Today's educational drama : planning for tomorrow's marketers

Purpose – To describe and discuss the use of educational drama in marketing education, including its relative advantages to both learners and trainers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper involves exploratory qualitative research, using sentence completion and reflective diaries. The approach was to probe in an open-ended way what students believed they had learnt and gained from the drama, and why; how did the drama affect them; how did they view marketing after the drama; and how did they compare the educational drama to traditional “chalk and talk” classes. Findings – The interpretive qualitative results of the study indicated a very high student acceptance of drama as an educational experience, a widely held view that even though it was drama it had actually enhanced the realism of the learning experience, a greater appreciation of the array and complexity of the various roles in the marketing environment and the alternative perpectives possible, an expressed enhancement of their sense of empathy through the drama, a heightened sense of personal enrichment for the experience as an individual, and expressed enthusiasm for its career simulation benefits. Research limitations/implications – The study was exploratory and educational drama needs further testing under various contexts, constraints, and controls. Practical implications – The student and instructor enthusiasm for the benefits, including the perception of enhanced realism, bodes well for practical applications. There is no obvious reason why it could not be used to good effect in commercial, industrial, public sector and not-for-profit contexts. Originality/value – The researchers were not able to locate any other study examining the use and benefits of educational drama within a marketing setting such as this one. Used effectively, educational drama is seen to be a valuable learning and experiential tool.