Students learn from real-life branding cases in International Brand Marketing course

The International Brand Marketing course offers second-year students hands-on experience as they tackle an assignment for a client of the brand marketing company Brandstein. The case study also provides an opportunity for students to earn an internship at Brandstein and at the client company, Novogain AI.

This new type of collaboration brings together industry expertise and academic knowledge, as Brandstein and its client, the AI agency Novogain AI, partner with Oulu Business School’s brand marketing course. Students will develop an internationalization plan for Novogain AI, focusing on market analysis and expansion.

Two students will receive internships, one at each company. They are expected to submit a final report and deliver a 15-minute presentation, after which representatives from Brandstein, Novogain AI and OBS will select the internship recipients.

“This collaboration strengthens the ecosystem between universities and companies by providing students with meaningful experiences and opportunities that support them later in their careers,” explains course coordinator Omar Mohammed.

The internships offer students the chance to work with current, real-world branding cases and include marketing tasks and other business activities suitable for bachelor-level students.

Guest lecturers bring fresh insights into brand marketing

In the course, branding is examined from both theoretical and practical perspectives to highlight developments in the market as well as in academic research.

“We want to connect students to real-world challenges,” Mohammed adds. “The aim is to incorporate new developments and emerging challenges into our teaching.”

To support this goal, three guest lecturers from different business fields visited the course: Tuomas Mujunen, CEO of Brandstein; Business and personal branding consultant Juha Ahola, who spoke about personal branding and influencer marketing, and Senior Manager Yomna Elsahn from consultancy agency NielsenIQ, who shared insights on consumer behavior and brand experience. In addition, OBS’s Professor of Brand Marketing, Saila Saraniemi, contributed valuable expertise on corporate branding and internal communications.

An added highlight was an opportunity to book a free personal branding consultation with Juha Ahola, designed to support students’ career development.

Course coordinator Omar Mohammed and guest Juha Ahola.

Juha Ahola (right) offered insights personal branding and influencer marketing on the course coordinated by Omar Mohammed (left).

Created 2.12.2025 | Updated 2.12.2025