Interview: Andrew Gebhard - Marketing Coordinator, 50th Board of MAEUR

1. Who are you?

My name is Andrew Gebhard and I am 23 years old. After growing up in the United States, I moved to the Netherlands when I was 15 and a few years later began my bachelor of IBEB at Erasmus School of Economics. After that I continued my studies with the MSc Marketing, also at ESE. Currently, I am the Marketing Coordinator in the 49^th board of MAEUR and I am writing my master thesis.

2. What made you choose to apply for the MAEUR board?

I’ve always found it important to be part of a study association next to my studies. It gives you social and professional skills for the future, and a network of friends during your studies. During my master, I was chairman of the International Consultancy Project Committee at MAEUR, where I realized the kind of high caliber projects MAEUR takes on. After talking with the board, I decided to apply for a function. Not only did this allow me to extend my study and build myself personally, but I knew it would be a year I would never forget. Don’t worry if you’ve never been in a committee at MAEUR or another study association though, sometimes fresh insights are the best ones ;).

3. What is your function and what does it entail?

As the marketing coordinator, I am responsible for the promotion of all events that MAEUR organizes, the brand identity of MAEUR, and the long term marketing strategy. Aside from events organized by the board and the recruitment of committees and board, I also guide the committees’ marketing coordinators in creating and implementing a marketing campaign. This means that I not only learned about using Adobe Creative Cloud to create beautiful visuals and taught this to our marketing coordinators, but also learned about creating effective online marketing campaigns on Facebook and other paid promotion media.

I am also responsible for guiding the media committee, which creates blogs, content, and our annual almanac.

4. Describe the day in the life of the Marketing Coordinator.

On the day that I’m writing this, my day started with a meeting with one of the external relations coordinators of the International Consultancy Project. They would like to refine the acquisition brochure which they send to companies, so I will help them make a few adjustments using Adobe InDesign.

After that I had a meeting with the media committee. The almanac is coming together and its time to finalize a deal with a printing press so that the almanac can be delivered on time.

The general board meeting will take up about an hour and a half of my day. In that meeting, everyone will discuss any important things that have come up since the last meeting. For me, that means any problems with the media committee or marketing of upcoming events, and reviewing the board recruitment process up till now. Our video is almost ready, and we have to make sure its perfect! After this meeting, I have a one-on-one meeting with the president where I can discuss in private any issues I’m having in or outside of the board.

Today, I’m leaving the office early to attend the R-training which we have organized together with another association. There, I will take the role of a participant, and also make sure that everything runs smooth if problems arise.

At the end of the day, it's always nice to celebrate with a beer in the sun at Café in de Smitse or Paviljoen. Work hard, play hard!

5. What did you learn from your time as board member?

Prioritizing! During your board year, a lot is asked of you. You need to be able to quickly prioritize your responsibilities so that everything runs smoothly. This means knowing when to delegate tasks, time-management, and working efficiently.

6. What is your most fun memory?

As a board, we have become very close with each other. We see each other almost every day of the week, so its important to have fun sometimes; luckily we have no problems doing that! Some of the best memories have been the active members kick-off and weekend, parties in de Smitse with the board, and going to each other’s parent’s house for a nice dinner and drinks out of Rotterdam. I also expect the study trip to be a blast!

7. What are you going to do after your board year?

Work, work, work, work work! – Rihanna

8. What’s your favorite quote?

Marketing is everything is marketing! After studying marketing and doing a board year, you really start to believe it.

9. What advice would you give to someone who is considering a board year?

Just do it! I have no regrets in choosing a board year. It allowed me to grow on all aspects of my life: I made friends I will remember for a lifetime, grew my professional and social network, got to experience a high level of responsibility. And I got to have fun doing it!

 

If you have more questions about my position, please send me a message at marketing@maeur.nl and I’ll tell you everything you’d like to know!