Marketing Waves Vol.1

We are delighted to present you with the newest edition of the WWU Marketing Program’s newsletter, Marketing Waves produced by a new team of Integrated Marketing Communication Students. We are thrilled to keep you updated on the latest words and experiences of alumni and professors, as well as the latest department events and news so that you can feel connected with the WWU marketing community.  Scroll to the end to find current job opportunities and play the Marketing Waves Wordle! We're excited to share this content with you, so stay tuned for our next volume, and have a sweet day!

Meet Abel Tolpin

Abel Tolpin is a recent graduate of the WWU Marketing Program! Abel grew up in Port Townsend before coming to Western Washington University to pursue a degree in marketing, graduating in 2023. He currently works as an entry-level marketing coordinator for Aramark at UW Bothell, where he handles the integration of digital and physical signage, website, and social media content for the dining program, as well as consulting on the side. During his free time, Abel loves to play video games, build drones, make 3D models, create art, rollerblade, and bike.

Describe your role as a marketer?

“It's basically an entry-level general marketing position. I started as an intern at the Western Dining Program and got the job after graduation. I handle all marketing aspects, from website design to keeping up-to-date on social media content, print media, and digital signage. I’m the only marketing person on site, so I’ve had to learn a bunch of different trades, which has been lots of fun!”

What programs at Western have been important to you as a marketer? 

“I wish I had taken more IMC classes. I applied IMC during the early stages, working on the Give Day campaign and a few other parts of it. That class is so good! Digital marketing with Mark Staton was also super beneficial. I think learning about design as well as UI/UX is crucial, especially being an all-around marketer.”

What has been a struggle as an early career alumni?

“I’d say the biggest challenge I had transitioning into my early career was to define myself as a marketer that people can depend on rather than a student. I have so many hobbies, and being the busy person I am, marketing has turned into a hobby of mine as well! I actually do marketing in my free time with a start-up consulting group, which has been a great experience!” 

Daniel Purdy

What are some emerging trends in marketing that you believe will significantly impact the industry in the near future?

"Well, one of the biggest emerging trends, I think, is that the cookie industry is crumbling, so they say. We've been using cookies to try to track digital behavior, but now that's getting locked down by Google and already has been to some degree by Apple. So it's going to be harder to track how people are doing things online, so it's going to make it even more important that we have what's called first party data, which is data directly from a from a customer. Whether that's by filling out a form or whether that's some other type of data, I think all that is going to be a big challenge.

I also think the result increasingly has to be this idea of what we would call zero click marketing, which is and I think we see this really a lot on things like Instagram. The idea is that you give people cues to what to search for, so that they can Google it instead of a link, which can sometimes be difficult. Just because somebody hears let's say, they're listening to podcasts, for example, that doesn't mean they're going to pause the podcast and go and click the link and go where the link takes them. Like there's a lot of stuff we do like this for entertainment.

So if you just get into that idea that you know, you can't necessarily depend on an immediate trigger conversion. You have to think how do we work that into our storytelling, whether it's podcasts or whether it's an Instagram reel or whatever it might be, then think about how that how that impacts the cookies, right? You have to think about the fact that it's not going to be as easy to get data because it has to be first party, and so how do you lean into more towards zero click or no click marketing?

By giving people cues about what to search for later when they are in the mood to search for the for the solution. Which means you have to simplify brand names, and have to think about differentiated search terms that they can look for, then you have to build that into your copy, and think a little bit deeper than just click on a link.

I think that's one of the biggest issues in marketing, and then of course, AI is a huge issue and will be a huge trend. It's going to be fantastic for what I think of as brainstorming, but unfortunately a lot of people will try to use it for copy and paste, and the other challenge with that is that there's no true innovation because AI is basically looking at what has already been done."

Want to talk more about emerging trends in marketing?

Welcome to Marketing Waves's Wordle, where the team has washed ashore a tantalizing puzzle for you to solve!

Today's Hint: a term used in digital marketing, so prepare to dive into the realm of strategy and creativity. Let's see if you can ride the waves of insight to uncover the mystery word.

Good Luck & Thanks for Playing!