Experience value-added, plus-style promotional planning! After-School Internship Report (Promotion Course Edition)

Nice to meet you! I’m Akina Baba from the Faculty of Information at Bunkyo University, and an After-School Internship Ambassador. I recently participated in the “Promotion Course,” and I would like to share what it was like!

SUNNY SIDE UP’s After-School Internship allows you to experience five programs through which you can learn knowledge needed in any industry. One of its biggest attractions is that you can easily join after classes!

I became interested in promotion after working part-time as event staff, which led me to think, “I want to be on the side that creates fun events, too!” I heard the lecture would be based on real cases, so I wondered, “What kind of promotions does SUNNY SIDE UP, which creates fun ideas, actually do?” That curiosity led me to join this Promotion Course.
When I entered the venue, the employees greeted me cheerfully with “Hello!” Everyone spoke to me so kindly that my stiff nerves quickly eased!

At 4:00 PM, we began with an introductory video about SUNNY SIDE UP.

Let’s Have Fun!… That’s exactly why we are who we are.
What I felt after coming to SUNNY SIDE UP was how lively the employees are. The entire office had a bright atmosphere, and it truly felt like SUNNY SIDE UP—true to its spirit of “creating a fun buzz.”

After the HR team introduced the program, Professor Nakayama, who is in charge of the “Promotion Course,” made his appearance!
This After-School Internship is basically divided into three parts for each program. Because you can learn step by step, you can build solid knowledge!

1) Promotion Lecture

To begin, the instructor taught us essential knowledge for carrying out promotions!

Once again: What is “promotion”?

What do you imagine it refers to?
It is easy to think of promotion as sales promotion, but I was able to relearn that advertising and sales promotion”are all included under promotion”. Promotion is part of communication and refers to messages that encourage purchasing. In other words, it is about “creating a reason to buy.” Through the lecture, I reaffirmed that promotion is a vital part of communication in any industry.

In addition, when conducting promotions, it is important to consider contact points. We were taught that it is essential to apply methods that match the target audience.

For example…
[What kind of promotion is suitable for a supermarket whose trade area is within a 5 km radius?]
Because a supermarket must be recognized by people in its trade area, TV commercials are not effective. Media that matches the objective and target audience becomes effective. Supermarkets specialize in how they present flyers, and they often use point cards to lock in customers from competing stores.

…Because the instructor explained using concrete examples like these, it was extremely easy to understand!!

Next, we received an explanation based on cases that SUNNY SIDE UP has actually carried out.
The key points that matter when conducting promotions are…

Two things: “buzzworthiness” and “news value.” The promotions handled by SUNNY SIDE UP had both, and every one of them was interesting and innovative.

2) Group Work

Using what we learned in the lecture, we immediately got started on the group work!

This time’s theme was “universities”!

We created a concrete promotion plan related to the university we attend. We identified the university’s characteristics, contact points, and more, and devised an appropriate plan suited to the target audience.
Coming up with a plan within limited time is truly difficult…! Even as we struggled, we brainstormed and worked through it together as a group.
The roughly 30 minutes of group work passed in the blink of an eye…

3) Presentation Feedback

At last, it was time to present!! Each team presented the plan they had worked so hard to develop.
Every group had a promotion plan that made the most of their university’s strengths, and I was able to notice new ways of thinking and perspectives. Also, Professor Nakayama’s humorous remarks during the presentations kept the energy high throughout!

And above all…everyone was so good at presenting!! I used to be terrible at presentations, but by presenting every time in the After-School Internship, my sense of difficulty gradually faded. Being able to gain experiences like this is also part of what makes this After-School Internship so appealing.
After the presentations, Professor Nakayama gave feedback to each group. Comments like “This could have been done better this way,” or “On the other hand, this way of thinking was good,” became opportunities to notice things anew. It was an intense four hours with my brain working at full speed, and it flew by!

Being able to exchange opinions with students from other universities through the group work was a very valuable opportunity for me.

I became so close with the members I met through the After-School Internship that we would talk for hours at an izakaya until just before the last train! We shared information and talked about the future… I have received so much inspiration from the people I met thanks to this internship.

Regardless of the industry or job type you aim for, SUNNY SIDE UP’s After-School Internship enables you to gain many learnings and opportunities. It is, of course, helpful for those aiming for the PR industry, and it also serves as industry research, allowing you to learn more deeply about SUNNY SIDE UP. Every course is taught carefully by unique and engaging instructors, so I would highly recommend it to all university students!

I participated in all five sessions, and I was able to enjoy learning in every course. I looked forward to attending each week, so for a while I even felt a bit of “after-school internship withdrawal”… (laugh)
Professor Nakayama and everyone at SUNNY SIDE UP, thank you very much for providing such a wonderful opportunity!