When students in Michele Cauley’s social media marketing course at Clemson University were asked to help develop a marketing strategy for a new app, they weren’t handed a polished product.
They were handed something unfinished.
“It was a semi-working app at the time,” Cauley said. “They were truly part of the beta test.”
That distinction turned a class assignment into something far more immersive and impactful. Over the course of several weeks, students in the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business helped test, refine and shape Feels Music an emerging app designed to let users communicate through short clips of music.
A real product, in real time
The project began when Clemson alumnus J.D. Tuminski ’07, entertainment marketing entrepreneur and former vice-president of digital marketing at Def Jam Recordings/Universal Music Group, approached Cauley with an idea: give students access to the app in its early stages and let them evaluate it as both users and marketers.
“We wanted insight from the exact demographic we were building for,” Tuminski said. “They weren’t just students; they were our target audience.”
Feels is built around a simple but powerful concept: music as a universal language. The app allows users to send short-form clips—pairing audio, lyrics and visuals—to express emotions in a way text alone cannot.
But at the time Clemson students first interacted with it, that concept was still being tested.
“They had sizzle reels and a working prototype, but it wasn’t fully built out,” Cauley said. “That’s what made it so valuable. The students weren’t just reacting to a finished product, they were helping define it.”
Inside the process: testing, feedback and iteration
The project unfolded over roughly four to five weeks, structured around a combination of team-based work and direct interaction with Tuminski and his team.
It began with a kickoff meeting, where students were introduced to the app’s concept, business goals and target audience. From there, they moved into a cycle of testing, feedback and refinement.
Students were given early access to the app and encouraged to use it in their daily lives and to invite friends to do the same. As they interacted with the platform, they submitted bug reports, usability feedback and suggestions for improvement.
“They had a place to log issues and ideas, and the developers would actually make changes,” Cauley said. “Then the students would test it again. It was very iterative.”
Weekly check-ins with Tuminski and other industry professionals reinforced that process. Students asked questions, clarified assumptions and adjusted their strategies based on real-time feedback.
“We treated them as an extension of our team,” Tuminski said. “They took that responsibility seriously.”
For many students, it was their first experience working directly with a client, especially one operating at a high level in the music industry.
“They had to learn how to communicate professionally, how to present ideas and how to defend their thinking,” Cauley said. “Those are the kinds of skills that really stick.”
Building a launch strategy
While testing the app was one part of the assignment, the larger challenge came at the end.
Students were tasked with developing a full marketing strategy for Feels’ launch.
Working in teams, they identified target audiences, selected marketing channels, developed messaging frameworks and created sample content. Some groups produced detailed campaign timelines, while others created video-based pitches that demonstrated how the app could be used in real-world scenarios.
“They had to think about who we are targeting, how we reach them, what the content looks like, how this lives on social media,” Cauley said.
The final presentations were delivered directly to Tuminski and the full staff from Feels, joining from Los Angeles, which gave the students a rare opportunity to pitch to decision-makers at the center of the industry.
“What stood out was how differently each team approached it,” Cauley said. “Same assignment, completely different strategies.”
Student insight shaping the product
The feedback students provided didn’t just stay in the classroom, it influenced the product itself.
Tuminski said one of the biggest benefits of working with Clemson students was gaining perspective that his team didn’t have internally.
“We’re building something and looking at it one way,” he said. “They showed us how it would actually be used in real life.”
For example, students demonstrated how the app could replace text with music clips in group chats, social interactions and even humor-driven exchanges.
“They captured use cases we hadn’t thought about,” Cauley said. “That was really powerful.”
The students’ role as “digital natives”—a generation that has grown up immersed in technology—proved to be a key advantage.
“They intuitively understood the product,” Cauley said. “It just clicked for them.”
From classroom experience to career path
For Carly Miller ‘24, the project wasn’t just an assignment; it also helped define her career.
A marketing major from Simpsonville, Miller graduated from Clemson in 2024 with a clear goal: find a way to combine her passion for music with a career in marketing. But before the Feels project, that path felt uncertain.
“I really wanted to work in the music industry,” Miller said. “So it was actually the first time I really felt like, at Clemson, that those two things were overlapping.”
Outside the classroom, Miller was already deeply involved in music. She fronted the Carly Miller Band, which performed across Clemson at events like Tigerama to nearly every bar in town, and even won Best Band in Clemson two years in a row.
At the same time, she was building her foundation as a marketer inside the Powers College of Business, where she said the emphasis on real-world application made a difference.
“In general, the College of Business was very good about not just teaching the facts, but teaching how to think strategically and communicate clearly,” Miller said. “I think a lot of colleges just teach by the book, and that doesn’t really prepare you, but Clemson does a great job of getting you involved.”
The Feels project brought those two worlds together.
A project that made it real
In Cauley’s class, Miller and her classmates were tasked with acting as both beta testers and marketers for the app. They got to use it, break it and help shape how it would eventually be introduced to the public.
“We acted as beta testers, and then we also contributed to brainstorming marketing strategy, digital and physical,” Miller said. “It was really cool. We were brought in to give feedback from a younger demographic, but it also helped them develop what they were going to do strategy-wise.”
Working in teams, students tested the app’s user interface, evaluated its functionality and developed marketing campaigns that included audience targeting, messaging and content strategies. They met regularly with Tuminski, virtually and in person, to present ideas and refine their thinking.
“We developed slideshows, presented to him, tested the app, gave feedback on the mechanics, the user interface,” Miller said.
For Miller, the experience went beyond learning technical skills. It made the possibility of a music industry career feel tangible.
“Suddenly, a career in the music industry wasn’t just some far-off notion anymore,” she said.
Turning opportunity into a career
After the class ended, Miller stayed in touch with Tuminski with Cauley’s encouragement.
“She pushed me to talk to J.D. and develop a relationship with him, because she knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Miller said. “She really views every student as an individual and helps them get where they need to be.”
That relationship turned into real-world experience. After graduating, Miller worked with Tuminski for more than a year through his marketing company before moving into her current role.
Today, she is an account executive with Be-Hookd Digital a social media agency focused on music marketing, where she does work that directly builds on what she did in the classroom , such as managing clients, developing strategy and creating content.
“It feeds directly into what we did in college,” she said.
Looking back, Miller sees the Feels project and Clemson’s emphasis on experiential learning as pivotal.
“I wouldn’t be doing any of the things I’m doing without having the flexibility Clemson provided me to chase what I wanted,” she said. “They don’t just teach you what you need to know, they teach you how to turn it into something real.”
A model for experiential learning
The Feels project highlights a core strength of the Powers College of Business: embedding real-world challenges directly into the curriculum.
Rather than working on hypothetical scenarios, students are asked to engage with real companies, real products and real problems.
“My goal is always for students to apply what they’re learning in a real situation,” Cauley said. “So when they go into an interview, they can say, ‘I’ve done this before.’”
That approach not only builds technical skills but also confidence. “They realize their ideas matter,” Cauley said. “And in this case, they really did.”
