Interview with Artak Vardanyan MIB

Is this your first time attending or have you participated in this evening before?  

It’s my first time participating but I already really like it. Although I have not had the opportunity to attend any of the previous classes, I really like the organisation of the event. It’s very interesting to get to know the participants and colleagues from other universities throughout Europe. I’m very excited to be here and I am looking forward to the coming workshops and meetings.  

What is your favourite thing about this event so far?  

As mentioned, I very much enjoy meeting with colleges of other universities. We had really nice exchanges together, we talked about their schools, their topics, what they do, and of course, I shared my ideas and insights about various topics started with marketing ended with AI in education. You share with each other and you learn from each other.   

Why did you choose this exact event to come to? What caught your interest?  

Our universities are partners and we aim to further improve our collaboration. This is a nice next step in this process. Our aim is to find several other areas of collaboration such as research and the development of new course, to name a few. We both think that there are many opportunities, which can be discussed and explored during this event.  

What will you talk about? What’s going to be the topic of your class?  

My topic is related to branding in the context of advertising and selling. Specifically, I will present architect-based branding framework. My message is that branding and brands should be more humanized to be able to connect with their consumers in a much deeper level. I will   explain the students how this can be done with the help of twelve human archetypes, which also can be called twelve human personalities, that were developed by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung. I will present various case studies and best practices of well know brands such Apple and Disney.    

What do you think of our city, Pécs?  

It’s beautiful, of course! There is so much culture and history in this relatively small city. I really like the architecture of your buildings, the cozy atmosphere of for example the city centre. I noticed that in Pecs, in Hungary, your architects have a very interesting, and I would say special, approach towards designing and building sculptures and places. They don’t just build beautiful structures to look at, but they build these structures in a way that people can use and interact with them. For example, you can sit on the fountains. Or children can play on sculptures. In other example, the parks are made in such a way that people can sit in every corner of it: on the ground, on chairs and on special structures. I think it is a nice concept that as an architect you build things for people to touch, to feel, to use and not just to look at. I really like that about your city.