MKT 530 - New Product Development

If you are pursuing Marketing as a career, you have to take at least 1 Badame class while you are at Marshall. She cares a lot about her students, puts in the effort to bring in excellent guest speakers, and provides great frameworks. None of her classes are fluff classes though - there is a lot of work and case readings. I would also say (now that I've taken 2 different Badame classes) that they are very similar, so if you take one you're good

The examples used are pretty out of date and the class ends early more often than not. I'm not really sure I've learned anything new that I didn't get from the core marketing class.

Do not take this class. Learned no new information from other marketing class. Professor Rook, while funny, makes fairly inappropriate jokes. The whole class is story time for his career in advertising mixed with offensive jokes. Complete waste of time.

A few long papers and three group projects make it above average work load. Class provides good exposure to the fundamentals of the stage gate model (idea to launch), but provides little beyond an introduction to the concept and some basic, well-known real world examples (like analyzing why Segway was a failure, etc.). A good intro (slide shows mostly photos of ad campaigns), but wish it was more in depth.

Learn some useful frameworks and theories, but for the most part everything I know I learned on the job.

NPD is great for marketing. Professor Rook is very animated and amusing so class goes by pretty fast. There are a lot of short stories and anecdotes that Rook shares in a class so there's not much note taking, but his tests ley heavily on the readings and concepts, so be sure to be on top of them. / The project is pretty fun and open for creativity. there are a few simple deliverables during the semester (mostly ungraded) on which Rook gives guidance and feedback.

Given my career and passion for brand management, I was really excited to learn more about NPD. Unfortunately, this class has been a huge disappointment. Professor Rook has no structure to his lectures. He rambles on and on about personal stories and anecdotes that teach you nothing. His lecture slides look like they were made from the 1980s and some of the marketing challenges and examples are literally from the 1980s. He refuses to update the content this class, which is very frustrating. If you're taking in the course, the best thing you can do is just show up, listen to what he has to say, and hope you learn and thing or two from it.

This course is not structured well and feels very "fluffy". Although important concepts are mentioned, we don't delve into any deeper or critical points.

Rook is funny, engaging, and has a great sense of humor. Yes, some of his material is a little dated, and he even brought a VHS in to class once, but it's a solid class and Rook is a solid professor. There is some reading and written homework, two relatively easy midterm/quizzes, one small group project, and one big group project. Overall, his class is more than worth your tuition money and you will be stimulated, engaged, and amused for the class if you show up and care. I look forward to taking more classes with Rook!

Excellent course reader - but that's the limit. DOn't take the class, just buy the reader. Prof is checked out - classes are more him telling stories of funny stuff that happened to him than any insightful new product teachings. Assignments are "busy work", no real learning or insight. Avoid.

Just OK. Not an incredibly structured class (which could be viewed as a benefit considering the material), but the project is a bit pointless, and most of the material is common sense..

The material is OLD, needs to be updated with new stuff. I understand the Prof is mainly going on his experiences but maybe consider bringing guest speakers for stuff more relevant today.

The class discussions are less structured than others and not as valuable.

The professor it is not engaging and uses a lot of old cases and examples. However, the main project makes you go through all the process of developing and launching a new product, which makes you learn and it is interesting.

Professor Rook is entertaining and the class is always fun. The readings are helpful and relevant to the course.

Such a terrible waste of time and money. Prof is nice and funny and means well but this class could be supplemented by buying the course reader and watching a random assortment of Tosh.O videos while drinking and you'd probably learn more. He clearly is not in tune with todays world and doesn't care to catch up. Most questions are answered with speculation or straight up disinterest and he never cares to follow up and learn about what he didn't know how to answer. Two thumbs down

Useful to learn more about all the steps leading to the launch of a new product.

"Before taking this class ask yourselves these questions: 1- Do I want to buy a course reader that costs $160? 2- Do I want to take a class that focuses only on the stage-gate model, which we covered in 1 session in the core marketing class. 3- Do I want to write min. 4 pages long, 10 font size, single-spaced essays every other week? 4- Do I want to take 2 midterms and do a final project? If answered two or more of these questions as ""yes"", then I hope you enjoy NPD."

"Dr. Rook is a really good guy. He likes to talk, he's funny, but not the best teacher. He can hold your attention for the whole class easy which is good, but I never felt like i was learning a ton. The reader he makes you buy is really good. Expensive, but a lot can be learned if you planning on doing the readings. 4 homework assignments (long and tedious) 1-2 mini projects 1 Midterm (medium difficulty) 1 Final 1 final group project A lot of busy work wasn't very nice for a busy semester. That part sucked."