Tuesday 23-05-2023 - 13:55

This is Quinn Wijitprapai, a second-year business and management student from University College and the current President of the Durham Marketing Society. Inclusive and dynamic, the Marketing Society is an ideal group for enthusiastic individuals who wish to broaden their knowledge in the field of marketing. From developing essential business acumen to building industry networks, this society coaches its members from all disciplines about the crucial marketing skills required to succeed in their careers. The group works tirelessly to help members prepare for their careers in marketing through a slew of events and upskilling seminars. Be it personal branding workshops or informative sessions with industry giants, marketing agencies and Durham alumni, and the society is uniquely focused on providing important professional exposure to its members. 

Quinn’s journey with this society began with her yearning to join a student group that specialised in marketing. Having looked up the Marketing Society on Instagram, she realised that the group had been on a hiatus since 2020. She then got in contact with the former President of the group seeking advice to revive the group for this academic year. She enthusiastically pursued the cause of reinstating this group as she firmly believed that there were many students at the University like herself who would benefit from this academic group. She believes that the establishment of this society would help deal with the lack of resources at the University level for students who genuinely wish to venture into a Marketing career. With this aim at heart, she rebuilt the Durham Marketing Society with help from her fellow marketing enthusiasts. 

Quinn notes that ever since its reinstatement, the society has been working on increasing member engagement and organising refining workshops and events. One of their principal objectives has been to establish a proficient understanding of the field in itself. In doing so, the society has conducted multiple panel interviews with professional experts from leading marketing agencies and multinational companies like Google. They continually endorse employment opportunities, graduate schemes and internships through their social media channels. They also promote exclusive opportunities in start-ups and organisations built by alumni. Moreover, they upload weekly resources through their ‘Marketing 101’ segment to fuel education about breaking into this domain. 

With so many enlightening initiatives planned out, Quinn asserts lack of funding is the group’s major challenge. After its restoration, the society had to survive on leftover funds and found it difficult to connect sponsors and companies due to its novel status. Since such events require financial investment in advance, the group had to tackle countless hurdles to prepare for the same. However, the group relied on collaborations with other SU student groups to raise some funds in addition to generating income through ticketing. Durham Business Society was one such society that facilitated this process. To prevent such circumstances ahead, she is steadfast in recruiting a sponsorship team for next year. 

Quinn fondly narrates that she has had an extremely rewarding experience in starting from scratch with a devoted group of executive members just as zealous as her. She found it truly enriching that she could help members gain insight into careers in marketing while fueling her own passion for the same. She affairs that heading Durham Marketing Society has definitely trained her with essential professional and personal skills. Be it delegation, communication and leadership skills or time management abilities, Quinn has grown numerous key competencies. Thus she credits her experience with the society as a learning curve. She states that while she still feels like she is at the early steps of her learning journey, the society has been a means for her to expand the scope of her degree. She attests that the society and its work function as an example of what she envisions her own future career as, where she would interact and network with inspiring individuals and professional role models. In all, she recounts her tenure as the President as one of improvement, enrichment and satisfaction and a matchless opportunity for self-development.

Follow Durham Marketing Society on Instagram to get involved and learn more about the society and its work.