If there's a transition period in lift that will perhaps change a person forever, it's the time students spend in university before they enter the real world. The last year of college is one al the most valuable years a person could have, as it prepares them for the future and for that part of life when they are no longer students but active contributors to society.

          One. purpose of college is to prepare people for their chosen vocations and teach them how to become independent and financially self-reliant.

          This transitional stage should be very tough and must simulate real life, especially regarding what students are expected to face after graduation This way, when students graduate they won't be as startled by any sudden surprises life has to offer.

          In Some colleges, this transition period is used only to get students to rend stacks of books, write many document, and spend far too many hours on research. Too much academia can interfere with real life.

          But in Assumption University's (AU) Arts Advertising programme, students not only us? their time as a natural transition into life after graduation, they also are given a rare opportunity to display what they have learned in the last four years about advertising.

          The fourth year advertising students at AU get the chills when they hear the word "workshop"— a year-long practical thesis wherein students must devise their own campaign for an assigned product. This not only include the advertising aspects, but all the strategic marketing, planning, and problems-resolution aspects of what they will have to solve in order to make an advertising campaign successful. It's a microcosm of the real advertising world.

          If you think advertising is a no-brainer and guts-dependent major, you are wrong. Students start their advertising lite from scratch, with only a blank page, then they gather extensive research on the relevant market; and, finally, they become one with the product and its potential consumers.

          The advertising workshop covers art., creativity, and else needed m communicate the complete marketing and retail message. The marketing aspects of workshop consumes an entire semester, and challenge students to compile and interpret coded statistics, and stacks of questionnaires. Working through such massive amounts of paperwork portends the Intimidating challenge ahead — the marketing campaign.

          By the time students enter the second semester, the workshop has become their life, both figuratively and conceptually.Students sleep, eat, and breathe the workshop so much that hearts often jump when a students’s product is mentioned.

          This year, the assigned brands are. Nite, Panasonic, Honda and Protex One Protex group member said she refuses to visit the soap aisles at supermarkets to avoid seeing the logo. It's a terrible time to quit; but some do.

            Careful planning over many agonising hours that robs young minds of sleep can sometimes block the flow of creativity needed to fashion an exciting ad campaign. At times it's hard to get your rhythm back. If you stop, you're stuck. And if you allow a mere workshop to defeat you, then what will real life do?

          Not surprisingly, tears and sweat have been shed throughout the course of the workshop. Pressures of completing a perfect task have weighed heavily on both the work and personal lives of the students. They not only develop their skills, they must work and com?plete the task as a team, just like in real life.

          But if the AU advertising students endere and don't lose faith, the final outcome will be a complete success.

          At the end of the course, the students get a chance to present their year-long work to the companies that own the products the students have worked on. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the clients' faces light up when they hear about the ideas that came from the conscientious students.What could be more rewarding than getting their hard work accepted- both acarem ically and professionally?

          Take the previous year's plan by a group within the workshop for a drive-thru banking window for the Bank of Ayudhaya. That marketing plan is now a reality, and is. available for the public's convenience. Hard work really does pay oil in the end!

          Some students say that throughout their lour years at AU, it was during the workshop that students grew and matured the most. You have to start working towards a goal and you have to he able to cooperate and compromise with others to achieve that goal. A workshop may be the best way to teach those skills.

          Students' year-long work will be on display with guests and speakers from various media and devising agencies, you can sec the students' ideas turned into action and witness raw concepts fashioned into reality on Thursday, July 20, at Pridi Banomyong Institute, Thonglor. Students will be showing off their potential before entering the working world

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 See the den products of some of the workshop
students at Assumption University's Communication Arts Asvertising Department-Journey of Common Senses. Fourth-year Students Workshop, Grand Exhibition Xl, on July 20, at Pridi Banomyong Institute Thonglor.
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