In this section, we introduce you to the exciting people, programs and centres at OCAD U! This month, an interview with Adam Wiendels, Manager, Marketing.
1. What is your main area of expertise? (please choose one)
My job includes managing OCAD U’s marketing, paid advertising, public-facing social media and the OCADU.ca website. I’ve worked in marketing for about 14 years and before that, I was in journalism.
2. Why is your department important to OCAD U?
I think we’re important for a lot of reasons but maybe the biggest is that we have to see the big picture and become quick, mini-experts in many different things. We support all areas of the university so we have to know about pretty much everything that is going on.
3. What is the biggest misconception about your department?
I’m sure every department feels like this but the biggest misconception is probably about what we do. If we’re doing our jobs well, the work goes unnoticed – crowds show up to events, posters and publications appear, student applications go up, reputational crises are avoided or mitigated, the university is covered in the media, the website works and awareness of the university improves. Another misconception is our size – we’re a small, lean machine.
4. What are some of the important issues you are currently facing?
There are so many! Two biggies right now are around GradEx and recruitment marketing. Gen Z is impervious to traditional advertising, so we do a lot of content marketing and influencer marketing while balancing out-of-home ads to raise public awareness about the university. Promoting and supporting GradEx is a massive, all-consuming project for M&C that takes up the whole month of April every year.
5. What are you reading these days?
“Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s about the history of homo sapiens from the stone age until now. It looks at lots of interesting ideas like why did homo sapiens succeed but others like Neanderthals didn’t. Besides that, I’m a total political junkie so I’m always reading the news.
Adam Wiendels, Manager, Marketing, OCAD U
In this section, we introduce you to the exciting people, programs and centres at OCAD U! This month, an interview with Adam Wiendels, Manager, Marketing.
1. What is your main area of expertise? (please choose one)
My job includes managing OCAD U’s marketing, paid advertising, public-facing social media and the OCADU.ca website. I’ve worked in marketing for about 14 years and before that, I was in journalism.
2. Why is your department important to OCAD U?
I think we’re important for a lot of reasons but maybe the biggest is that we have to see the big picture and become quick, mini-experts in many different things. We support all areas of the university so we have to know about pretty much everything that is going on.
3. What is the biggest misconception about your department?
I’m sure every department feels like this but the biggest misconception is probably about what we do. If we’re doing our jobs well, the work goes unnoticed – crowds show up to events, posters and publications appear, student applications go up, reputational crises are avoided or mitigated, the university is covered in the media, the website works and awareness of the university improves. Another misconception is our size – we’re a small, lean machine.
4. What are some of the important issues you are currently facing?
There are so many! Two biggies right now are around GradEx and recruitment marketing. Gen Z is impervious to traditional advertising, so we do a lot of content marketing and influencer marketing while balancing out-of-home ads to raise public awareness about the university. Promoting and supporting GradEx is a massive, all-consuming project for M&C that takes up the whole month of April every year.
5. What are you reading these days?
“Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s about the history of homo sapiens from the stone age until now. It looks at lots of interesting ideas like why did homo sapiens succeed but others like Neanderthals didn’t. Besides that, I’m a total political junkie so I’m always reading the news.
Adam Wiendels, Manager, Marketing, OCAD U