'It's a small-scale master's with people of all ages from all kinds of countries,' she says. Besides marketing subjects, Paulien chose effective genre design, among others. 'Here I put together a Ted Talk myself. At another faculty, I took brand management. There you learn how best to establish a brand.'
Her thesis is about persuasiveness of campaigns on Instagram. 'I look at different hedonic products, for example luxury perfumes, high-end sports shoes and which communication strategies are best to promote them. Endorsement and anchoring play a role here; text combined with the use of a celebrity. Very interesting things come out of it.'
Student Ambassador
Paulien has always done things alongside her studies. Because I enjoyed it so much it actually went naturally. In the first year of the bachelor I immediately became a student ambassador. Then you help out at taster days or give presentations at schools. I also did an administrative year and a communication internship with a platform for people over fifty. Writing newsletters, making blogs, social media content, basically everything involved in communication.'
Future
She has already received many offers via LinkedIn and Indeed, but has not yet made a choice. 'I find a marketing traineeship interesting, because then you get to know different departments. There is still so much to learn.
