From the MBA classroom to the broadcast sales floor: one simulation, two learning settings

Eric Jordan teaches Digital Marketing Management to MBA students as an adjunct professor at Boise State University. He is also Director of Sales and Operations at Nonstop Local, a broadcast station in Spokane, Washington. When he found Digital MediaPRO, he saw an opportunity to use it in both places.

The two groups faced different challenges. His students needed to make marketing decisions that felt relevant to the work they might do after graduation. His sales team needed to grow more comfortable planning campaigns beyond traditional broadcast advertising. Both groups could benefit from making choices, seeing the results and trying again.

Finding a simulation that felt like the job

Eric began his search for the online MBA course. Some simulations he reviewed were too detailed for the class or relied on methods he did not use in his professional work. Digital MediaPRO gave students a broader decision-making role.

“The MediaPro platform forced students to make decisions that they would make if they sat in a CMO seat.”

It also gave them a wealth of campaign data. For Eric, the challenge was deciding which information mattered and which could be set aside. Students could test a strategy, make mistakes and learn from the outcome in a competitive setting.

Bringing the exercise into a broadcast sales team

Eric then introduced the simulation at Nonstop Local. His team sells marketing solutions across multiple platforms, while the shift away from traditional broadcast advertising is changing conversations with clients. He wanted sellers to practice handling larger budgets and more complex campaign decisions than a short training session could provide.

The team already knew terms such as marketing funnel and customer journey. Applying those ideas across a full campaign was harder. Eric observed that sellers were comfortable proposing tactics at the top of the funnel but less confident recommending platforms further along the customer journey.

Over five to six weeks, team members experimented with multiple tactics. They worked independently in teams and competed with one another. The exercise gave them space to consider campaign data and choices they would not usually encounter in their day-to-day work.

Seeing the shift to digital from the buyer’s side

One team member’s reaction stayed with Eric. After making media decisions in the simulation, the seller better understood why a media director might move spending from broadcast to digital.

“They could now empathize with the media director when they shift dollars from traditional to digital.”

Eric’s team sees those shifts in real client budgets. The exercise helped make the reasoning behind them more tangible, giving sellers a different perspective on a conversation they regularly have with customers.

Useful learning, including where people struggled

Eric is candid about the results. Some participants got lost in the data or tried to “game” the simulation. Engagement varied among both his MBA students and his colleagues. In the online class, he found it harder to observe the impact, although students who asked for help tended to see more of the lessons. At work, some team members developed new ways to build campaigns while others took away less.

Those differences were useful information for Eric. The exercise exposed gaps in foundational marketing knowledge and helped his team shape further training. He also saw team members share the highs and lows of competing together.

“There was certainly a fun element that worked very well with our teams.”

Eric recommends Digital MediaPRO to teams working through the transition to digital or struggling to grow revenue from non-linear platforms, provided they have time to get familiar with the interface and the amount of data. His experience shows how the same exercise can serve an MBA course and a workplace training program, while giving each group something different to work through.

Interested in using Digital MediaPRO with students or sales teams? Explore Digital MediaPRO or contact StratX to discuss your program.