Students work with business to launch marketing campaigns and boost in-store sales
Last year Surrey Business School’s Department of Marketing and Retail Management partnered with University store Simply Fresh, and energy drink brand Carabao to set a research project to final year undergraduate Business Students as part of the Consultancy Project module.
At Surrey Business School we’re focused on inspiring positive change in our students and through our teaching we ensure students learn how to put business theory into practice, working through real-life business problems individually or with fellow students.
The collaborative project with Simply Fresh and Carabao granted students the opportunity to research, create and launch live marketing campaigns within an agreed budget to increase sales of the Carabao energy drink in the Simply Fresh campus store. Students worked in groups to research the product, market, competitors and target audience to inform their ideas and launch marketing activity across several channels.
Dr Georgia Stavraki, Teaching Fellow in Marketing, highlighted the importance of the project commenting that the “real-world consultancy project” helped to “develop and further enhance students' marketing knowledge, skills and competencies.”
The marketing exercise included social media activity across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, a set of printed collateral and the use of experiential brand activation including a ‘Sugar Sachet’ game on campus, and the appearance of the Student Union’s very own Steve the Stag.
Each team presented their project plan, activity, findings and personal reflections to a panel including representatives from the University of Surrey, Surrey Business School, Simply Fresh and Carabao.
Feedback from the interview panel was very positive. Paul Stephens, Simply Fresh Store Manager said “this is the first time we have completed a project with the University of Surrey using one of our suppliers (Carabao). I was personally left speechless with how the students conducted themselves throughout the project. On the final presentation, each of the six teams did a fantastic job, everyone came across well, and the data they shared was extremely interesting.”
Student Anna Politikou reflected on the project, “for me it was a very stimulating opportunity to implement all knowledge gained throughout my studies,” commenting on the live scenarios which mean students “had to face challenges that actually exist in real life.”
Further highlights shared by the student groups included the opportunity to present in front of a panel, the trust instilled by the Carabao brand to run the live campaigns, and how it was a rewarding experience to track the results from start to finish.
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Find out more about the project and hear from the students in the video below:
