Global marketing students visit China

Nine graduate students and Associate Professor Thomas Vogel are wrapping up a trip to China this week after learning about Chinese media, law, public relations, advertising, marketing, and the film industry as part of a study abroad program with China Communication University in Beijing and the East China Normal University in Shanghai.

The students are from the Global Marketing Communications and Advertising (GMCA) program, for which Vogel is the director, in the Marketing Communication Department.

Vogel and the students are blogging about their experiences almost daily on emerson.edu.

“The hospitality we have experienced has been nothing short of wonderful and amazing,” Vogel said.

The trip combined classroom time with visits to businesses. In Beijing, the group visited LeTV and also met with GMCA alumna Christiane Schaefer, MA ’12, at Volkswagen.

In Shanghai, the group met with another GMCA alumna, Yi “Claire” Yan, MA ’06, who began her own social media-advertising agency, Brand Town Communication, with major clients, such as Lacoste. Other companies visited in Shanghai were DDB Advertising Agency and Edelman Public Relations.

“It was an amazing experience,” said Lindsey Comeau, MA ’15, “to be immersed in a completely different culture.” The trip was Comeau’s first outside the United States.

The majority of the participating GMCA students grew up outside the US. Their native countries include Ghana, Poland, Panama, Austria, China, Canada, Germany, and Vietnam.

Vogel worked with Tony Pinder, assistant vice president of international and global engagement, and David Griffin, director of the Office of International Study and External Programs, to organize the trip.