When was the last time you played something? For many adults, “play time” is something that they primarily focus on with and for their children. That’s unfortunate, especially for those who are training for careers in marketing (or any profession). Research tells us that play has many benefits. Play builds imagination, fosters cognitive growth, reduces stress, enables interaction with others, creates independence and leads to more active lifestyles. Whenever we’re seeking to learn something new, consider how the magic of play could help. This is the successful approach taken by an experienced professor in the marketing education space.
For Peter Widdis, M.Ed., play comes naturally. For more than 25+ years, regardless of the marketing jersey (academia or industry) Peter is wearing, play is his cornerstone. As a tenured faculty and academic coordinator of postgraduate studies in the George Brown College Centre for Business, he is a Full Professor of Marketing in teaching, research and innovation practices while stewarding the schools’ Sport & Event Marketing program. Accomplishments from boardrooms to classrooms (and vice versa) come in all shapes and sizes. He even had a pit stop on CBC’s Dragon’s Den in between. Peter’s passion for play-based experiential learning has led him to pursue a PhD in this territory.
Walking the Talk (of a Textbook)
Landing in the academic space was meant to be for Peter. When chatting with colleagues at an offsite years ago, everyone was talking about what they wanted to do next. For Peter, he explained that he had a growing desire to write a marketing textbook. Somehow he saw a future affixed to teaching and research in some way. One thing led to another with a part-time instructor role opening up at George Brown College (GBC). Peter seized the moment, joining the world of business academia at GBC, while simultaneously adding consulting ventures to his portfolio.
Play induced experiential learning has been a common theme for Peter throughout his career. He’s excited that he can bring this approach to his students.
Practically speaking, Peter’s students have a bachelor’s degree or advanced diploma in a multitude of subjects. That pre-qualifies them to most postgraduate certificate programs at Ontario Colleges (versus some MBA or other Master degree requirements). This marketing education pathway is growing in popularity for students to pursue after completing their undergraduate work. The main benefit is it applies theoretical teachings to the context of practical learning and development. In short, to learn, to play and to experiment in a lower risk environment before entering the profession fully.
Expectations for Today’s Marketing Education
Most students who enter Peter and/or his faculty team’s classrooms for the first time have preconceived notions as to what they believe marketing is. And that in itself is something that Peter helps them unlearn. For Commerce students, they typically have a theoretical perception of “what marketing is.” Most are going to answer it in the context of promotions or communications at a very high level. That’s certainly important but is missing some crucial context.
Peter’s focus is on preparing his students for real world readiness by blending theory (academics) and reality (industry).
He believes there is so much noise around what is “good” marketing. There’s so much jargon and industry speak. Thankfully, his marketing education students don’t need that. Rather, Peter’s goal is to impart core learning principles. These include researching curiously, reading critically, writing creatively and executing cooperatively.
Peter is not a traditional marketer by any stretch of the imagination. However, he believes marketing today is (essentially) still about leveraging an ownable brand proposition into foundational tenets (e.g. product design, pricing mix, sales channelling and advertising & promotion) that seamlessly inspire consumers to buy and employees to buy-in. Peter says it’s important to note these foundational tenets can be framed in different ways for different industries (e.g. Consumer Products vs. Sports & Entertainment).
The marketing promotional tools or “toys” are always evolving because of technology. As such, students need to learn how to play with the right toys at the right time. The trouble is they can’t understand how to play with the toys until they understand fully the foundational principles by practicing them in a free flowing fashion. Peter enthusiastically works with students towards realizing this outcome without resorting to conventional education approaches, such as memorization. Marketing is too agile and creative to follow such a sterile approach.
Learning Through Playful Experiences
Experientially-driven learning for Peter is about creating a new “play first” academic structure. There, students can play (fully) without fear, and experiment with different ideas, while grasping critical thinking skills and apply this mindset to solving problems. It’s about students learning how to work collaboratively without judgement, making sense of data and in co-creating business cases for implementation. Once this fluid process is underway, students can overlay their thinking to formulate ideas they stand behind with conviction. Most importantly, it’s about experimenting with new ideas, creative approaches, diverse teams and unique environments to win as a team.
What has become clear to Peter is that it’s all about co-creating a learning experience of which students can “play full out” within the context of marketing education parameters. As with any “game,” it also comes with the notion that students understand it’s okay to fail on the scoreboard (as you can’t win every game!). Applied creativity involves hits and misses since each demonstrate that students are trying new approaches. It’s imperative that this professional reality sets in with postgraduate students in some shape or form. That has been the hallmark mindset of Peter’s career before teaching and has been solidified ever since.
Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. Therefore, marketing really is bringing coherence to any business strategy.
Peter stresses to students that marketing is not just the CMO’s job. It’s about companies embedding their “mark in the marketplace”. Whole organizations must work together under one purpose for being: from the vision to the values to bringing it all together. Peter stresses that Marketing is not a department. Rather, it needs to be a part of every employee’s psyche in every discipline and in every team.
Bringing Marketing Education to Life During COVID
Moving from “bricks to clicks” within the span of two weeks last spring caused many colleges and universities (without dedicated online learning avenues) to shift curriculum models remotely on a dime. Long discussed to get “ready for primetime,” key digital educational strategies and resources were piloted immediately. After a few kinks in the beginning, the vast majority of class experiences are flowing very well with new teaching and learning innovations emerging simultaneously.
Today, Peter and his faculty team have 150+ students learning virtually along the lines of course work, client simulation projects and co-op placements. Almost a quarter of them study outside of Canada with COVID travel challenges being the reality for many international learners.
Looking forward, the opportunity to have learning transcend any boundary is exciting.
Sure, Peter looks forward to welcoming students back on campus for in-person lectures because there is a richness of experience that is currently missed. That human interaction is valuable and needed for a comprehensive marketing education. Having students from as far as China, Russia, India and Dubai, and to as close as living on campus downtown, has been an incredibly refreshing experience. Peter knows that educators are doing the best they can and demonstrating to students that resiliency and agility might just be the most powerful skills for their careers.
Providing a Platform for Understanding
Sometimes you need to see the forest for the trees. It’s obvious that students in postgraduate programs are seeking linear connections into their first jobs. Peter argues that’s what postgraduate certificate programs deliver. Some students express discontent to instructors over the notion of “still learning the four Ps of marketing.” What these keen students may be missing is that such core tenets help to provide bigger context and – more importantly – the ability to strategize, conceptualize and execute (many) ideas more efficiently.
If you want to get a job in content marketing or search engine optimization, it’s still helpful to understand the bigger picture, drawing on inspiration from masters like Walt Disney, David Ogilvy, Steve Jobs, Philip Kotler and Mark McCormack. Especially for impatient students who simply want to get into the workforce – and we’ve all been there – slowing down can actually speed you up. Peter reminds students that studying these foundational topics creates broader strategic skills that are transferable. Sure, it may take a bit more time to cover up-front but it will enable faster growth in their careers due to a broader comprehension – and therefore value – for their employers.
To be successful, you’ve got to have a balance between formal education and informal hustle.
It’s this magic combination that creates insightful, creative and driven marketeers.
Making Marketing FUN
Not only does a successful career require hard work, it needs to be entrenched in FUN. Fortunately, marketing can be a very fun profession. But that’s not what Peter means. Rather, he suggests FUN as an acronym for his students:
- Faith in the entire process (that it’s all going to make sense as students go through their journey).
- Unifying student learning experiences (from an in-class perspective and on-the-job standpoint).
- Networking to increase a student’s net worth (not in a monetary perspective but more from a social credibility standpoint).
Self-development isn’t optional anymore according to Peter. It wasn’t an option before the latest tech, COVID or a massive recession. It’s even less optional now. Today, continuous learning is needed at a hyper speed just to keep up. It’s a mandatory curiosity about what makes people tick and how we can make a positive “mark” in the world through “marketing” magic. That mentality sets the stage for professional success and career significance. With a continued focus, students can connect the dots to enable their future by making it clearer what their path can look like. They may even find a way to inject play into their busy daily lives… and, of course, be better off for it!
In Partnership With
Peter Widdis, M.Ed. is a tenured faculty and academic coordinator of postgraduate studies in the George Brown College Centre for Business, he is a Full Professor of Marketing in teaching, research and innovation practices while stewarding the schools’ Sport & Event Marketing program. Peter’s 25+ year career bridges the academic and industry divide. Accomplishments from boardrooms to classrooms (and vice versa) come in all shapes and sizes (with a pit stop on CBC’s Dragon’s Den in between). Peter’s passion for play-based experiential learning has led him to pursue a PhD in this territory.
Tim Bishop, CM is a multi-disciplined executive with a proven record of optimizing strategic efforts to expand the influence of leading organizations, such as the Canadian Marketing Association, Cineplex Entertainment, Lavalife.com, IMI International and Northstar Research Partners. In Partnership With is his latest focus to curate Canadian marketing experts to celebrate the power of strategic partnerships in a perspective-based content series.