Is there any better way to study the four Ps of Marketing than having a workshop in the Central Market of Valencia? We don’t think so and neither do the students of our Pathway to Marketing. Therefore, last Wednesday professor Paco Suay together with a small group of students were analysing of how the concepts of Product, Price, Promotion and Place work in one of the most extraordinary places in Valencia.
“The Central Market is not only impressive for its beautiful facade and unusual style, but also for the variety of products and the number of vendors who are selling fresh and high-quality goods”, says Paco Suay while entering the building. He briefly explains the history of this place, “Everything started from an open-air market where people were selling products brought from their own orchards. Only in 1928 the current building was open for customers after 18 years of construction works. Nowadays, the Central Market is an important economic focal point of Valencia”.
The workshop begins with some guidelines and explanations of how to get necessary and useful information for the investigation. Each student has to focus on one particular concept of Marketing, analyse it and then share their observations with other colleagues. Since they are first-year students coming from different countries such as Peru, Morocco, Great Britain, Italy and Honduras they are happy to explore new places and get to know Spanish culture. Moreover, it is always a good idea to combine theoretical classes with workshops and out of class activities.
“This way of learning is really interesting and entertaining. I already have experience in Marketing so I can say that the biggest challenges we have to deal with are those that appear in real life situations”, says Margie, one of our Pathway to Marketing students. She asks for a coffee in a bar to evaluate the customer service and is quite satisfied with it.
When you study Marketing it is fundamental to combine theoretical classes with workshops and out of class activities
Other students are also collecting information about the prices, products and its promotion. They take some photos of the stalls and interact with the vendors of the Central Market. We also meet Federica who has joined us for the workshop to get some ideas for her master’s thesis about the tourism of Valencia.
The next stop is Poppyns Life Store. It’s a very cozy and charming clothes shop with a nice café inside. We sit down for a cup of coffee first and chat about the good atmosphere of this place and its beautiful interior. After a little break, the students continue the workshop. This time, they have to work on the same concepts of Marketing, collect the necessary information and compare it with the results obtained from the Central Market.
In a degree marked with an innovative teaching approach, we wonder what other ideas Professor Paco Suay has in his head…
