MKT 555 - Marketing Channels

The information is pretty straightforward and applicable across industries (centers around distribution channels and salesforces). You can tell that Gary has a lot of great professional experience, but I wouldn't say that he's the best teacher. Most classes end early, coursework is very light (you choose 4 out of 8 or so cases to write 1-page recommendations) and the exams are fair. He cares about his students, but teaching seems to be something that keeps him busy post-retirement and he's more interested in getting to know students.

The course materials are decent but delivery is not great. It's an easy course to take if you are interested to learn about sales and distribution channels. The professor is aged and very monotonous, but he has a lot of experience. Coursework is light.

Worst corse that I've taken at Marshall. The professor's knowledge are outdated, as well as his ability to use technology. The lecture is poorly structured around the consulting projects he worked for his clients from 10+ years ago. Doesn't know how to sharescreen on zoom, doesn't know how to post grades on blackboard... Not learning anything from this corse.

Gary is the worst professor I've had at Marshall. He relies on his prior work career for class examples, which are irrelevant in how society and marketing have evolved over the last two decades. He did not know what an Amazon locker was, which, as a supposed marketing professional and professor is unacceptable. Furthermore, his knowledge on topics related to marketing are lacking -- when anyone asks a question (and he asks for questions constantly), he seems to talk around the question and never actually answer it. He is a self-professed "white guy from Minnesota" who refuses to pronounce anyone's name that is not a stereotypically white name.

The worst class I've taken in my academic career. Gary maintains a high standard for his students' deliverables. Unfortunately, this standard is not reflected in his own material. The content is outdated and the lectures are disjointed and unorganized. Gary often asks questions but has no additional insights to share and sometimes does not know the answer himself. The takeaways from the case readings, beyond the obvious, are non-existent. If your name is remotely ethnic, Gary will butcher its pronunciation and may ask you to change it to something else. While classes are 80 minutes long the content could easily be explained in half the time. This became readily apparent after our first online session which lasted ~35 minutes. Laptops are not allowed in class.

This class focuses on product distribution and supply chains, and isn't very relevant for anyone whose job function is going to be primarily digital. He admits that he doesn't know much about social media, digital marketing, or e-commerce. If your industry has physical product distribution, this could be a very valuable class. Regardless, the workload is light and the grading is fairly easy, and the professor is nice and funny.

Great professor who is nearing retirement. If you are looking for a course with a light workload, this is it. Talks a lot about how marketing and sales interact across industries.

Class is unique and helps develop thinking in sales and distribution. Coursework is light and professor is engaging and funny. Definitely a useful class for marketers.

Professor Frazier made changes to the class after previous feedback to be more cased based. He covers 10 cases throughout the course and they are all quite interesting. He only takes your top 4 grades though, and is a very generous grader. He is also really funny in class, and makes it a very enjoyable experience. Additionally, the content is also valuable, and does a great job discussing how channel strategy plays into greater strategy overall.

This professor has been teaching this class too long and has not updated the material. He's a nice guy but freely admits he doesn't know much about ecommerce and therefore doesn't teach much about it. It's a very light workload if you're looking to balance your classes but there aren't a lot of tangible takeaways

It was largely a waste of time though the cases were interesting. The professor is a well connected guy but thought to listen to for the duration of class.

Very traditional. He does a lot of subtle boasting about his successful career, high paychecks, and wealthy wife. Also, all "cases" he writes up himself are based on his personal experience as a marketing consultant 30 years ago and does not know anything about digital marketing or social media.

I find this class to be an extremely useful survey of the marketing landscape across all industries. Class time is extremely dialog-heavy without much emphasis on lecture material; I find this method to be extremely useful, but it's not for everybody. Gary has a ton of experience in marketing and consulting and I loved hearing his thoughts on the companies and projects he's worked on. Don't expect to be challenged as you may in some other Marketing classes, but this is a great survey-type class if you're not focused on Marketing for a career but still want an overview of what's going on in that space.

Light workload - there are no case readings except for the final project case. Midterm is straightforward and professor is relaxed. Class was mostly discussions around handouts on different topics. If you go to class and follow the discussions you'll get more out of the class.

Very little homework. Not much new material/concepts were covered, classes were based on socratic method where we voiced our opinions on various issues.

This class approaches the process of setting a distribution network for a company or product, identifying the best option between direct and indirect sales and the possible consequences of switching between these two options. It is about how you make your distribution more efficient and not so much about how you communicate the benefits of a product through different channels. The professor is a very nice and experienced person with plenty of examples of past consulting projects with companies that range from Apple and Intel to CocaCola China and Triumph.

Great class, but Fraizer essentially just talks about cases he works on and his career. It ended up being a very broad class. There were just 2 tests that consist of 4 questions and you pick 2 to answer in essay format. Overall, it was very straight forward.