(From left to right) Simar Kaur Tur, Rita Jokhaji, Isabella Mohamed, Janelle Marshall, Cheyenne Mensah, Kelsea Davis, Samantha Macchiusi, and Fabian Backman, all students in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, gave their best pitches to a panel of industry judges Thursday, Nov. 14.Three student teams dazzled a panel of industry experts with their creative and innovative ideas at the Grant Dobson Case Competition on Thursday, Nov. 14.
At the annual event, hosted by the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film and held in conjunction with the annual Terry O’Malley Lecture in Marketing and Advertising, student teams respond to a brief with targeted marketing pitches.
This year’s brief tasked students with addressing Canada’s litter problem by encouraging 18 t0 24 year olds to organize clean-ups and creating a notable increase in the number of clean-ups by the target demographic in the next three years.
The competitors pitched apps, inter-school competitions, virtual reality experiences, influencer marketing and corporate partnership discounts to motivate their peer group into taking positive community action.
After their presentations, students got professional feedback from this year’s panel of judges, which included:
- Peter Shier, President, Naked Creative Consultancy
- Greg Plata, Director, Strategy and Brand Development at Naked Creative Consultancy
- Lynn Fletcher, Founding Partner of Fletcher Weir Consulting
- Hilary Caters, President and Founder, Caters Design Group
- Dave Lafond, President and Co-Founder of No Fixed Address and speaker for the 2019 Terry O’Malley Lecture in Marketing and Advertising
In addition to expert advice and an exhilarating experience, students were also rewarded with cash prizes. The top prize went to Janelle Marshall and Cheyenne Mensah for their Brighter Blue campaign, with Rita Jokhaji, Simar Kaur Tur and Isabella Mohamed coming in second for Generation Change. Kelsea Davis, Samantha Macchiusi and Fabian Backman came third for Clean Up to Fill Up. Cheyenne Mensah also won the Mark Smyka Best Presenter Award.
“Presenting a campaign pitch at the Dobson Case Competition is an unmatchable Brock degree experience for many of our competitors,” says Assistant Professor Karen Louise Smith in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film and co-organizer of the competition.
“As a faculty member, it is my privilege to watch from the audience as our students impress the competition judges with their creative and strategic marketing tactics.”
