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| FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: 5 things we learned after winning the Adobe Digital Analytics Competition |
![]() Snow-topped mountains made a picturesque backdrop in the celebratory photos we took from Adobe’s office in Lehi, Utah last weekend after our team of One-Year MBA students won first place in the annual Adobe Digital Analytics Competition. This was the second year in a row that a Kellogg came out on top. For the past 13 years, Adobe has given graduate and MBA students from around the country the opportunity to learn Adobe’s digital analytics products, showcase their understanding of analytics and presentation skills, and apply their business knowledge to tackle real-world challenges. This year John Elder ’15, Yajur Kapoor ’15 and I helped identify ways to improve the customer experience on the Lenovo Mexico website using analytics to drive the recommendations. After placing first, our team was awarded a prize of $15,000. But a big check wasn’t the only takeaway. Below I’ve summed up five things our team learned from the experience. HOW TO USE ADOBE DIGITAL ANALYTICS TOOLS: While many people may associate Adobe to just Acrobat or Photoshop, Adobe actually has a wide variety of software in areas they call Creative Cloud and Marketing Cloud. Within the Marketing Cloud sits the Adobe analytics software. The competition gave us the opportunity to use the analytics software to analyze real, live data for Lenovo. After attending a training session hosted by Adobe experts at the onset of the competition, we explored the software and begin to build upon our knowledge with on-the-job learning. CHALLENGES THAT COMPANIES FACE ONLINE: The experience using the analytics software exposed our team to the challenges companies face online in regards to the customer experience: attracting new customers, keeping them engaged and helping them through the purchase process. By tracking web metrics like bounce rate, page views, user paths, click-through rates and many others, we could identify areas of the website that could be improved to make the customer experience more positive and engaging. CREATIVITY DRIVES VALUE IN BIG DATA: More and more data is becoming available for companies to analyze their business, but driving insights from the data requires creativity. We learned the real value in big data is driven by creative insights and knowing where to look more so than the quantity of analysis or scope of number crunching. IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK IN CASE COMPETITIONS: Our team was one of many teams with interesting ideas and recommendations, but I believe what separated our team from the competition was the combination of our team members’ individual strengths. Bringing together three consultants with various backgrounds, strong work ethic and a desire to win made for a powerful recipe. Having the right people on the team aligned toward a common goal – to win first place – made all the difference. ANALYTICS ALLOWS YOU TO LEAD WITH CONFIDENCE: Kellogg analytics professor Florian Zettelmeyer preaches that executives need a working knowledge of data science to lead with confidence. Our team experienced this first hand. Having the right data to support our recommendations gave us tremendous confidence in delivering the message to the client. Our team thanks Adobe and Lenovo for the opportunity to participate in this competition, and we look forward to seeing more Kellogg teams maintain the reputation of strong analytics in competitions like this in years to come. Learn more about Kellogg’s unique approach to data analytics. Alex Bourdeau ’15 is a student in Kellogg’s One-Year MBA Program and President of the One-Year Students Association. After completing his undergraduate business degree at University of Texas at Austin in 2009, Alex has spent the last five years at Accenture helping companies in various industries across a wide range of technology and management consulting engagements. Filed under: Academics, Business Insight, Career, Student Life Tagged: 1Y, Adobe, Adobe Analytics, analytics software, award, award-winners, customer experience, digital analytics, One-year, One-Year MBA Program, student competition, student competitions, student contests |
| FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: Kellogg gives back to the community |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This year I had the great opportunity to organize Kellogg Cares Day, a one-day community service event for Kellogg students, faculty and staff. This was the 10th year the Kellogg community came together to help out the surrounding Evanston and Chicago area, and it proved to be a truly valuable experience. The planning started this summer and we were able to line up 19 great local organizations to participate in the event. Kellogg volunteers were placed in groups of 10-15 people and then sent to the organizations to do community service work for the day. Though it was a bit chilly and rainy in the morning, we were so pleased to see more than 300 volunteers come out for the event! We were also excited to have Dean Ziegler kick off the event. In an effort to have impact, it’s often easy to overlook the community you live in, and Dean Ziegler reminded us that local impact is lasting. One of the goals for this year’s Kellogg Cares Day was to have more diverse representation of volunteers, which was definitely a success. We had all types of students, from 2Ys, 1Ys, MMMs, JDMBAs and PhDs. We even had professors and Kellogg alumni volunteer with their kids! ![]() ![]() The different community service activities included working at a local organic farm, removing bush at a forest preserve, fall cleaning at a housing provider for the mentally disabled, a consulting project with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and much more. This event really brought Kellogg to the front lines in the community. Not only did we demonstrate Kellogg’s dedication to social impact, but also it allowed us to make the local community aware of our commitment. Willingly volunteering at 8 a.m. is not necessarily everyone’s first choice of activity on a Saturday morning, so seeing so many of my classmates and peers motivated to help out really helped me appreciate them even more. We’re hoping to keep this momentum and are excited to see Kellogg Cares Day grow in the years to come! Navi is currently a student in Kellogg’s Full-Time One-Year MBA Program, where she is focusing on finance, real estate and social impact. She is an accomplished Indian folk dancer and recently taught and performed her first routine at Kellogg! Prior to Kellogg, she spent five years in JPMorgan Chase and gained experience in capital markets, credit risk and operations. She earned her B.SC in Economics from Fordham University in New York City, where she grew up. Filed under: Student Life Tagged: 1Y, 2Y, Chicago, community, community service, evanston, JDMBA, JDMBA Program, Kellogg Cares Day, MMM, MMM program, One-Year MBA Program, Two-Year MBA Program, volunteer, volunteer opportunities, volunteering |
Success stories and strategies from high-scoring candidates.