculum design 

 I would like to share a few of our learnings . A key insight that we gathered was that the primary motivation   for these fresh graduates was a validation of their abilities and talents by their parents .   Parents are also   key decision makers in the final choice of the B School . Thus parents have now become a key stakeholder   in the entire go to market strategy . This was a brand new insight for us .This kind of insight did not emerge   from the quantitative research undertaken earlier . The experience has significantly increased my   confidence on using design thinking in areas that involve human emotions , particularly when I need to   develop communication strategy . The greatest insight for me was that what the words can can not capture   our deepest desires and visualization is a very effective tool to express the unstated desires of the   audience . 

 Assignment Submission : Reflection 

 Submitted by : Deborah Cruz                 Page 3 

 Approach    Visualization or envisioning is a powerful tool . It was very effective to highlight the nuances that were   missed in the quantitative research .   For my Marketing problem , as a next step , I will use mind mapping   tool to assimilate insights gathered from all sources to build a design criterion for our MBA 2.0 .   It will   ensure that we involve the stakeholders and bring all perspectives to the table for ideation and   deliberation . 

 On the Visualization tool – I would like to use the tool in the other areas of our academic engagements .   For example Visualization can be a very useful tool for us to use designing our convocation ceremony . We   can use the tool to extrapolate the desired emotions and experience .
### Output: 