K-9 Kraving celebrates and posts creative work by Alfred University MBA students

Alfred University students in Professor Shelly Freyn’s Creativity and Innovation class (MBA 661) recently got a taste of real-world business and the creative thinking that attends successful business ventures.

The B Block class developed promotional videos for K-9 Kraving, a Baltimore-based company that manufactures FDA-certified pet foods.  More than 30 students, grouped in 10 teams, engaged in a series of creativity exercises – convergent/divergent thinking, forced association and mind mapping – to develop a social media campaign for K-9 Kraving.

Beyond the assignments, the teams were also competing to win the “Top Dog” award, which included prizes and accolades on the company’s social media sites.

The results delighted administrators at the company, and the videos are currently being posted on the K-9 Kraving’s Facebook page. Next week, the company will post the award-winning campaigns from the top three teams.

While only three teams will be declared winners, K-9 Kraving is praising the work of the students, saying: “Each team had some awesome ideas and relevance to our brand, ethos and product category,” the company said on its Facebook site.

Students' work can be found here.

Freyn, Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of Business, said the Creativity and Innovation class uses creative thinking exercises to encourage its graduate MBA students “to think creatively outside the norm.” While her own background is in marketing, she emphasizes the class is not just for marketing students. “The idea is how to think creatively and with innovative energy,” she says, adding that the emphasis on creative thought often pushes students outside their comfort zones.

“You have to practice to be creative,” she says. “It’s like golf. Keep practicing, and you get better.”