Miguel Álvarez: “EAE’s Master in Marketing and Sales Management changed my personal and professional life”
03 de November de 2020
03 de November de 2020
Marketing is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the professional world. Among other reasons, this is due both to its influence in the financial world and all the talent that joins its ranks year after year. So, what is it like to study and work in marketing nowadays? What tools do professionals in this sector need to be equipped with in order to succeed?
We talked to Miguel Álvarez, a graduate of EAE’s Master in Marketing and Sales Management and top professional at the agency Ómibu, to find out more about the sector and his experience at the School. Would you like to know what he told us? Let’s find out!
Miguel Álvarez Abril
Graduate of the Master in Marketing and Sales Management
at EAE Business School
Miguel, what makes you special as a person and as a professional?
Giving it my all, positivity and energy constantly in everything I do in my day-to-day life are defining features in both the personal and professional spheres.
Where does your passion for marketing come from?
Working in the accounting department at IBM opened my eyes to the fact that I needed marketing in my life. With a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and Management, you are qualified to focus your career in almost any department in the business world, but you do not usually know which are you like most until you try them out in some way.
I first tried out marketing in a startup in Budapest. I spent a short time in the world of sales at Sony. My time there was brief because the opportunity came up for me to turn my career around and join the accounting department at IBM. Having studied Business Administration and Management, I had to get some insight into this area. I worked there for two years and got good results, but it was then that I decided that I did not need to try anything else out. It was clear that I was best suited to sales and marketing.
I needed to work in an agile environment that was different every day, where I could apply my creativity and deal with people and get results more directly. I went to Cambridge in the United Kingdom to work as a Sales and Marketing Executive, where I realized that I would need to train more, so I decided to take the Master in Marketing in English at EAE.
Tell us about your experience on the Master in Marketing and Sales Management at EAE Business School. What did you think of it? What aspects of the program would you highlight?
The word that best sums it up would be unforgettable. Without a doubt, it marks a turning point in your personal and professional life.
I chose to do the program in English and that was the first good decision because meeting classmates of over 15 nationalities in a city like Madrid already ensured that it was going to be a great experience. If you then add successful expert lecturers, you have the perfect formula.
In my case, I would highlight the unconditional support I received from my lecturers to help me launch my own entrepreneurial venture, the first football league for business schools in Madrid,www.intermastercup.com. Before the pandemic, we organized over 50 friendly matches and the first tournament with the participation of the best schools in the city, giving the students a fantastic opportunity to network. At the moment, we are working together with two big international sporting organizations to get back on the pitch in January 2021 if the situation allows.
Click here to find out all about our Master in Marketing and Sales Management.
Multiculturalism is one of the key features of our School and we know that you have worked in several countries around the world. Why is multiculturalism important in the modern professional world?
It is 100% necessary. It lets you see perspectives and ideas that, although it may seem impossible, you may not even have imagined for cultural reasons, so it opens your mind and enriches your insight a great deal.
Studying in a multicultural setting helps you adapt to the labour market in the business world, which is increasingly digitized and globalized.
You work at Ómibu. Tell us about the company, your position and duties.
Yes, Ómibu is an incredible marketing agency that is growing strongly thanks to the fact that its work is underpinned by transparency, specialization and, most importantly, helping people through marketing, technology and brand knowledge.
I currently work as a Marketing Manager overseeing various key projects for the agency. My main task is to ensure that we achieve our goals in the most efficient possible way and that our clients are in a better position than when they came to us, thanks to our work.
I started less than a year ago and I am now working on all kinds of projects, so the level of learning in the following fields is extremely high:
What skills has the Master at EAE given you that enable you to fulfil your day-to-day responsibilities effectively?
In my case, I enhanced skills that I already had, such as communication in an international team, public presentations, task organization, creativity and consistency in my work. Moreover, it has given me other technical skills that I had not developed so much before, such as more in-depth knowledge of market analysis tools, pricing management, neuromarketing, how e-commerce works, etc.
I apply most of what I learned on the Master on a daily basis both at Ómibu and on my own entrepreneurial projects, which is just what you are looking for when you start a Master.
Do you feel that EAE’s Master in Marketing and Sales Management has opened doors for you in the professional world?
Absolutely, not just in my current position but throughout my journey to this point. There have been load of selection processes and learning experiences that I have only been able to access thanks to my studies at EAE. For instance, I had the chance to study at the Google Adcamp in Madrid, with a classmate on the Master, for which just 3% of the 600 applicants from all over Europe were selected. That is something that I will never forget.
Through EAE’s Employment Exchange, I got internships at two of the best media agencies at a global level: firstly, at the Havas Media Group, and secondly at Publicis Groupe. While it was hard to continue at the latter because of the temporary redundancy scheme caused by Covid-19, they paved the way for me to get positions like the one I have at Ómibu.
In your opinion, where is marketing headed and how should professionals in this field prepare in order to succeed in the future?
The other day, I read that 70% of marketing has already been automated, which puts lots of pressure on marketing professionals, forcing them to keep constantly up-to-date in terms of the market and technology.
Moreover, with the rise in online education, there is an ever-increasing number of clients with advanced knowledge of marketing. One the one hand, this is a good thing because it facilitates the communication of concepts between professionals and clients but, on the other, it also means you constantly have to exceed the client’s expectations, which again can be seen as a good thing because it drives you to demand more of yourself
Do you feel that the EAE program is heading in the same direction?
In my opinion, all EAE’s programs are pretty up-to-date and if you do are not exactly sure what to do, you can complement the main program, the Major, with a specialization program or Minor. In my case, I specialized in International Entrepreneurship with a program that helped me a great deal with my personal ventures, such as the football league between business school students that I mentioned earlier.
Would you recommend studying at EAE Business School? Why?
Without a doubt. In fact, I have been recommending it since I finished my program. Lots of friends have asked me and I always recommend the School to them.
There are lots of reasons why: the variety of teaching approaches and content, the top-class faculty, classmates of all different ages and experiences, support for entrepreneurial projects, interest and communication once you complete the program, as a member of the alumni, etc.
What would you say to anybody thinking about taking the Master in Marketing and Sales Management but have not yet made up their mind?
I would recommend it because of the challenge it represents to do the program in English and the international environment that comes from the wide range of classmates and lecturers.
I would tell them that, if they are passionate about marketing, this program will be the right choice, as long as they understand that a large proportion of their success is in their own hands and depends on how they take advantage of everything that EAE offers.