My marketing story began when I was in the new media team of the student union. I was responsible for operating the WeChat official account for my college. When I first joined, the engagement was low. To get our marketing back on the right track, I led a 6-person team to interview dozens of target audiences and create actionable plans. Accordingly, I designed a college mascot and produced promotional content, including videos, interviews, and posters, and maximized the influence spread to social platforms such as Weibo. These changes have brought us more attention to the college, and the account follower has increased from 800 to 24,000+ That was when I started to discover my marketing talents and realized that it is essential to create and maintain an effective marketing strategy as it clearly explained how we reach our predetermined objectives.

During my undergraduate studies, I was most impressed by the course Advertising Investigation and Statistical Analysis, in which I learned different qualitative and quantitative research methods. I completed a research "Analysis of the Influencing Factors of University Student Users’ Willingness to Continue Using TikTok" and processed more than 5,00 questionnaire data using SPSS software, including reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Moreover, to equip myself with necessary marketing analysis skills, I learned Python, Google analytics, and Microsoft Excel.

Growing up in Hong Kong, I have noticed that China’s marketing landscape is different from Western’s, especially in digital marketing tools and customer demographics. In addition to studying marketing-related courses in China, I took digital and social media marketing courses when I exchanged at [University Name]A. I led a team of 3 to develop a marketing simulation for SpaceX Hyperloop themed “Take A Ride to The Future”. By looking into Google and other analytic tools, I learned that our targeted customers were affluent, innovators, and early adopters, and generated buyer personas as IT specialist and entrepreneur. It was useful for us to allocate channel and sales force and create content that spoke directly to our customers. I also ran A/B tests on our creatives, such as Google SEO and email marketing, to find out social media marketing, blogs, and SEO works well against our audience at the brand awareness stage. I could quickly evaluate the effects and adjusted our campaign as every digital marketing tactic used is measurable in real-time. Such experiences enabled me to master the latest marketing strategies by incorporating digital and social media into traditional business practices to reduce expenses and create higher returns. The MSc Business with Marketing brings in digital marketing and digital business service modules that offer deeper insights into this area, and I look forward to learning more about this.

Knowing that applying theory to practice is a vital part of marketing, I am confident that my practical experiences surpass most applicants. What most benefited me was the internship at Edel[University Name]'s Tech Team, which has given me a clear sense of my career goal. Our team went through a 6-month period of COVID-19 outbreak and corporate recovery with our clients from tech companies. We communicated with Airbnb and worked out multi-channel marketing solutions to alleviate their business difficulties and revive users' confidence. We leveraged International Women’s Day as an opportunity and launched the “Her Power, Empowered by Love” event to showcase female community members’ contributions during the pandemic. I was responsible for developing stories, which weaved in Airbnb data that supported how the platform helped female hosts. For example, Airbnb held regular online sharing sessions to provide hosts with business advice to engage people with the brand on a deeper, more meaningful level. All the campaigns we held had conveyed messages of solidarity and empathy to echo Airbnb's long-standing progressive values and we received [University Name]y positive reviews from users. Since Airbnb survived the pandemic and even pulled off the largest IPO of 2020, I realize the importance of long-term brand strategies as Airbnb has developed into a resilient brand and created a mature community system, which users turn to in good times and bad. From this, I have developed a keen interest in brand marketing.

Upon graduation, I aspire to become a brand [University Name]ager in the FMCG field, I comprehensive and systematic marketing training MSc Business with Marketing [University Name] Modules such as Strategic Marketing and Strategy Analysis & Practice that place great emphasis on business-level strategy equip with analytical thinking of corporate environment. I am also attracted to the study of Global Branding and Economics in the Global Environment courses because brand building and economics from a global perspective, which help me explore how globalization has caused organizations to change their marketing and business focus. What's more, the offering of Consultancy Projects provides an invaluable opportunity for me to blend academic excellence with professional experience.

[University Name]’s experts are another motivation for my application. I am keen to explore ways to build solid brands that offer the greatest opportunity for enduring growth. In this regard, the research of Professor Hugh Wilson about changing consumer behavior at scale is of great value. In his Why Your Customers' Social Identities Matter on Harvard Business Review, he looked at how social identity affects customer behavior and suggested effective tactics for firms in the creation of effective marketing strategies, such as reinforce and create identities. His research fields match my intellectual interest and can help me becom a brand [University Name]ager.

I am ready.