International School of Advertising – Empowering Students Towards Excellence

Location – Floor, Woodlands Office Park Woodlands Road – Off Lenana Road PO Box 274 – 00600, Nairobi

Website – https://isaafrica.education/

Contact – +254 733 135 974


1. Please mention about the school and its mission/vision and various infrastructural facilities.

International School of advertising is a leading training institution in East Africa offering Marketing and Advertising programs that help aspiring and current marketing professionals sharpen their skills and attract huge career and business opportunities.

Embedded in your philosophy, pay it forward, we are committed to enable our students to become the best they can be in Marketing and Advertising related careers.

2. Kindly mention about the prominent personality of the school and his/her role in the development of the school.

Susan Makau , our Managing Director and Co-founder of the school has played a major role in the development and success of the school. She founded the school in 2014 after working in the advertising industry as a client for about 10 years.She noticed that there was a gap between agencies and clients yet a lot of infor intervention needs to be put in to ensure both parties work optimally with each other and partnership in order to maximize on returns on the companies. The bigger problem that she actually noticed was the fact a lot of roles practiced in agencies are not learnt in school and there is no form of onboarding process. This created the purpose of the school. Through this the school ended up bridging the gap between theory and practice that is required in the workplace. Furthermore, the school ended up creating employment opportunities because through the program, companies were and still are willing to take these students into the organizations because they are likely to be more effective.

3. Kindly describe the various courses offered by the school and their salient features.

Currently ISA offers courses like Integrated Brand Communication, which is in partnership with Ogilvy Africa. This course is a great transition for graduating students who are coming out of college or university and want to get into careers in advertising and marketing. It is a seven month programme that entails a three month apprenticeship program at Ogilvy Africa, one of the lead global agencies, where the students get an opportunity to practice and become more marketable.

Also we are an accredited centre for the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK(CIM) and therefore offer professional marketing certifications for marketing professionals at the entry level stage and also those who have practised.

In partnership with APReCOM we offer a course for graduate students called APReCOM Fast Track which is a uniquely interactive course that consists of short lectures, practical group work and class discussions. This course allows entry level Public Relation professionals to interact with PR professionals and client work. It also focuses on streamlining basic skills, attitudes and behavior needed in the communication industry. As part of their course, the students get to do their practicum at an APReCOM agency.

We also offer short courses like Marketing and Brand Planning, Strategic Advertising Management, Integrated Media Management and Digital for Business. These courses are taught by industry experts and ensure that our students have hands-on experience with the knowledge.

To add onto this, the school not only offers technical skills but also personal skills through our account management and life skills class. This course covers topics like personal branding, CV writing, emotional intelligence and presentation skills to ensure our students are more holistically prepared for the market.

4. Please mention what steps are you taking beyond the traditional curriculum to ensure overall development of the students?

ISA was developed in response to the scarcity of an effective trained workforce ready to enter the market. Through the courses, we ensure our students get practical knowledge, current theories and are taught by experienced, seasoned professionals who are still in the industry. To ensure ISA produces empowered students who will hit the ground running and are equipped to create solutions through our curricula, we remain aligned with the industry through our partnerships with Association of Practitioners in Advertising(APA), APReCoM, Marketers Society of Kenya, Telma and Ogilvy Africa.

Furthermore through our industry partnerships we allow our students during this course to interact with relevant case studies and current data from our content partners like ReelAnalytics and Ipsos. Through the course projects students get to tap into statistics and research done by ReelAnalytics to create better and relevant marketing and communication strategies. Furthermore, through IPSOS and its research audience, students are exposed to a willing and ready audience to do their research in order to get current data.

5. What steps does the school take to motivate and develop the students’ interest towards education?

ISA programs offer inspirational talks to ensure that the students get to interact with our guest speakers, who are industry practitioners during the course. Also we ensure that their projects are interesting and current case studies that help students interact more, learn together and build industry relationships that will help them in the future as they do their projects.

6. How are you providing financial assistance to the students in need?

We understand that economic power is different but education is a necessity and we are intentional about being accessible to all potential students. We do offer our students flexible deadlines of payment. These included agreed upon and affordable instalment plans before the course commences and even during the course period. In some courses like APReCoM Fast Track we subsidized fees for certain students. Also in the past we have offered scholarships to students for courses and continue to do so especially for deserving students.

7. What are the career opportunities available to the students after completion of their courses?

ISA courses are designed to increase employability in our students in the marketing and communications industry. Courses like APReCoM fast track and Integrated Brand Communication allow the successful students to work with an APReCoM agency and Ogilvy Africa respectively, giving them a chance to learn and experience the industry. • Other than traditional occupations, what other career field options are available for them? Our school strives to prepare our students for the future and therefore open up our curriculum to new and emerging trends in the marketing and communications industry.

With courses students are able to get into data driven marketing careers, data analytics, SEO writing that are data led. These are fields that are coming up and we ensure our students are able to remain grounded in a data driven world. Also we foster the ability for our students to pivot and start their own businesses. Some of our alumni have become entrepreneurs and are now running their own full time businesses after their courses and we are proud to be part of their journey.

8. Please enlighten us about the school’s major awards/achievements, its accomplished/renowned alumni, remarkable collaborations, and major accreditations.

For the last three years we have organized thought leadership forums. Forums like APA week, which is a conference that calls on industry professionals to discuss the issues emerging in the industry and exchange ideas on how to embark on solving them. Also we have partnered with local schools like Strathmore University and Marketing Society of Kenya to host the Industry Breakfast Forum where we bring together stakeholders in the advertising and marketing fraternity to deliberate on emerging trends.

This is usually done quarterly. Furthermore we do organize webinars that are industry focused to help marketing and communication professionals navigate the industry. Webinars such as Adapt and Thrive Series in 2020 that helped marketers navigate the COVID 19 period and H1 2021 Review that updated industry professionals on audience data, expenditure data, consumer trends and advertising spends. This webinar did in fact gain traction in traditional media channels within the country. To add on to this, International School of Advertising is accredited by TVET(Technical and Vocational Education and Training), NITA(National Industrial Training Authority) and Chartered Institute of Marketing UK.

9. Kindly elaborate about the future plans of the school in the same.

As we try to pivot and transition into the new world, we are planning on entering the digital space and strategically focusing on adopting digital transformation in all our plans. Currently we are working to deliver convenient learning experiences to our students through virtual learning and Video on Demand lessons that allow our students and new students beyond our borders a chance to interact with our content at their own pace and offer digital tools that will be able to take their learning to a new level. Through our partnerships we plan to deliver to our students the most relevant information delivered in the easiest way possible whilst still being effective As an institution we look forward to delivering cutting edge content that is easily accessible beyond our borders

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