IDM to run top students’ Summer School
Released 02 June 2005: The IDM today announces the successful candidates who passed the rigorous selection process for the IDM Summer School 2005. The 30 hotly contested places were won by students from a broad range of disciplines – suggesting that tomorrow’s direct marketing stars are as likely to be geographers or linguists as they are to be business graduates.
Now in its second year, the IDM Summer School aims to find the brightest, best and most enthusiastic graduates who wish to pursue a career in direct, data and digital marketing, then give them a practical introduction to the profession in an intensive five-day programme. This year 250-plus applications were received from universities and colleges right across the UK. These were whittled down to the final 30 via a series of selection days, where the students underwent interviews, written tests and gave a formal presentation.
The 30 successful candidates represent 22 universities from Strathclyde and St Andrews to Bath and Bristol. Significantly, only eight out of the final 30 are studying marketing or other business-related subjects - the remainder are from subjects as diverse as psychology, geography, Hispanic studies, philosophy and English.
Janice Pickard, the IDM’s Graduate Programme Manager, says: “We’re delighted that the Summer School has so quickly become such an astonishing success. We calculate that over the next decade there will be a three-fold increase in the demand for talented graduates who possess direct, data and digital marketing skills. Our Summer School programme aims to help meet that demand by selecting the brightest, most committed students from a wide variety of disciplines and giving them a quality, practical grounding in the profession. We’re confident that this year’s Summer School graduates will be snapped up by employers!”
The content of the programme will be based around Direct, Data and Digital days and sponsoring companies have been encouraged to take an active role – delivering sessions, setting case studies, running workshops or mentoring students. The result is a programme that is right up to date, delivered by current, experienced direct marketing professionals from across the industry. The 2005 Summer School sponsors are: Acxiom, Broadsystem, Chemistry, EHS Brann, Glue, International Masters Publishers, Intelligent Print Solutions, Proximity London, Tullo Marshall Warren and WWAV Rapp Collins.
The 2005 IDM Summer School runs from 27 June to 1 July. Full programme details can be found at the IDM’s website for students: www.think-direct.com/fasttrack.
Notes to Editors
For more information contact Juliet Hilditch at juliethilditch@theidm.com.
