• by Larissa Faw , August 8, 2014

University of Akron students are getting a taste of real ad buying and planning. The Taylor Institute of Direct Marketing at The University of Akron (UA) is partnering with the V12 Group to introduce the Launchpad marketing platform that allows students to turnkey direct interactive marketing projects that segment current customers, identify prospects, develop email, social media and online display advertising messages, execute campaigns and receive analytics on campaign results.

Simply put: University of Akron students will be doing real, live marketing campaigns for local businesses around the college area/footprint.

During the term of the license agreement between UA and V12 Group, V12 Group will also sponsor the Marketing Analytics Lab in the Taylor Institute of Direct Marketing, which will carry V12 Group’s name during the term. 

“We strive for the constant pursuit of education in our field and are thrilled to be working with UA to help close the marketing automation skills gap and prepare the next generation of marketing experts,” said V12 Group CEO Paul Chachko. “It is our hope that our cutting edge platform will prove to be an invaluable resource allowing students to gather their own empirical evidence and develop highly in demand skills.”

Although this is currently a one-year agreement, with the university naming its marketing lab after Launchpad and the success they have had already, V12 Group executives say they are approaching this partnership as a long term engagement.

The deal was initiated after University officials reached out to V12 Group at a conference early this year. “The successful use of this platform will give our marketing program a leg up on competing institutions and enable us to differentiate our program on the basis of real world applicability,” said Professor of Marketing and Marketing Department Chairman William E. Baker, Ph.D. “Offering students access to the information provided by this system reinforces our dedication to collaboration and supporting education through hands-on experience.”

V12 Group declines to disclose any additional deals with other colleges and universities, though executives say further alliances are likely to be announced in the future.

V12 Group provides data and multi-channel digital marketing technology. V12 Group's marketing automation platform, Launchpad, enables marketers to identify and reach new consumer, business, display and automotive prospects by selecting from V12 Group's 3.4 billion record data warehouse.