I work as a brand design supervisor at Sunwing Travel Group. I supervise five designers and all the work they do for the different brands that belong to Sunwing, from flyers and brochures to newspaper, online and social media ads.
I studied design at the Newman Design Institute in Caracas, Venezuela. It was a very well recognized school, with more than 50 years as an iconic institution for design in Latin America. It was a great school, but unfortunately, with all the issues and problems in my country, it closed its doors some years ago. When I came to Canada five years ago, I got a marketing certificate at George Brown Continuing Education.
I used to work as an art director for the ad agency J. Walter Thompson in Venezuela. I consider that agency my school in terms of advertising. I also worked as an art director for Y&R and started my own company. With all that experience, I’ve always considered myself a strategic-minded creative designer, but I didn’t have any formal marketing education.
When I came to Canada, I started looking for a job, but it was difficult to find opportunities because my experience was in a different market. As an immigrant, I sometimes didn’t know how or where to start and what to do for work. In my case, one of the key things was to study.
The certificate made me feel prepared to face all the challenges that come up in a marketing department. We worked in teams inside the classroom and competed to sell our ideas as agencies do in real life. My classmates were from different cultures and fields, so people brought different case studies and examples from different industries such as fashion or construction. In the end, the same marketing principles apply.
When I started, I hadn’t been in school for a while, and it was my first time studying in English. But in a few weeks I got the pace – and the program helped my language skills.
While I was studying, I found freelance work that was a perfect mix with all my experience. It was my first time working in a marketing department. Before, my career had been more on the advertising side. After I graduated, I got a job at Sunwing and was promoted to the position I have now.
One of my best experiences on the job came when I had a chance to rebrand one of the biggest companies within Sunwing, SellOff Vacations. I redesigned the logo and did all the new repositioning of the brand. We launched at the beginning of the year. It was a big project in that I had to sell the idea internally to different people.
Working in a big marketing department is in many ways motivating and challenging, especially when you collaborate with a talented and experienced team. However, as a creative professional, sometimes it’s hard to go through long paths of approvals. It’s a challenge to keep ideas fresh and impactful up to the end of the process.
This is a very common issue for designers and creative people. It’s always the hardest part to deal with, but then it’s very rewarding when you like the final result.
Where to study marketing:
ALGOMA UNIVERSITY (Sault Ste. Marie) Marketing and communications: $6,940/year. algomau.ca
ALGONQUIN COLLEGE (Ottawa) Advertising and marketing communications: $8,155/year business administration marketing: $5,855/year. algonquincollege.com
CANADORE COLLEGE (North Bay) Advertising and marketing communications: $2,114/semester. canadorecollege.ca
CENTENNIAL COLLEGE (Toronto) Business administration – marketing: business – marketing: $3,717/year. centennialcollege.ca
CONESTOGA COLLEGE (Kitchener) Advertising and marketing business/business administration – marketing: $4,126/year. conestogac.on.ca
CONFEDERATION COLLEGE (Thunder Bay) Business – marketing: $2,818/year (plus fees). confederationc.on.ca
DEGROOTE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/MCMASTER UNIVERSITY (Hamilton) Master of
business administration: $38,000/program co-op: $43,500. degroote.mcmaster.ca
DURHAM COLLEGE (Oshawa) Advertising and marketing communications: $4,098/year marketing – business/business administration: $3,991/year. durhamcollege.ca
FANSHAWE COLLEGE (London/Woodstock) Business – marketing: $2,000 business administration – marketing marketing management: $2,050. fanshawec.ca
FLEMING COLLEGE (Peterborough) Business administration – marketing: $2,442/semester. flemingcollege.ca
GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE (Toronto) Business – marketing: $3,692/year business administration – marketing: $3,716/year Continuing education – marketing: $1,970/six courses. georgebrown.ca
GEORGIAN COLLEGE (Barrie) Advertising and marketing communications: $4,040/year business – marketing: $3,990/year. georgiancollege.ca
GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/BROCK UNIVERSITY (St. Catharines) Bachelor of Business Administration – marketing concentration: $8,393/year (plus fees) master of business administration: $12,166/year (plus fees). brocku.ca/business
HUMBER COLLEGE (Toronto) Advertising and marketing communications: $3,937/year bachelor of commerce – marketing: $7,446/year business – marketing: $3,972/year marketing management: $6,163. humber.ca
IVEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO (London) Honours business administration: $62,118/program master of business administration: $84,250/program (plus fees). ivey.uwo.ca
LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY (Thunder Bay) Bachelor of administration: $6,277/year master of business administration: $19,435/program. lakeheadu.ca
LOYALIST COLLEGE (Belleville) Advertising and marketing communications business sales and marketing: $4,040/year. loyalistcollege.com
MOHAWK COLLEGE (Hamilton) Advertising and marketing communications business – marketing: $2,836/year (plus fees). mohawkcollege.ca
NIAGARA COLLEGE (Niagara-on-the-Lake) Business administration – marketing co-op: $4,609. niagaracollege.ca
ODETTE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR (Windsor) Business administration (honours): $5,189./year master of business administration: $5,645.06/year. uwindsor.ca/odette
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY (Kingston) Bachelor of commerce: $16,764/year (plus fees) master of business administration: $79,000/program. smith.queensu.ca
ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT/ UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (Toronto) Master of business administration: $98,424/two-year program (plus fees). rotman.utoronto.ca
SCHULICH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/YORK UNIVERSITY (Toronto) Masters of business administration: $74,176/year. schulich.yorku.ca
SENECA COLLEGE (Toronto) Business administration – marketing business – marketing: $3,832/year marketing management co-op: $5,434/year. senecacollege.ca
SHERIDAN COLLEGE (Oakville) Advertising and marketing communications: $4,066/year (plus fees) bachelor of marketing management: $8,270/year (plus fees) business administration – marketing: $4,236/year (plus fees) marketing management: $6,364/year (plus fees). sheridancollege.ca
SPROTT SCHOOL OF BUSINESS/CARLETON UNIVERSITY (Ottawa) Bachelor of commerce (marketing): $8,763/year master of business administration: $8,754/year. sprott.carleton.ca
ST. LAWRENCE COLLEGE (Kingston) Advertising and marketing communications management: $4,606/year (plus fees) business administration – marketing business marketing: $2,850/year (plus fees). stlawrencecollege.ca
TED ROGERS SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT/RYERSON UNIVERSITY (Toronto) Marketing management: $6,561/year. ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool
TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT/ UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA (Ottawa) Honours bachelor of commerce (marketing): $4,363/year master of business administration: $9,085/year. telfer.uottawa.ca
UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH (Guelph) Bachelor of commerce (marketing management): $4,651/semester. uoguelph.ca
UNIVERSITY OF ONTARIO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (Oshawa) Bachelor of commerce: $8,151/year master of business administration: $33,067/program. uoit.ca
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO (Waterloo) Honours arts and business environment and business: $6,420/year. uwaterloo.ca
WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY (Waterloo) Honours bachelor of business administration: $8,300/year master of business administration: $30,040/program. wlu.ca
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @KevinRitchie
