Strategic Relationship Marketing
Graduated 2012
A few years ago Faraz Thambi moved to Toronto from Chennai, India to study international business at a local college. While working in customer service shortly after graduating, he decided to upgrade his credentials by taking a postgraduate program in marketing. At George Brown College, he found one that offered marketing training in two in-demand fields: communications and analytics. “I chose the Strategic Relationship Marketing graduate certificate because it intersects between relationship marketing and database marketing, which gave me an edge over a traditional program.” This unique blend had Thambi working with classmates on projects that analyzed issues in real-life companies and delivering strategic marking campaign plans that were ready to roll out.
A memorable group project Faraz still thinks about is one he worked on for a children’s safety products company. “The problem they had was they weren’t able to do any social marketing. They wanted to connect digitally, and they didn’t have a proper database for marketing.” Not on Facebook and working entirely in Excel spreadsheets, the company needed a new marketing strategy that involved using new customer database software, more sophisticated email campaigns and a bigger social media presence—all recommendations Faraz’s group detailed and delivered, which were later adopted. “The program made a huge impact in kick starting my career,” he says.
In addition to giving him the knowledge and confidence to deliver his own ideas for a company to implement, Faraz’s time in the Strategic Relationship Marketing program helped him refine his career goals. While completing his internship placement at Rivet, a communications company, he was particularly inspired by the branding projects for the nutrition and food companies he had the opportunity to work on. “It gave me the platform to help find what I wanted to do, and the internship helped find my passion in advertising.”
It also helped him land his current job. Shortly after graduating, Faraz was hired full-time at Rivet. As a business analyst there, Faraz works on very much the same kind of marketing campaigns that he tackled while in school.
Faraz’s Advice for Success
“Network. Network. Network. After graduation I took upon meeting many industry specialists—a marketing director for a big ad agency was one of them. I was very surprised how everyone wanted to meet and share their story of how they got there and genuinely want to help a new graduate. For a price of coffee I met many industry professionals and gained valuable connections.”
