EXPLO is thrilled to announce a new partnership with PEZ, the makers of the beloved PEZ dispensers and candy. Sold in 80 countries, PEZ distributes 70 million dispensers and five billion candies a year. They provided comedic fodder for Larry David to write “The PEZ Dispenser” episode for Seinfeld, and on Jeopardy, PEZ was not simply an answer to one question, but was the theme of an entire category. It’s a rare company that can remain a staple of pop culture for more than 60 years.

We aim to give students some real experience with what it means to produce something not for a grade, but for the needs of a prospective client.

As part of EXPLO’s mission to provide increasingly relevant, transformative learning opportunities for students that connect them to the world of people and ideas, PEZ will provide project challenges to pre-college students in Marketing + Advertising courses.

“We are very excited to work with EXPLO,” said Amy Kopchak, director of marketing at PEZ Candy Inc. “We’re still refining the details of the project with EXPLO, but we expect we’ll engage students with our new candy packaging launch. We’re also looking at students conducting research to make recommendations on new everyday flavors and targeted flavor trends and then to build out the associated marketing plans.”

Presenting to PEZ Executives

EXPLO has always done hands on projects, but it’s critical that students are able to connect what they are doing in class to life beyond Yale, said EXPLO President Moira Kelly. In partnering with companies like PEZ, students can gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what marketing means for a large multinational corporation.

“We aim to give students some real experience with what it means to produce something not for a grade, but for the needs of a prospective client,” Kelly said.  

Each student will be part of a small team working on the PEZ challenge. Every team will present their findings and recommendations, and the teams with the strongest plans and presentations will pitch their work directly to PEZ executives.

“Designing courses like this — finding the right partner, making the project compelling and substantive, and really thinking about learning objectives — is both time consuming and requires a different kind of teaching than what happens in the typical high school classroom or college lecture hall. But this is the future of good curricular design and teaching, and I’m excited EXPLO students will have the experience. No doubt they will learn a lot and I expect they will have a lot of fun while they’re at it.”