Hey everybody, it’s Matt again and today I’m blessing you all with a sneak peak of the third annual Marketing Makeover Challenge.
What is it?
The Marketing Makeover Challenge is an undertaking presented by the students in the Media Business specialization here at the University of Guelph-Humber. In the challenge, groups of students create comprehensive, turnkey marketing plans for real world clients.
How about we meet the teams? What about their clients?
This year, the challenge involves six teams working with four clients. The clients for this year are: Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation, the Equine Industry Symposium, the Emerge Media Awards and Beauleigh (specifically Toronto’s Union Station and Bay St. Promenade).
About the Equine Industry Symposium.
The sixth annual Equine Industry Symposium took place virtually in the fall of 2021. Furthermore, over 600 people registered for the event and they are now looking to improve the consistency and frequency of marketing for the event.
About the Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation.
The Lake of the Woods District Hospital Foundation was established in 1992 in Kenora Ontario. Their mission is to raise funds for new medical equipment in addition to capital infrastructure upgrades for the facility. As a result, the Lake of the Woods District Hospital Foundation has transferred over $18 million to Lake of the Woods District Hospital.
About the Emerge Media Awards.
The Emerge Media Awards, sponsored and hosted by the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto, celebrate and showcase the achievements of Canadian postsecondary students in journalism, photography, graphic design and communications disciplines. The EMAs seek out and recognize the best in writing, editing, marketing, videography, public relations and many other disciplines from all across the country. Moreover, the EMAs encourage work from every province and territory to be submitted.
About Beauleigh.
Beauleigh is an award-winning innovative retail consulting and brokerage firm. Beauleigh specializes in curating and creating dynamic retail environments, not to mention, their portfolio consists of over 3 million square feet of retail property across Canada. One such example of Beauleigh’s esteemed portfolio is their work with Bentail Kennedy and Sunlife Financial. In this case, they helped to conceptualize a retail strategy that curated an eclectic tenant mix, in addition to focusing on the best local talent in the market.
There can only be… six?
Now you might be asking yourself, “how can there only be four clients when there are six teams?” That is where it gets interesting. There will be two teams making plans for the EMAs and two teams making plans for Beauleigh. As a result, all of the plans are presented to a panel of judges, which means the pressure is on.
Also, props to you if you understood the Highlander joke.
Pine Creative.
Our first team in the spotlight has the challenge of creating a marketing plan for the Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation. Their goal for the challenge is to help the organization revamp their website together with expanding their online presence on social media.
The team consists of Andrea Dal Bello, Marikha Saira, David Roman, Jacob Liotine and Dannah Bax.
Chalk Media
Chalk Media’s task is to create a user-friendly marketing strategy that the Equine Industry Symposium will implement in future conferences. The goal is to promote its yearly fall conference in the best way possible for years to come.
The team consists of Katia Colucci, Cristina Gravina, Lean Gerente Anita Marinho and Hania Rafiq.
Magnify Media and Think Bigger.
Magnify Media and Think Bigger have been working to develop marketing plans for the EMAs. Their task is to develop ways to leverage the awards in a way that builds awareness for the Media and Communications Studies program (MCS) and drives more recognition and attendees, in addition to helping the EMA’s become the premier celebration of all things media.
Magnify Media consists of Kaliyha De Sousa Perry, Gabi Rana, Yazmin Marquis and Omar Skiek.
Think Bigger consists of Sydney Gibbs, Nisha Parhar, Feke Ahmadu, and Marcel Hylton
Vision Vox and Panache.
For Beauleigh, we have Vision Vox and Panache. They have been working to create marketing plans that will highlight Union Station and the Bay St. Promenade as up and coming tourist destinations. Similarly, the goal of both teams is to highlight these two areas as welcoming stops for people who are passing by.
Vision Vox consists of Throfena Bhatti, Brandon Campbell, Kayla Wennerstorm, Stephanie Zarb and Robin Quiambao.
Panache consists of Romina Barbieri, Tyler Wong, Kyle Mopas, Mackenzie Winch.
Meet the Judges
This year, the Marketing Makeover Challenge will have four judges who are professionals in many different fields.
Our First Judge is Mikayla Smith, Senior Strategist at OMD Canada, followed by Kari Cuss, Founder and CEO of Cuss and Company. Next is Raquel Lowe, Loyalty Marketing Manager of Revlon North America. Last, but most certainly not least, we have Monica Ross, President of Rossa PR.
Epilogue
Phew, that was quite a bit to unpack wasn’t it? That was just the tip of the iceberg, however. The rest is for you to see in person at the Marketing Makeover Challenge on March 29, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.
I can’t wait to see what is in store for us at the challenge this year, in that case, I am concluding this blog. Stay safe and stay curious everybody!
Matt logging off.
