Pawel Tkaczyk
1. To begin with about professional work. What is your area of professional specialization?
I do brand strategy. I have been helping people build strong brands for 20 years. I firmly believe that a good marketing activity is a well-told story. That's why I most often write communication strategy or promotion strategy for clients.
2. What challenges do you face in your professional work?
Clients come to me when they want to build a strong brand in their company. The challenges I encounter in my work have two components. On the one hand, a company has a great product that it can't tell you about in such a way as to arouse the interest of potential customers. On the other hand, I work for many industries and very often my professional challenge is to know and understand the specifics of my client's company.
3. What are the key issues addressed subject by the curriculum you are teaching in your MBA program?
These are issues related to communication in the broadest sense. It is often the case that company managers, when building a marketing network, focus on their product, the service they provide, while they forget the key question: Who and what are you helping? A good brand must be useful and requires defining the market - this is what we talk about in class. We also analyze the state of the market and discuss how it might change in the near future. We focus on identifying consumer needs. I talk about how to know and research them, and how to tailor communications to meet their needs. In our meetings I talk a lot about the value of measurement, research, parameters. This usually happens when we discuss the work of a strategist, that is, a person who takes a company from point A to point B developing its potential. When approaching students as managers, I ask them: How will they be able to tell when their brand has moved to the point of success?
4. What do you find most important in the transfer of knowledge related to the subject taught in your studies?
In imparting knowledge, I rely on practical cases from work in my industry. Working with MBA students, I am aware that in a management position they will be responsible for implementing the activities discussed, hence I explain to them how to supervise and expect the elements of building a strong brand from employees.
5 What are the most common topics of discussion with students in your classes? What are the students most interested in?
Discussions with students in my classes include needs and the decisions we make in life that go with them. Another area of our frequent discussions is the assumptions of doing business and marketing activities, what is desirable and what will not produce measurable results from the perspective of the strategist, but also the consumer.
6. What skills do students acquire while studying the subject you teach on the MBA?
Students acquire the skills to manage a well-conducted advertising communication, and are aware of the tasks it has to perform in contact with potential customers. They know when it is a good marketing message and when it is not effective. An effective communication is one that fulfills the goals set beforehand. If we are not aware of what goal we want to achieve with the right message then we are not able to determine if the communication has met our expectations. Hence, we start by defining the main objective. Then we conduct an analysis of which part of the communication should fulfill certain tasks and how this can be achieved.
7. How can they use this knowledge in their professional work?
If they work in marketing then they can directly use the action examples discussed, building their brand or the brand of the company in which they have a management role. On the other hand, if their position is not so strongly related to the industry then one of the most important things they take away is the ability to oversee marketing. They know the realities of marketing and what to expect from a department based in this area, and are aware of what effective communication between the brand and the customer should look like.
8. What do you find valuable in working with MBA participants at PJAIT?
In answering this question, I may quote Seneca: "By teaching others, we teach ourselves." I think this is what I find most valuable in working with MBA participants for the IT industry at PJAIT. Our relationship is based on two-way development. I teach them specific skills, they ask and discuss very important topics. Through this work, I have contact with people who actually ask questions that I would not have thought of before. This often helps me serve my clients better.
Pawel Tkaczyk - in his own words - earns his living by telling stories. He builds strong brands - working with Agora, Allegro Group, among others. He advises startups and other companies - as a mentor, for example, during Startup Weekend or Startup Fest. He shares his knowledge - he writes a blog on branding, and has committed three books: "Brand Nooks", "Gamification" and "Narratology". He conducts trainings on marketing, branding, social media... He loves letters in almost every - except Comic Sans - form.
