Interview with Faculty Leader: Sandra Kumorowski

How does Global Marketing in Prague integrate marketing principles with local culture to provide students with a comprehensive learning experience? 

Sandra Kumorowski: The program’s core is designed to offer students a real client experience in the context of the Czech culture via a partnership with a local brand. The program partners are well-established brands in the Czech Republic that charge students with a task to develop a marketing plan based on the brands’ current needs. Initially, students meet with the brand’s leadership team, composed of brand owners, CEOs, and/or managing directors, that introduces the brand and presents the brief. After the meeting, each student team deliberates the task and prepares a marketing plan. In order to succeed in a client project, students must research and think in the local context and apply learned marketing principles to design a strategy that will address the brand’s key needs and challenges. Client presentations are scheduled towards the end of the program in Prague and the client gives immediate feedback to each student team, which is another invaluable learning experience provided by the program. This year, students will also have a unique opportunity to visit another European capital, Vienna, and directly participate in a global marketing workshop within one of the largest start-up festivals called ViennaUP’24.   

What previous industry collaborations or partnerships does the course offer to students, allowing them to gain real-world insights into global marketing? 

Sandra Kumorowski: Industry partnerships and collaborations are key to achieving the program’s learning outcomes. During the stay in Prague, students spend a considerable time collaborating with a Czech client on development of a marketing strategy for the brand. The program also offers additional opportunities to meet with many other Czech and international brands that in the past included the following brands: 

• Dermacol: the most famous and oldest Czech cosmetic and European heritage brand established in 1966. The brand operates in 70 countries and has been our main program partner for the last 7 years. Students are charged with developing a marketing strategy that is relevant based on each year need. Last summer, students had to develop a social media marketing plan for the US consumers. 
• Cosmopolitan magazine, the Czech edition: one of the most popular magazines in the world that established operations in the Czech Republic in 1994. The program collaborates with the magazine on various events each year. In some of the previous collaborations, students were tasked to develop covers and content for 12 issues of the magazine. 
• Google: Students visit the Google headquarters in Prague and meet with the leadership team to discuss current marketing trends related to the brand. 
• FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding) advertising agency: Students collaborated on the agency project’s including the launch of Oreo cookies in the Czech Republic. 
• L’Oreal: Students participated in a fashion show produced by L’Oreal where they had to design various experiential touchpoints for the event.

Could you elaborate on the unique experiential learning opportunities students can expect during their time in Prague, particularly those focused on understanding consumer behavior and market trends? 

Sandra Kumorowski: When in Prague, students meet with many important professionals that work in business, education, and cultural sectors. These meetings are key to understanding consumer behavior and market trends in the local context. Exposure to the business sector is provided through the client project experience and other brand visits. One of the fundamental educational experiences is a lecture on economic, political, and cultural history of the Czech lands delivered by internationally recognized faculty of Charles University in Prague, which is one of the oldest universities in the world, established in 1348 and ranked among the top 200 best universities in the world.  

Lastly, students are exposed to the Czech culture through architectural tours of the city, museum visits, literature overview, concerts including jazz and classical, and Czech culinary experiences. Students will also gain valuable cultural insights from the instructors’ Czech and European heritage and expertise: Professor Sandra Kumorowski was born in the Czech Republic and Professor Philippe Ravanas was born in France. 

In what ways does the program facilitate cross-cultural competency development among students to effectively navigate diverse marketing landscapes in Prague? 

Sandra Kumorowski: From the beginning of the program, students are exposed to various cross-cultural activities in a form of lectures, brand visits, and targeted observation research to prepare them for an effective analysis of the marketing landscape in Prague. For example, students have to complete observation research in one of the largest shopping malls in Prague and evaluate similarities and differences in consumer behavior and marketing trends between the Czech Republic and the US.

Can you share some success stories or notable achievements of past participants in the program that highlight the practical application of global marketing concepts learned during their study abroad experience in Prague? 

Sandra Kumorowski: Many students participating in the Prague Global Marketing program became successful international marketers. After the completion of the program and her graduation, a former student Vanessa Monson moved to Paris and has worked ever since for many French brands including Givenchy and Evian. Vanessa still lives and works in France. The similar story shares another former student of the program, Christina Lopresti. Christina also moved to France and went on to complete her MBA in Global Luxury Brand Management at the Sup de Luxe founded by Cartier.  

Christina held positions as a Head of Social Media for Lancôme Global and currently for The Frankie Shop in Paris. Haitham al-Rahim participated in the program before his graduation and has traveled the world extensively and is presently located in Berlin, Germany where he heads marketing for an international company GO2 Markets that connects buyers and sellers globally to facilitate trading of multiple commoditized environmental products, including Energy Efficiency Certificates, Renewable Energy, Biogas, and Carbon Emission. These are just a few examples of students that successfully applied concepts learned in the program into their professional careers. There are many more students who, thanks to the program, gained overall global awareness and applied it to their current jobs.  

For more information about studying abroad in Prague, click here!