Photo caption: UC students got to enjoy a dinner with German Ambassador Nicole Menzenbach (centre) and Deputy Head of Mission Winnie Switakowsk (left).
As part of her double degree in Communications and Law, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) student Amelie van Florenstein Mulder and hear classmates worked on a campaign for the German Embassy in Wellington. The campaign aimed to reach and engage with a Kiwi audience online and at Fieldays – a big agricultural event up in Hamiliton the Embassy had a German Pavillion at.
“Within COMS330 ‘Communication in context’, the core course within the Bachelor of Communication, students collaborate with teams of diplomats posted to New Zealand and develop and present original social media campaigns,” says Professor Natalia Chaban. “The best ideas presented by the students are then incorporated by the Embassies into their actual digital diplomacy towards New Zealand, with full acknowledgement of students’ contribution.”
Van Florenstein Mulder says what she enjoys most about her communications degree are the practical experiences as well as the opportunity to think creatively.
“Connection and humour underlying everything was the overall theme for our campaign. We felt that those were the things Kiwi connected with the most,” she says.
“We came up with five social media posts targeted to different platforms depending on who we wanted to target. And we decided to go quite out-of-the-box for our interactive ideas.”
Van Florenstein Mulder says the group developed three interactive ideas: a Kiwi-versus-German sausage sizzle, a photo cut-out featuring German and Kiwi staples, such as a Beerfest outfit, L&P and red band gumboots, and an engineering-themed dress-up photo opportunity with lab coats and glasses.
After all groups presented their campaign ideas to the embassy, Van Florenstein Mulder and her team won, earning a celebratory dinner with the German Ambassador and giving her the opportunity to become a “Shadow Ambassador” for a day.
German Ambassador Nicole Menzenbach was impressed by how professionally and enthusiastically students approached the task. “The suggestions were witty, approachable, and actionable. The campaign at Fieldays was a complete success. We received a lot of positive feedback from both visitors and exhibitors. The highlight was clearly a fun Kiwi-German photo wall that even made it onto the Instagram account of a well-known influencer,” Ambassador Menzenbach says.
As part of her day shadowing the German Ambassador, Van Florenstein Mulder attended meetings with UC academics and aerospace organisations, joined conversations about international collaboration, and gained insight into the role diplomacy plays in connecting New Zealand with other countries.
“It was a massive learning experience. A lot of it was me realising how much New Zealand actually relies on other countries and our connections with other countries,” Amelie says. “It was quite a nice mix of my law brain and my communications brain.”
The course project is one of two new teaching approaches within the UC Media and Communication Programme. Professor Chaban, Director of the UC Research Center Public Diplomacy and Political Communication Forum also organises Student Research Hubs annually.
“These are research groups comprised of under- and postgraduate students who apply their skills and knowledge from classes on political communication and public diplomacy to work on projects identified by the partner Embassies,” Professor Chaban says. “At the end of each project, our students are flown to Wellington where they are presenting at the Embassies to the Ambassadors and other diplomats.”
