This week was the first of my “field classes” where we take our students for 8 hour experiential education experiences in ports. I was privileged to take my Marketing 300 students to the Corinth area of Greece.

You may know of Corinth from the story of Sisyphus, or from First Corinthians, or even from Ricardo Montalbán’s description of the “finest Corinthian leather” (you have to be my age or older to get that reference). There is still an incredible fortification/ancient city and fort there, which I snapped a picture of from the bus. Not great, using an iPhone at great distances and from behind glass 😦

But we were in the area to visit two very successful companies, and learn about their marketing strategies. First up was Skouras Wines, where we were able to get quite close to the wine production process (I posted a short video below the pictures showing some of the bottling and packaging process). We also learned quite a lot about marketing this very successful brand outside of Greece.

After that we moved to Markellos Olive Oil, a fourth generation family business making high quality olive oil. Virtually all the product is exported, and we were shown the production process (although it wasn’t running, as the season is over) and then heard a lecture about the company’s B2B strategies. Then, some yummy tastings!

Finally, we ended our day with a delicious lunch at Almyriki restaurant and headed back to the ship. Oh, and on the way we stopped at Corinth Canal, a 4 mile long canal cut by the same builders as the Suez Canal.

An excellent learning experience, in simply gorgeous surroundings.

Thanks again to Markellos Olive Oil and Skouras Winery for sharing their expertise with us!