April 16, 2019,

The American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK), hosted a Social Media Marketing Camp for high school students organized by Dr. Hurrem Yilmaz, Chair of the AURAK Marketing Program, and Dr. Bryn Holmes, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and Instructional Technology.

AURAK’s Social Media Marketing Camp was a three-day event that was designed and run by AURAK Marketing students, featuring a wide variety of social media marketing activities devised to hone the marketing skills of the new generation. Over 30 students from 8 different Ras Al Khaimah high schools were welcomed by the Dean of the School of Business, Professor Joseph Wallis, who opened the camp at the brand new RAKBANK School of Business, inviting students to participate in individual and group activities including designing a personal brand on Instagram, pitching and designing a logo, designing a campaign for AURAK-Egg (seeking to beat the world-record egg), advertising and selling products, making trivia games, and finding products in movies as part of a product placement marketing strategy. They were able to demonstrate their talents, which were recorded as part of the Social Media Influencers activity. Students also enjoyed the taste test challenge and the visit from RAK’s new Japanese teashop, Sakura. Mr. Redwan, an AURAK MBA student, reported that, “It was an amazingly fun event for both students and teachers. We have both learned from each other.” Mr. Omar, a B.S. Marketing student stated, “We discovered that the next generation is really creative in coming up with their own ideas in marketing.”

AURAK President, Professor Hassan Hamdan Al Alkim, was overjoyed with the successful initiative, “It is crucial to ignite an interest in learning as early as possible in children, and this initiative did just that by engaging them with hands-on activities that were both fun and challenging, laying the groundwork for these students to become lifelong learners.”