Seven Ways to Change Media and Music
A book crowdfunding, a communication plan for a non profit organization, a web platform for an international photography festival, a strategy to promote and share the Italian botanical treasures. And then, a pass for music events, co-branding with artists, the retrieval of dispersed documents. Thirty-three students of the MSc in Economics and Management in Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment (ACME) are working at these group projects. It's their entrepreneurial gym: they test their knowledge and their ability to analyze the environment, they boost their know-how, they work in a non-protected framework, they learn to be proactive and to work in the real marketplace.
During the first half of the Internet, Publishing and Music course students learned what's happening in industries that are going through huge transformation because of new digital platforms. "This kind of disruption" says Paola Dubini, coordinator of the Media major "compels whoever is entering the labor market to be proactive. These days you're required to have entrepreneurial skills even if you work in a huge company. The fieldworks we've selected have a few things in common: they're digital, innovative, stimulating, and call for an interaction between online and offline actions".
During the semester, the seven projects will be tested in three checkpoints with the clients. Students are helping the Fondazione Cardinale Martini to gather dispersed documents in order to create a collective memory around the Archbishop of Milan and the Fondazione LIA (Libri Italiani Accessibili) that promotes book accessibility to the partially- and non-sighted. In the latter case, students are developing an online communication plan to reinforce brand awareness and reputation of the foundation. There are also profit projects. The Cortona On The Move festival has commissioned a premium web platform where users can get in touch with world famous photographers.
"For the first time in our life we are acting as consultants and we are given assignments that we could face once we've graduated", Alice Cancellario says. Her task is to raise money to translate and publish an handbook on benefit corporations using the book crowdfunding platform Bookabook.it. The funding will expire June 3. "It's challenging when you have a quantitative target", she says. Ondrej Koch, an exchange student from the University of Economics in Prague, is identifying a business model for the Italian Botanical Heritage, that started as a networking organization for botanical lovers and professionals. "It's stimulating to work with somebody who has an idea of doing marketing the old way and discuss the benefits of new technologies. We are improving our analytical skills and helping somebody at the same time, and that feels quite nice".
Two projects in the music field are tutored by Andrea Ordanini, co-teacher of the Internet, Publishing and Music course. One is about a pass that will give Bocconi students a special access to events, the other is about establishing co-branding strategies between brands and up-and-coming artists. "Music is the creative field that has experienced the most disruptive effects of new technologies", he says. "Doing projects in the music field means working on the frontier. These two projects aim to find new ways to make profits, for instance making deal with brands interested in promoting their products in association with music". It's good exercise, Dubini says. "As you train to read a balance sheet, so you can train to compete with high degrees of uncertainty in an unstructured environment".