You have a business idea and do not know how to implement it? Are you told that you are too young to start? This contest will give you the tools to know the difference between success and failure of brands today. 23 groups of students between 4th and 5th year of high school enrolled in the "UP-MKT Challenge" contest to put their creative side and skills to solve marketing cases to the test.
"What is sought it is to encourage creative, analytical thinking and teamwork by solving a case proposed by a group of Marketing experts. This year the competition will be sponsored by Pepsico's Gatorade brand who will present a creative challenge to participants", said the Associate Dean of the Program, Carla Pennano. The winners were the "Mentis Veritatem" Team composed of Valentina Herrera, Camila Chavez, and Sophia Wong, from Hans Christian Andersen school.
The students of the winning team received a S/. 20 thousand soles credit for studies at Universidad del Pacífico, in one of the following professional programs: Marketing, Information Engineering, Accounting, Law, and Finance. In addition, they will be exempted from the payment of admission fees. Likewise, a prize of up to S/ 14 thousand was awarded to the teacher advisor of the winning team to be used in any of the Specialization Programs offered by the Universidad del Pacífico Executive Education area or in the University Language Center.
The contest is focused on awakening the creativity of students who have an interest in Marketing.
But, what is the "UP-MKT Challenge" contest? The Associate Dean explained that the participating students will be able to test their skills to analyze real brands and learn how a Marketing plan is built from generating to launching the idea. To introduce the case study, Flavia Pennano, Brand Marketing Manager of Pepsico, visited the University to explain in more detail everything related to Gatorade's strategy in the market, the essence of the brand and the creative challenge that had to be solved.
In the second stage of the contest, the groups participated in a market research workshop led by Professor Willy Talavera, Director of Market Research at Unique Yanbal, followed by a work session - in groups - with a marketing expert assigned by Universidad del Pacífico. During this session, advice for resolving the case and resolving doubts and questions of each team was provided.
In the third stage, each team worked on the solution of the creative challenge posed by Gatorade, considering concepts such as the Big Idea, the segmentation and positioning strategy, the marketing mix as well as conclusions and recommendations. To this end, they prepared a video of no more than 3 minutes long with the proposed resolution of the case and a paper of no more than 5 pages. The videos were uploaded to the fanpage of the Program: "Marketing UPacifico" where they got an engagement of 72 thousand reactions, among likes (6296), shares (2559), comments (656) and 63 thousand reproductions. In total, 23 videos of young students decided to participate and win the contest were received. Of this total, six semifinalists were chosen.
The participants had the opportunity to share moments with representatives of brands such as Gatorade.
The list was published on the contest website at http://mkt.up.edu.pe. For the fourth stage, each finalist team presented the strategy for solving the creative challenge posed by the sponsoring brand, using the concepts learned in the foundations, research and marketing plan workshops, before an evaluating jury, composed of two representatives of Universidad del Pacífico and three marketing experts among whom was the Brand Manager of the sponsor brand.
The groups that take second and third place in the "UP-MKT Challenge" contest will obtain a diploma as finalists of the contest and will be invited by the Marketing Program to the Marketing Summit 2018 to learn about the major marketing trends in the world. In addition, their work will be uploaded to the contest website and to the university social networks.
Are you ready for the challenge? ---