The Way You Do The Things You Do

Every year I assign my third year marketing class the task of writing a press kit for a small local business. I am not what you'd call a textbook teacher; I prefer to give real-world assignments wherever possible. The only two rules for this assignment are, it must be a real small business — by small I mean it doesn't have a substantial advertising budget — and you must have personal access to it. It can be the place where you get your hair cut, or your best friend's father's painting business, or your uncle's construction company, but you must be able to talk to the owner to get their story, to write what in P.R. terms is called the "corporate backgrounder."

Two days before the assignment was due, I received an email message from one of my students:

"Hi, just wondering, for the corporate background, is it okay if the "story" is fabricated. I am doing my PR Assignment on ABC Pizza, a local pizza place here in town and there isn't any info on the Internet on who founded the company or how it came to be what it is today. I was just hoping that it was ok to make this part up, thanks."

There are surprising benefits to teaching at the university you didn't attend, but that's located in the town where you were born.

When I was in high school, I worked at ABC Pizza.

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The next story is also about Postmodern Sass's students. And about her Levi's jacket. Or, click here to find out what grade this student got on his assignment.