A New Approach to Advertising Education: The Transformative Impact of a Collaborative Research Laboratory

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of a collaborative research laboratory to enhance advertising education by catalyzing student learning, engagement, and faculty interaction. By offering a comprehensive blueprint through this lab, we illuminate how institutions can leverage the benefits of such labs through immersing students in practical consumer and advertising research, audience analysis, and industry-aligned research tools and methodologies. We delve into a variety of engagement methods, ranging from lab-bounded courses, faculty-guided research projects to special topic workshops, and expert guest lectures. Despite the significant long-term investment required, this study underscores the lab’s potential to draw new students, faculty, corporate partners, and community members due to its applicability to the industry and rich networking opportunities. Furthermore, we address challenges tied to the lab operation and management, such as faculty workload, while acknowledging the lab’s promising potential as a focal point of advertising education.