International Marketing – Enjoy the difference Erasmus Project

Project Title

International Marketing – Enjoy the difference

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

The aim of the programme “International Marketing – Enjoy the difference” was to introduce a marketing concept for Samsung Galaxy Smartphones and crisps (the leading brand in the country). It was done with students of our grammar school with the focus on economy and was planned to emphasise the process. In order to fulfil the task, the students created video advertisements, which they planned, produced and assessed vice versa. They analysed the consumer behaviour in the two countries which differs greatly due to historical developments. The expert knowledge was directly applied in a real, interdisciplinary and vocational context, using language and media competences.

The theoretical focus of international educational contents leads to a lack of insight into other countries, other cultures and resulting differences. The exchange programme helped the students to understand these differences, sensitised them and improved their intercultural competence.
By working on topics concerning international marketing, the students where enabled to incorporate their knowledge from different subjects such as economics, politics, English/German, mathematics and computer programming. That led to an improvement of basic competences and the ability to perform via working on a practice oriented and to a better motivation to learn new languages and to acquire specialist knowledge.
During the project we were able to realise the following main activities:
• The analysis of marketing strategies for two exemplary products keeping in mind the differences between the countries
• The production of a video explaining the results of said analysis
• Coming up with a marketing concept to introduce the two products in the partner country
• Creation of a script and subsequently the production of a video advertisement
• Mutual exchange of ideas, getting to know each other and the visit of both a university and a company in each country.

Consequently, that led to:
• A better contact between the students
• A higher motivation to learn foreign languages
• A better knowledge about how to organise an exchange
• Friendships between students and between teachers
• Multicultural cooperation and working in international teams (considering potential difficulties)
• Reduction of prejudices
• Learning about different ways of life and different school systems
• Mutual exchange of experience
• Development of cooperation and exchange programmes
• Use of results in other classes
• Incorporating experiences of other schools
• Improving the public image of the school
We will use the experiences we were able to gather during the programme in our subsequent lesson planning, refine the processes and share them with our colleagues in school.

We agreed on continuing the partnership, a new application is pending. Currently we are planning on expanding the project to another country (Czech Republic). Here we will use the results we made in the process of the finished project and we will refine the processes.

From the German hosts’ point of view, we liked best
• The students appreciated the friendly contact, the will to work for project, the negotiations and the finding of compromises. The students liked the atmosphere and the creativity during the project
• The arrangement concerning the different phases and the mixed teams to produce the video was mentioned positively
• Also, the students liked the tasks and the way they were structured. It did not lead to pressure or stress for the teams.
• Most positive, the students mentioned the final presentation and the delirious applause for each team underlined the relaxed atmosphere
• The friendly cooperation between the teachers intensified the communication and made a lot of fun. The common final evening brought the students even closer together.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 42210 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ignaz-Roth-Schule BBS Zweibrücken & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Zespol Szkol Ekonomiczno-Uslugowych w Zabrzu