The campaign to establish Canada's first University Chair and Bachelor of Business Administration in Brand Communication.
Highlights of the Year (2018-2019) by Sarah JS Wilner, PhD Brand Communications Chair
In 2011, the Marketing Communications Education Trust (MCET) generously committed $1,865,000 to Laurier’s Lazaridis School of Business & Economics to establish a Chair in Brand Communication. This Chair has a mandate to support the development, promotion and advancement of brand communication education and training in Canada.
This year, Sarah J. S. Wilner, Associate Professor, Marketing and Chair in Brand Communication, was on sabbatical, focusing on her research into the influence of design thinking in organizations and the impact of product development and branding on user adoption of previously stigmatized products. She remained actively engaged as Chair, assisting in the development of branding education and practice in Canada while deepening her understanding of it, and presenting her research to scholars, educators and industry practitioners.
Highlights of the Year (2017-2018) by Sarah JS Wilner, PhD Brand Communications Chair
In 2011, the Marketing Communications Education Trust (MCET) generously committed a $1,865,000 pledge to Laurier’s Lazaridis School of Business & Economics to support the development, promotion and advancement of education and training in Canada related to brand communication through the establishment of a Chair in Brand Communication.
In the past year, the support of MCET has powered a flurry of activity under the leadership of Sarah JS Wilner, Associate Professor, Marketing, who became the Chair in Brand Communication in January 2017. Her work has engaged brand academics and practitioners, integrated industry expertise into a dynamic curriculum and ensured that students at all levels are learning relevant theory and practice. In this report she provides details about her activities for 2017-2018.
Highlights of the Year (2016-2017) by Sarah JS Wilner, PhD Brand Communications Chair
It has been my pleasure and honour to assume the responsibilities of the Chair in Brand Communication as of January 1, 2017, succeeding my colleague Dr. Brad Davis at the completion of his 5-year term.
After a lovely lunch with the MCET board—Rupert Brendon, Mike Welling and Jani Yates—“inaugurating” me into the role in mid-February, I understood my directive to be that specified in the original gift agreement, with particular emphasis on working with practitioners and other educational institutions to promote best practices and educational programs in brand management and communcation.
The report that follows outlines progress to date on fulfilling the mandate of the Chair. Section headings (denoted with Roman numerals) indicate select mandated items from the Chair endowment agreement. Other areas of focus outlined in the gift agreement will be addressed in future reports.
Highlights of the Year (2014-2015) by Dr. Brad Davis Laurier Chair in Brand Communication
Laurier’s Marketing and Brand Communication programs are among Canada’s leading providers of talent to the management teams of established brands across the country. Our success in developing these programs at Laurier has resulted in outstanding student enrolment and alumni success.
Brand Communication Management and Marketing Communication courses are the most popular electives in Laurier’s Marketing Area. This year, for the fifth consecutive year, over 200 students took the core courses for the Brand Communication concentration – 90 percent of all marketing students.
Message from the Laurier Chair in Brand Communication Dr. Brad Davis
Laurier’s Marketing and Brand Communication programs are among Canada’s leading providers of talent to the management teams of established brands across the country. Our success in developing these programs at Laurier has resulted in outstanding student enrolment and alumni success.
Brand Communication Management and Marketing Communication courses are the most popular electives in Laurier’s Marketing Area. This year, for the fourth consecutive year, over 200 students took the core courses for the Brand Communication concentration – 90 percent of all marketing students. We are looking forward to our move into the Global Innovation Exchange. When this new home for Laurier’s School of Business & Economics (SBE) and Department of Mathematics opens in the fall of 2015, it will provide a welcome relief to our space limitations and will greatly increase our ability to expand the delivery of key courses in the Brand Communication program.
Message from the Laurier Chair in Brand Communication
The 2012-13 academic year saw the Brand Communication program continue to attract a significant number of Laurier business students. Again, this year we saw over 200 students take the core courses towards the program’s option. This represents 90 per cent of all marketing students.
We also saw approval for a significant revision of the BBA Curriculum that will be particularly beneficial to the Marketing Area and the Brand Communication program. The revisions will start to unfold this coming September, but changes to the Marketing curriculum will not come in to effect until September 2014. This gives us a full year to significantly revise and update a number of our courses to reflect trends and issues that some of our practitioner advisors identified as priorities to us.
It was also a year that saw Laurier’s School of Business & Economics establish a number of firsts in Canadian business education and continue to build its reputation as one of the most innovative and progressive programs in the country. The Brand Communication program has been both a beneficiary and participant in each of these major steps forward.
In December 1012, President and CEO of Second Cup, Stacey Mowbray, became SBE’s first “CEO In-Residence”, while former Procter & Gamble CEO Tim Penner assumed this honourary title in June 2013. The program complements the existing successful “Entrepreneur in Residence” program which also brings leading business figures into the school to provide the benefit of their experience and insights to students and faculty.