I studied marketing at two different universities and at both schools we had to do research projects for real companies -- not imagining we worked for them but actually meeting with people from the company, getting background information from them, doing research and then writing and presenting a marketing plan to the company management. The companies worked with us for the chance to get some good ideas while giving us some real-world experience. The projects were a big part of our grades.

Actually getting people to respond to the surveys was a PITA. So I'm happy to take a few minutes to help out.