Practical Seminar in Public Relations

Sophistication, acumen and creativity – these were the three qualities with which six student agencies from TU Ilmenau impressed this year’s clients, implexis and ABB, as part of the Practical Seminar in Public Relations.

At the beginning of April, the 34 fourth-semester media and communication studies students were set the task of producing three PR concepts each for the Swiss conglomerate ABB and the Nuremberg-based software specialist implexis. The past three and a half months have been characterised by euphoria, long meetings and brainstorming sessions for the students. The task for the student teams working on ABB was to create an innovative concept for the company’s in-house magazine. Always on the lookout for new talent, particularly in the IT sector, implexis commissioned its three student groups to develop a concept for staff recruitment. The result last Friday was impressive: professionalism and creativity seemed to have been the students’ unspoken motto. 

“You’ve hit the nail on the head with this assignment. With creative ideas and the use of the latest technology, such as NFC chips or the ‘hackathon’, the students have completely won us over,” praised Mariella Meyer, Corporate Marketing Manager at implexis.  The clients from ABB were also delighted. “Thanks to the three very different concepts, we’ve gained plenty of inspiration – including digital ideas – for ‘ABB review’. The students even provided the individual measures with price tags and measurable metrics. Brilliant!” said Reiner Schoenrock, Head of Strategic Product and Innovation Communications at ABB.

Following the successful pitch, the students met with representatives from ABB and implexis, as well as the supervising lecturers, for a relaxed conclusion to the seminar. The award ceremony and celebration of the PR concepts took place at Café FlorAnt.