MU Industry Excellence Program and Ketchum Publico

MU Student Success Stories

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As part of Modul’s Industry Excellence Program (IEP), MU MSc student, Jochen Nowak, has been given the opportunity to work for one of Austria’s leading PR-agencies, Ketchum Publico. The picture shows a moment of Jochen´s final presentation about his working experience together with Ketchum’s CEO, Saskia Wallner. Read more about his experiences at the company.

"Throughout my time at Modul University, the Industry Excellence Program has always intrigued me as a way of gaining additional practical insights into an actual business environment. Considering its industry and the company´s status, I was very excited to find out that I was given the chance to work for Ketchum Publico.   

Saskia Wallner became my mentor in the IEP that was cut short due to the outbreak of Covid-19. However, I still gained valuable industry insights during my time at the company. My mentor and her employees gave me the chance to get involved in numerous challenging projects with prestigious and well-known global clients that are operating in the Austrian marketplace. Brainstorming meetings, workshops, creative sessions and my own projects took up most of my schedule, and taught me valuable lessons.

My key takeaways from this amazing experience can be summarized in 6 points:

1. Connections – I understood the importance of having a solid network of connections around you once you are involved in the world of business.

2. People management – The importance of appropriate people management and human resource efforts was mirrored in the CEO’s behaviour and attitude towards her employees. Work-life balance and job satisfaction proved to be valuable factors in the firm’s ability to maintain a healthy work culture while delivering high quality results for their clients.

3. Communication –In order to get the entire agency on the same page, Ketchum introduced all-team meetings. These efforts link back to the idea of efficiency and the assumption that if everyone knows about what is happening in the company, then there is no room for any confusion or misunderstandings to arise.

4. Industry Insights - In today’s digital marketing environment, I had developed the perception that social media marketing involved diminishing strategic thinking efforts. However, Ketchum presented me with a different picture. I enjoyed a variety of tasks and issues that were addressed in the firm’s business efforts and activities.

5. Behind the Scenes - Whether it is people management issues or financial responsibilities, a CEO always has to be on top of everything happening at the company. Beyond that, Saskia Wallner has proved to be an approachable person, clearly comfortable in both her role as a wife and a mother and the company´s CEO.

6. Commitment - There was never a sign of postponing any tasks, which has been a tremendously important and valuable lesson for me and my personal development."

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For more information about the MU Industry Excellence Program - visit the MU website. MU students may also contact the IEP project coordinator, professor Dagmar Lund-Durlacher from the MU Department of Tourism and Service Management