The immersive experience brought together students from different universities to develop their research skills and communication proposal development abilities.
By Institutional Communications
Student Jan Michael Díaz Bermúdez won second place in the first edition of El Vocero Lab, an initiative that brought together eight communications students from different universities in Puerto Rico to take on the challenge of conducting research and developing strategic recommendations for the news market in response to changing media consumption habits in Puerto Rico.
The experience, which ran from mid-June through the end of July, included a series of sessions led by the El Vocero team, as well as Gaither International, a market research firm. Through weekly sessions, students learned about the different stages of the research process and best practices for collecting and interpreting data to inform a strategic communication recommendation.
Díaz Bermúdez, a third-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Strategic Communication at the Ferré Rangel School of Communication, with minors in Marketing, Public Relations, and Finance, highlighted that one of the most memorable parts of the experience was meeting the El Vocero team and witnessing firsthand the passion and dedication with which they work to bring the news to their audience.
According to the student, the training provided by El Vocero complemented the research training he has received at Sagrado as part of the 21st Century Skills component offered by the School of General Education.
“There were many days when it felt like being at Sagrado. The sessions with Gaither gave us market research tools, and I was able to build on that with the tools I learned in my research courses,” he said.
To develop his proposal, Díaz Bermúdez focused his research on news consumption habits and preferences among younger audiences. Through data collection and analysis, he explored ways El Vocero could strengthen its connection with this segment and adapt its communication strategies to the ways in which younger generations engage with information. The process included hundreds of participants in his research, as well as interviews with Sagrado students that allowed him to complement the data collected with perspectives on young people’s interests and behaviors.
“Young people didn’t stop consuming news. They stopped consuming the way we tell them,” Díaz said.
Based on his findings, he developed a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening the relationship between El Vocero and younger audiences, taking into consideration the digital formats and spaces where they interact most frequently. His proposal also included an implementation roadmap for the recommended strategies.
For Díaz Bermúdez, one of the main takeaways from the experience was understanding that a strategic recommendation must serve a clear purpose and be supported by the data gathered during the research process.
“You have to be practical and strategic,” he reflected, adding that one of his challenges was choosing, among the many ideas he wanted to implement, those that would truly add value to his proposal.
For Díaz Bermúdez, the experience provided an opportunity to apply the knowledge he acquired at Sagrado to a professional setting and to continue developing the skills he hopes to carry with him into his future career, which he envisions in the field of corporate law. His student journey thus reaffirms the value of an education that extended beyond the classroom and that will continue to drive him to take on new challenges and contribute meaningfully in the professional fields he chooses to pursue.
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