This project seeks to boost student creativity, autonomy and entrepreneurial skills. The students involved in the project will create their own advertising company and delegate key tasks to its various departments in order to create and promote a range of products. The young entrepreneurs will develop advertising and marketing skills by engaging in all of the processes required to design, produce, promote and sell a range of products. They will learn about the 4P’s of marketing: the Product, the Price, the Placement and the Promotion. We aim to provide students with invaluable real-life experience of entrepreneurship by giving them responsibility for each key step in the commercialisation process, from brainstorming embryonic ideas to ensuring that the product reaches store shelves. This will enable students to develop their skills in Maths, Art, English, Languages, Technology and IT. The project also aims to foster vital life skills that will prepare students for adult life and their future careers, since entrepreneurship requires autonomy, leadership, creativity and critical thinking. Engaging in sustained collaboration and co-operation with schools from abroad will be a culturally enriching experience. The students will consider the values that define their national and cultural identities, in order to create and merchandise a line of souvenirs. They will present and explain their ideas to their partner schools. This will enable to develop a deeper sensitivity to cultural differences, but will also foster awareness of the shared experiences and values that transcend national borders. The students will work in teams, giving them real-life experience of collaborative work. Assigning each student a key responsibility in the team will ensure maximum engagement from all of them and will serve to promote the idea that everyone has something important to offer. Each team will be given responsibility for representing and leading one department of the advertising company, and the students will choose the team that best suits them. The company will be divided into departments: 1) Management and Project Administration, 2) Marketing, 3) Design and Product Development, 4) Advertising, 5) Finance. The Department of Management and Project Administration will be responsible for presenting an initial briefing to the other departments, which will outline the aims and objectives of the entire project. They will decide on the company name, create a company motto, develop company rules, and provide general guidance to the other departments. It will anticipate and solve problems affecting interdepartmental communication and co-ordination. It will have the key task of agreeing on and signing a contract with retail outlets. The Marketing Department will be required to consider the company’s core values and the meaning of the 4P’s concept. It will investigate the key questions raised by each of the 4P’s, and will present its findings to the other departments: 1. Product: What kinds of products does the company need? Why? How many? 2. Price: Given the target market, what should each product cost and what should be its selling price? 3. Placement: Where can the products be sold? Which retailers would be interested in stocking the products? Where are these retailers located? 4. Promotion: What is the target market? Where can the company advertise its products? What concept will be behind them? What is the advertising strategy? The Design and Product Development Department will be responsible for the entire design, product development and manufacturing process, i.e. the first of the 4P’s of this Marketing Mix. The students will engage their imaginations by considering different products, materials, designs, etc. The Advertising Department will be responsible for the fourth P (Promotion). It will develop suitable slogans and images for the advertising campaign and will create advertising materials for the media: billboards, flyers, online banners, radio adverts, etc. The students will visit a real advertising agency and will attend a workshop by an experienced Advertising Executive. Students will also participate in a photography workshop where they will develop both their artistic and technical skills required to effectively use the art computer programmes. The Finance Department will be responsible for balancing the company budget. It will monitor costs, gross profits, net profits and margins. They will help to organise a fair, where students from all countries will have the opportunity to present and ‘sell’ their products practising their Math and Language skills turning into shop assistants and customers. This intercultural project will provide students with invaluable real-life experiences that include autonomy, leadership, creativity and critical thinking. These skills will enable the students to develop important academic skills which will prepare them for their adult lives and future careers.
There are 5 European schools: Bulgaria, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain and all of them shared their desire to address entrepreneurship, which is a topic not included in most of the education systems. All the schools involved have different needs, socio-economic situation, background, context and identity, although they all shared the desire to improve their teaching techniques and students' life skills. The objectives that the project has met are improve and apply new teaching methodologies to the curriculum, introduce the subject of entrepreneurship into the schools, expand the European bond and knowledge in EU projects, improve participants’ communication skills, improve and apply new ICT skills, boost foreign language skills and increase creativity among students. The young entrepreneurs developed management, advertising and marketing skills by engaging in all of the processes required to design, produce, promote and sell a range of products of their creation and finally made a common Scrapbook. They learnt about the 4P’s: the Product, the Price, the Placement and the Promotion. We aimed to provide students with invaluable real-life experience of entrepreneurship by giving them responsibility for each key step in the process. The students reflected about their cultural identities, in order to create and merchandise iconic products that represented their culture, local area or local products. Estel school, located in the centre of Sabadell has 330 studetns and involves infant, primary and secondary education. They chose 2 groups of primary to be the core target market of the project; about 57 students in 5th and 6th grades, but many other school pupils took part in the project too. 5 teachers formed the Erasmus+ team, 18 students and 6 teachers participated in the trips. The Spanish company was named “Cool Things” and produced keyrings and magnets with a traditional Catalan shoe called “espardenya” (a spardrille shoe), typically used to dance their traditional dance “Sardana”. At the end, after selling them, they donated their benefits to Greenpeace. Secondary School “Nikola Voyvodov” is a large school situated in Vratsa, one of the most deprived areas in Bulgaria. There are 850 students in the school, from 7 to 18 years old. The 5th, 6th and 7th graders were actively involved in this project but also a great number of students took part in different activities. 7 teachers were responsible for the project. “Baba Marta “ company was established in the Bulgarian school and its product “Martenitsa “ is a traditional symbol of health, happiness and a new beginning. They decided to produce martenitsa – bracelet, martenitsa – shambala and martenitsa –necklace. At the end of the project a big charity bazaar was organised where all the products were sold. The profit made was used to help the family of a sick student from the school. Fossa N.S. is a co-educational primary school located in Fossa, on the outskirts of Killarney. There are 264 students; 12 irish pupils and 6 teachers travelled abroad. The Irish product was called “Wild Killarney Soap”; it is a hand made soap made from natural ingredients such as local herbs, flowers, fruits and essential oils. It was produced using simple methods by the children. The profit was used to buy beanbags and books for their school library. The Greek school 4th Primary School of Xanthi, is located near the centre of the town and has got 270 students.Their 5th and the 6th graders participated in the project and around 150 pupils were actively involved in the activities. The Greek pupils did not take part in any of the mobilities since the Greek school stated from the beginning that they were not going to exchange students. 6 teachers took part in the mobilities but there were more involved. Its company “ELEON” produced products using olives as a prime ingredient because they are an icon from Greece. They produced three soaps, olive spread, wax cream and calendars. The profit made after the selling of the products was used to fund the annual school trip of the 6th graders to Athens. The Italian school has got several buildings for infant, primary and secondary education and 820 students. The students of 1st and 2nd grades in secondary were their core target, about 90 students in all, although the students of the other classes were all involved too. There were 18 students travelling in the mobilities and 9 teachers. They set up an advertising company called “TrendySpace”. Because Italy has 2 secondary schools in 2 different towns, it was decided that the students from Torrice made “Crisp and Crunchy” biscuits, using a local recipe and genuine products such as oil, wine and flour made locally. The students from Ripi created a product called “GreenheArt”, which consisted in different types of handicrafts made of old magazines, rolled in straws and glued together. The profit was reinvested in school materials. The impact in all the schools was great.