By Kevin McCauley
W20 Group has created The W20 Group Center for Social Commerce at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to provide students/professors “real world” exposure to the analytics, digital, social, corporate, technology and research areas that are reshaping the PR business.
CEO Jim Weiss, an alumnus of Newhouse’s PR program, believes social commerce is coming of age and at the stage that TV/advertising was in the aftermath of the Kennedy/Nixon debate.
He said the “practice of using digital analytics to drive social commerce strategies is changing how companies, campaigners and causes reach customers, influencers, voters and partners. It also is changing how e-commerce is conducted online, which leads to new product lines and distribution channels,”
Weiss told O’Dwyer’s the successful Obama presidential campaign showed how sophisticated and precise big data media was successfully used to microtarget voters.
W20’s $100K investment in the Center is to help “create the profession of the future.”
Staffers at the No. 5 independent firm will guest lecture at Newhouse and work with faculty to design courses and update current ones.
Students and professors will rotate though W2O offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, New York and London to interact with clients and staff.
The Center will ultimately expand from Newhouse to other schools of the university.
Lorraine Branham, Newhouse dean, believes the venture with W2O is a way “to make sure its students are not only ready but ahead of the competition when they graduate.”
W20 is parent of WCG, Twist Marketing and W20 Ventures.
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