A survey of 747 top marketing executives from Fortune 500 Companies revealed that the largest gap between industry demand and work force supply is in analytics skills. In every obstacle there is an opportunity and this is no different. Professor Michael Holmes and Julie Campbell have partnered to find a solution to fill the talent gap using an innovative solution originally developed at Ball State University.
So the problem is clear, the media and business industries are demanding candidates with digital marketing and analytics skills and the educational institutions and training centers are failing at preparing individuals to fill those roles.
How to fix the problem? As Professor Holmes states, “You put the cart before the horse.” As a Professor at Ball State, Holmes realized he would not be able to educate students in analytics unless he could offer classes to teach the subject matter. He could not create classes or curriculum unless he could hire the faculty to develop the curriculum and teach the classes. With additional funding being hard to come by and pressure from the Dean’s Advisory Council to better prepare students in media research and analytics Holmes and Campbell partnered to create a Media Research and Analytics Agency on campus.
Holmes, a professor and chairperson in the Ball State Department of Journalism and Campbell then the Director of Interactive Marketing partnered to develop this unique solution because they quickly realized neither one of them would be able to make this endeavor happen alone.
As a professor, Holmes brings a scholarly expertise to curriculum development and the connection to students that would help make the program a success. The yin to Holmes’ yang, Campbell helped provide professional experience and access to the tools and resources that helped create the successful foundation for a successful endeavor.
Unintentional shameless plug alert, Julie and Michael partnered with Converge Consulting to create the original curriculum to get the program off the ground. While Campbell did have limited resources to develop the training curriculum, they needed assistance expediting the process for getting the program off the ground.
At the outset, the challenges to the plan were numerous, but the program is quickly gaining traction for university organizations and students alike. The Media Research and Analytics Agency provides research services of needs/audience analytics, survey, focus group, lab study or field work methods, usability testing and A/B testing. The group also provides Analytics services of web traffic analytics, social media traffic and sentiment analysis, and digital advertising analytics.
While the process for creating the agency wasn’t easy, Holmes and Campbell have successfully created a Media Research and Analytics Agency on the campus of Ball State. The agency will primarily serve student groups until the entity matures and develops the skills and process for serving paying customers from external organizations. The success of the agency has also helped develop media analytics courses serving Journalism, Telecommunications and College of Business Students and already benefited students in internship and job placements.
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