University of Guelph-Humber

Meet your professors

The official union of business and media may be hard to pinpoint, but the merger has been unmistakable and swift for those working in either industry.

“We’ve seen the fundamentals of business change,” says prof. Grant Larsen, who teaches media business to media studies students at UofGH.  “It’s all still very new.”

“In just the last handful of years, with the advent of digital advertising and digital marketing – we’ve seen the internet and social media become increasingly relevant in terms of shopping and influencing sales.  We’ve realized that this isn’t just a fad, or another form of displaying product.  This is a business.”

Add to that the changing nature of media jobs.  “Many jobs today in the media industry are not necessarily in so-called pure media companies.  It may be running the e-commerce side of a manufacturing company, or marketing a small business.  Media positions are also increasingly entrepreneurial.”

He stresses that this is working in favour of those studying media today.

“Media students are very marketable to businesses now.  Because of their knowledge of social media, their understanding of how to navigate, how to multitask, their understanding of multimedia campaigns – they may not realize how empowered they are heading into the workforce.”

“I show them how to apply their media training to real business.  Coupled with their innate knowledge of how to personalize digital marketing – they’ve got a great head start.”

BIOGRAPHY:

Prof. Larsen holds an Honours Business Administration (HBA) and a Masters Business Administration (MBA), both from the University of Windsor.  He works as a senior management consultant, an industry speaker and advisor, and social marketing and media trainer.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Digital marketing/communications
Brand positioning
Productive leadership
Strategic marketing