7 Chapter 7: The One Where We Launched a Balm
Angela Lyrette and Melanie Haskins
Niche marketing, redefined
For the Faculty-Industry Co-Mentorship project, Professor Melanie Haskins spent a day skin deep in the business of marketing. She visited Bushbalm Natural Skincare’s Ottawa headquarters, and was thrilled to be in the company of so many smart, passionate, and talented people. Melanie shadowed Momo (Mohammad) Udaipurwala, an Algonquin College Scriptwriting and Interactive Media Design alum, who generously invited her to sit in on three different marketing meetings and the campaign kick-off of a returning “best smelling” body care product. Melanie noticed the well designed office space, with open areas for collaboration, and closed pods for getting caught up with work. Employees have the flexibility to work from home three days per week, and use Zoom conferencing software to attend meetings.
Classroom Assessment and Activity Ideas
The Bushbalm team works remotely and in-person. Students would benefit from group projects that use a combination of in-person and virtual meetings, such as Teams in Microsoft 365. Grades can be distributed by:
- Professional business communication – verify team members are using the Teams chat space appropriately
- Teams can record virtual meeting for spot checking or grading. Points for completing and managing agendas and time, creating action items, and follow up
- Individual member contributions can be verified from the Teams Files area, open files in SharePoint and review version history to see edits and work
The company is growing fast, and Founder David Gaylord, is a member of the Business-Marketing Program Advisory Committee (PAC), so it is no surprise that many team members are from Algonquin College, making Melanie feel quite at home. She found the atmosphere friendly, fun and it was reassuring to see many of her course and program concepts reflected in the workplace, giving her a confidence boost.
Leadership Attributes Transferable to the Workplace
David is a classic example of an entrepreneur who uses his drive to elevate others. In addition to serving on the Business-Marketing PAC, he welcomes students from the various Algonquin College programs on field placement, and he previously served as the ‘Merchant in Residence’ at Shopify, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs by sharing his experience building Bushbalm Skincare.
- Reflect on your program’s relationships with PAC members. Are you spending your meeting time asking for their input and advice, or delivering updates?
- Create opportunities to connect students with your PAC members, through guest speaker or career events, and introduce them in LinkedIn
- Design case studies and activities modelled after PAC member company successes, for example, have students create a simulated product launch for a new product
Haskins observed the preparation that goes into the launch of a product fragrance real-time. Team member Erica Emery, a Business-Marketing program alum, modelled the cleverly named “Watermelon Sugar” scented oil with a matching manicure while Georgia Parks, on field placement for her Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program, took the glamour shots. We are proud to see our students and graduates making an impact with this company!
Throughout the visit, Haskins noticed true alignment between what she and the marketing faculty are teaching and reinforcing in their classes with the engagement, research, development, and teamwork demonstrated at Bushbalm. Marketing program in-class activities and assessments are realistic, using the same software (Canva) as the industry.
Haskins learned that the Bushbalm team values real beauty, creating products that are accessible, useable, and marketed with limited touch-ups, yet polished. She also came out of the visit with new ideas for her students; more creative designs, mock-ups, and more emphasis on marketing briefs, using the Bushbalm team as a live case study.
Key Takeaways for Workplace Skill Development
Melanie was reminded of her own work in marketing prior to joining the faculty team at Algonquin College. She observed that Bushbalm relied heavily on marketing briefs – from original inspiration, to capturing feelings, emotions, and bullet points of key product/service attributes. She will re-introduce a fun activity, “tell me how to make a peanut butter sandwich” to help students experience the process in a simplified way.
- Students will benefit from more direction through the marketing brief development, including multiple deliverables and check-ins
- Include grades for self-and peer-evaluation of briefs, mirroring the workplace
- Graded practice of brief organization and presentations, so that marketing designs meet organizations stated objectives
To top off the visit, Haskins was presented with an Oscar-worthy gift bag full of skin care products from the top seller’s list. If she can just keep her daughters from stealing them!
Next steps are to invite a team member for a tour of Algonquin College, a class visit, and reciprocate the generosity with a nice lunch on campus.
