For the first time ever, the American Marketing Association (AMA) will feature an MBA course with content created by Schulich School of Business marketing students.
Associate Professor of marketing Markus Giesler – who has been named by both Fortune and Wired as one of the top professors on the rise – devised the idea as a way to showcase what Schulich students learned in the classroom.
Customer Experience Design is a one-of-a-kind course that teaches students how to use data and concepts to design captivating customer experiences, thus it has become one of the most sought-after electives in the MBA curriculum at Schulich.
It continues to grow in popularity, with students’ case studies being featured worldwide to thousands of readers weekly on ama.org.
“The American Marketing Association is the global leader in marketing knowledge,” Giesler said. “Their journals and conferences profile the discipline’s state-of-the-art knowledge and their website attracts a critical mass of marketing professionals every day.”
Soon after launching this groundbreaking partnership, the first two case studies skyrocketed to the top of the charts on the website.
“It created considerable interest from companies and other schools,” Giesler said. “Customer Experience Design strikes a chord with marketing professionals because it teaches managers how to move from data to desire, and how to design powerful experiences that create value for the firm, for consumers and for society.”
The international exposure is a win-win for both Schulich and the students; as Giesler expressed, it not only solidifies Schulich as a pioneer in customer experience design, but it helps the MBA students stand out from the crowd.
“Students are the biggest winners,” he said. “Their ability to develop and communicate actionable insights that inform the profession is evidence of their outstanding quality.”
The positive feedback continues to come in, with companies seeking out Giesler to ask him how they can hire students from this course.
“Every week we hear from a few companies,” said Giesler, adding the most important benefit is to train business leaders that use customer experience design to make a difference in business and society.
To date, there have been four Schulich articles published on ama.org.