MSc Strategic Marketing goes to Google

14 of us MSc Strategic Marketing students from Imperial College Business School visited Google's EU headquarters in Dublin.

This rare opportunity was arranged by Dr Marialena Zinopoulou, one of our lecturers on our programme, and Imperial alumni at Google including Adrian Masson and Elodie Harris, who were also taught by Dr Zinopoulou when they were MSc Strategic Marketing students in 2017.

This amazing visit was far more than a physical trip from Imperial College to Google’s office. It unlocked a truly insightful look into the innovative world of one of the biggest tech companies to us students.

From lectures to learning in the field

Dr Zinopoulou is the module leader of Research and Analysis in Strategic Marketing. I enjoyed this module a lot because it is very practical and explains common tools for a digital marketing specialist. During the module, Dr Zinopoulou organised a workshop to demonstrate how Google Ads can be used to track previous performance and advise future campaigns.

Both Dr Zinopoulou and the module strengthened my aspiration to be a digital marketing specialist. On this trip, Elodie, a New Business Account Manager in the Google Ads department, shared deep insights about how Google Ads work and forecasted the top five trends of digital advertising we will see in coming years.

Adrian, an Enterprise Customer Development Representative at Google Cloud,  shared insights about the Cloud industry. I was new to the Cloud service and I had thought it as an invisible and untouchable high-tech field. However, with vivid examples and videos, Adrian explained what the Cloud is and how it has changed our daily life.

My favourite part was the competitor analysis of the Cloud industry, where we could see the knowledge we learned in our Marketing Strategy and Product Management module in action.

Also, I was eager to know how Google's 80/20 Innovation Model works in reality. During the panel talk, a current staff member at Google answered my question. He told us that at Google, everyone is passionate about their work. Apart from their main duties, staff have the freedom to work on a project they are interested in. Google provides abundant learning resources through internal platforms and it encourages staff to learn from their colleagues.

Secrets of Google

Besides the academic demonstration, we were very lucky to have a wonderful tour inside the office and the famous canteen. As one of the greatest tech companies, Google provides free and amazing catering services to all staff. There are nine different canteens in the Dublin office and I was really excited to eat in them!

Mexican food, Asian food, British Food… You can find almost any food you like! The food menu is also regularly updated, so you will never get bored! The day we visited was Valentine’s Day, so we had the chance to try lovely chocolates, cupcakes and other sweets.