Learning digital marketing in a classroom is important. Students need to understand SEO, social media marketing, advertising, content creation and other fundamentals before they can put those skills into practice.
But at some point, students need to step outside the classroom.
They need to speak with a real business owner, understand a real brand, identify its audience and create content that serves an actual marketing purpose.
That was the idea behind the Outdoor Campaign Presentation Challenge at Hashtale Academy in Perinthalmanna.
As a digital marketing academy in Perinthalmanna, Hashtale Academy believes that students should experience practical situations that are similar to the work they may encounter after completing their training.
So instead of giving students a typical classroom assignment, they were asked to find real businesses, understand their brands and create a campaign for them.
Over the course of two weeks, the students experienced what it is like to plan, create and present a digital marketing campaign for a real business.
The Challenge: From Classroom Learning to Real Projects
The challenge was designed for Hashtale Academy graduate students.
Four teams, with five students in each team, were given two weeks to complete their campaigns from beginning to end.
The students had to:
- Find a local business
- Approach the business owner
- Understand the brand and its services
- Identify the target audience
- Plan campaign ideas
- Create video content
- Edit the content
- Present the campaign
The four teams selected four different local businesses:
- Talkfy English Academy – Spoken English training
- TravelAsia – Tours, travel and visa services
- Zizo The Luxury Perfumes – Luxury fragrances
- I-Nova Sports – Sportswear and sports equipment
Although every team received the same basic assignment, each team faced a different situation because every business had different customers, products and communication requirements.
That became one of the most valuable parts of the experience.
Students had to think about marketing from the perspective of an actual business rather than a theoretical case study.
The First Challenge Was Not Shooting a Video
For many students, the first challenge was simply approaching a business.
Walking into a business and introducing yourself as a student is very different from discussing a project inside a classroom.
The students had to introduce themselves, explain the campaign idea and convince the business owner to work with them.
They also had to ask questions and listen carefully.
What does the business offer?
Who are its customers?
What makes the business different?
What kind of content could represent the brand?
These conversations gave students practical exposure to client communication.
Some students were confident from the beginning. Others were initially hesitant.
But that is exactly what practical learning is about.
You learn by doing something for the first time.
Four Brands, Four Different Experiences
Talkfy English Academy
One team worked with Talkfy English Academy, an offline Spoken English training academy in Perinthalmanna.
The students had to understand the academy's audience and think about how its services could be communicated through simple and engaging video content.
TravelAsia
Another team selected TravelAsia, a tours, travel and visa services company based in Perinthalmanna.
Travel is a highly visual industry, but simply showing attractive destinations is not enough.
The students had to think about how to communicate the company's services and connect them with potential customers.
Zizo The Luxury Perfumes
The third team worked with Zizo The Luxury Perfumes.
A luxury fragrance brand requires a different approach to content.
The students had to pay attention to visuals, presentation, storytelling and the overall feel of the brand.
I-Nova Sports
The fourth team selected I-Nova Sports, a sportswear and sports equipment store.
The students explored how products could be presented in an engaging way rather than simply turning the video into a product catalogue.
Four brands meant four different ways of thinking.
There was no single formula that worked for everyone.
Planning Before Picking Up the Camera
Once the brands were selected, the teams started planning their campaigns.
They couldn't simply visit a business, record some footage and call it a campaign.
They had to think about the target audience, the message and the purpose of each piece of content.
Each team was asked to create three main videos:
1. Brand Awareness Video
The first video focused on introducing the business and communicating what it offers to potential customers.
2. Behind-the-Scenes Video
The second video showed the process of planning and creating the campaign.
3. Client Feedback Video
The third video captured the business owner's response to the campaign.
This pushed students to think beyond video editing.
They had to ask themselves:
Why are we creating this content?
What do we want the audience to understand?
Does this content fit the brand?
These are important questions for anyone working in digital marketing.
Then Came the Real Work
Once the planning was completed, students visited the businesses and started shooting.
This was where the difference between classroom learning and real-world digital marketing became most obvious.
Things do not always happen exactly as planned.
Students had to coordinate with business owners, decide what could be filmed, manage their time and make changes when an original idea did not work.
They had to think about:
- Location
- Products
- People
- Camera angles
- Storytelling
- Content structure
- Time management
They were no longer working with a theoretical brand created only for an assignment.
There was a real business involved.
That made every decision more important.
From Raw Footage to a Complete Campaign
After shooting came another important stage: editing.
Students had to review their footage, select useful clips and build the final videos.
They worked on:
- Video editing
- Audio
- Transitions
- Storytelling
- Visual presentation
- Content structure
But the biggest question was not simply:
"Does this video look good?"
It was:
"Does this video make sense for the brand?"
A video can look attractive and still fail to communicate the right message.
Through the project, students started to understand that content creation and marketing are connected, but they are not exactly the same thing.
Presenting the Campaign
After two weeks of planning and production, the teams presented their campaigns.
They had to explain the brand they selected, their approach and the thinking behind their content.
Then came the videos.
For some students, presenting in front of others was just as challenging as creating the campaign itself.
They had to explain their decisions, answer questions and stand behind the work they had produced.
The presentation tested more than technical skills.
It tested:
- Confidence
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
- Presentation skills
- Ability to explain a marketing idea
These are skills that become increasingly important when students start working with actual clients.
When Student Projects Create Real Opportunities
The campaign was designed primarily as a student learning activity.
But the results went beyond the classroom.
One of the teams was approached by another brand for a paid project after the campaign.
Another team received a permanent work opportunity from the brand they had worked with.
Of course, not every student project automatically turns into a job or paid client.
However, these opportunities showed students something important:
The work they create during training can have value outside the classroom.
A real project can become something students can discuss during an interview, showcase in a portfolio or use to demonstrate what they can actually do.
That is one of the biggest benefits of practical digital marketing training.
Recognising Students at HASHCON 2026
The students' efforts were also recognised during HASHCON 2026, the Hashtale Convocation Ceremony.
Deserving students received special cash prizes for their effort, creativity and performance during the challenge.
The prizes were certainly exciting for the students, but the bigger achievement was seeing them take an idea from the classroom, work with a real business and present the final result.
That experience is something they can carry forward into their professional careers.
What Did the Students Actually Learn?
The project was not only about making three videos.
Along the way, students received practical exposure to areas they may encounter in a real digital marketing job.
They learned about:
- Approaching and communicating with clients
- Understanding a business
- Identifying the target audience
- Planning content
- Developing campaign ideas
- Shooting videos
- Editing content
- Working as a team
- Managing deadlines
- Presenting ideas
- Handling unexpected challenges
Some of these things can be explained in a classroom.
But experiencing them is different.
You understand client communication differently after actually speaking to a business owner.
You understand deadlines differently when five people are working together and a campaign needs to be completed.
And you understand content differently when you know that a real business will see the final result.
Why Practical Learning Matters in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is not a field where learning ever really stops.
Platforms change. Consumer behaviour changes. New tools appear. Strategies that work today may need to be adjusted tomorrow.
That is why practical exposure is an important part of digital marketing education.
At Hashtale Academy in Perinthalmanna, the approach to digital marketing training is to connect classroom concepts with practical situations wherever possible.
The Outdoor Campaign Presentation Challenge was one example of that approach.
Students didn't just learn about campaigns.
They planned one.
They didn't just learn about client communication.
They spoke to clients.
They didn't just learn about content creation.
They created content for real businesses.
More Than Three Videos
Looking back, the three videos were only one part of the experience.
The bigger lesson was everything that happened around them.
Students had to step outside their comfort zones.
They had to communicate with people they had never worked with before.
They had to make decisions without always knowing whether their first idea would work.
They had to work together when time was limited.
And finally, they had to stand in front of others and explain what they had done.
That is very different from simply completing an assignment and submitting it.
Real Brands. Real Campaigns. Real Learning.
The Outdoor Campaign Presentation Challenge brought together four teams, four local businesses and two weeks of planning, production and presentation.
There were videos, ideas, mistakes, last-minute changes, teamwork and plenty of learning along the way.
Most importantly, students experienced what digital marketing can actually feel like when there is a real business on the other side of the project.
For some students, the experience even led to paid work and employment opportunities.
For everyone involved, it was a reminder that learning digital marketing is not only about knowing the theory.
It is about knowing how to use it.
At Hashtale Academy in Perinthalmanna, the goal is to help students leave their training with more than a certificate.
They should have experiences they can talk about, projects they can show and the confidence to take on real marketing work.
Because sometimes, the best classroom is a real business.
And the best lesson is to actually do the work.