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MAVA Members,
We are pleased to share the article published today in the “Standard-Times”.
David
New Bedford vocational students learn marketing, branding from the pros
Matthew Ferreira The Standard-Times
NEW BEDFORD — The apparel shop at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, known as "The Den," sells all the latest Bears gear while providing valuable business and customer service experience to the students who run it. But it’s not every day they get to see where all that merchandise comes from, how it’s made, and how The Den’s primary supplier operates.
However, a group of the school’s Business Tech students got to see all of the above recently during a trip to Punch Creatives.
Based in the Kilburn Mill in New Bedford’s South End, Punch Creatives is the marketing, branding and design-focused entity under the broader New Bedford-based Punch Club Inc. umbrella. It’s also the entity building GNB Voc-Tech’s online store, which is currently in progress, according to Punch Creatives Operations Manager Jose Diaz.
"Everything is based here, there’s no middleman," said Diaz of the Punch business model, which the group of about 15 seniors got to pick his brain on during their visit on Nov. 18.
"They asked a lot of questions; wicked smart kids," Diaz said. "A lot of them were curious how we got started, what type of clients we have."
What’d GNB Voc-Tech students do at Punch Creatives?
Being that GNB Voc-Tech is one of Punch Creatives’ clients, the things the students saw, did and learned during their South End trip filled in much of the mystery on all the things that must happen before new merchandise arrives at The Den, where the students unpack, log into inventory, display, and ultimately sell it, according to Diaz.
First, the students were split into small groups, which rotated through different learning stations under the tutelage of various Punch Creatives staff members who took turns showing students different aspects of the business.
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<![endif]>"I showed them the back end of the website and gave them a sneak peak of what we’re building," Diaz said, referring to the school’s unlaunched online store. "Another group went to the print section, and they were able to see how designs get uploaded to print software, they were able to see how the machine prints it, how the glue gets stuck to the prints, then how it goes on the spool, they cut everything out….
"Then another staff member explained the heat pressing, embroidery and different things we do to certain products….
"One kid asked about types of fabrics — how do we know how to do a shirt that’s 100% cotton vs. polyester so I explained we have different settings. Sometimes it’s a blend, so we have heat press and timing settings for that too.
"Why should high schoolers look to the marketing/branding industry?
When it comes to why individuals of the students’ age group would want to look toward the type of work done at Punch Creatives and Punch Club Inc. for their futures, Diaz said one thing is the diversity of clients.
"We apply to everybody, so the cool thing is it never gets boring," Diaz said. "Banking, hotels, towing, sports teams — the list goes on. It’s all different types of clients that have different types of needs."
The industry is also ripe with jobs, Diaz said, making it a promising field for the high school student of today.
"That got brought up too. Kids wanted to know if we had internships or any work available. I said, of course, we’re always looking to expand the team, whether its finding new artists, social strategists, things like that," Diaz said, noting Punch’s "soup-to-nuts" approach. "The growth, I feel like, is never-ending, because it’s not just one thing."
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On the horizon, Diaz said the newer generations in the field will likely play a major role in figuring out how to integrate artificial intelligence into the work.
"We look at that more as a tool rather than something that’s taking over the industry, or parts of it," Diaz said.
Chapter 74 Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education
LEARNING THAT WORKS FOR MASSACHUSETTS
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira