Meat and Livestock Australia, a company that delivers marketing and research-and-development services for Australia's cattle, sheep, and goat producers, recently introduced a Collaborative Marketing Program. A prerequisite to participation is that company representatives needed to complete a marketing workshop with MLA.

The program aims to assist brand marketers create customer loyalty and sustainable brand growth through investment that delivers ongoing value for the brand and the industry. To widen their reach in much less time, an eLearning approach that could be instantly accessed by anyone with a computer and an internet connection was suggested. For MLA's first eLearning project, coursework had to be developed so that representatives could learn how to register for the Collaborative Marketing Program and create their own annual marketing strategy, activity proposals, and reports.

Keeping in mind that the target audience for the course mainly consisted of people with a farming background who have very basic knowledge of computers, Upside Learning created a Flash-based multi-module demonstrative course on what the Collaborative Marketing Program was and on the steps necessary to create an annual marketing strategy, activity proposals, budget summaries, and reports. The course contained a simulation of the procedures to fill out and create each of the requests, using actual examples.

Talking about the overall experience, Samantha Jamieson, Marketing Programme Manager, Meat and Livestock Australia, said, "Upside Learning helped us with the development of an eLearning program for our stakeholders. It was the first time for us to develop an eLearning program, and with the guidance of their Sydney-based manager and the India-based development team, they helped us launch a program that was easy to use and well received by our stakeholders. The UL team was highly responsive to all our requests and delivered on time and within budget. I have already recommended them to others who are looking to develop an eLearning program - they were fantastic!"