UTech’s future marketers get practical tips from Digicel
VEERING FROM the traditional presentation methods usually employed by presenters at their club meetings, members of the Future Marketers’ Association (FMA) at the University of Technology (UTech) were treated to practical tips and hands-on experience during a marketing challenge activity hosted by Digicel, one of the club’s major sponsors.
“When the FMA approached us to have a guest speaker at one of their meetings, we wanted to offer them something that would be highly useful and more impactful than if someone just came and spoke to them for 30 minutes,” said Elon Parkinson, head of public relations at Digicel Jamaica. “Marketing is such a practical activity, so we thought that giving them the chance to attack everyday marketing challenges would encourage them to think like marketers and pull on their own innate creativity.”
For the challenge, members of the club were grouped into three teams of eight to 10 persons and tasked with coming up with practical solutions for everyday scenarios, crisis situations and business strategy. Each team then had to present its solutions to a panel of judges consisting of Digicel’s advertising manager Monique McLeod; sponsorship manager Andrew Brown; and Elon Parkinson, who shared their feedback on the presentations and gave insight on how the members could have improved what was being offered.
EXPERIENCE
“We wanted to simulate as much of a real-world marketing team for them as possible, so we put them in a situation where they had tight deadlines, they had to work with people who didn’t necessarily share the same views and opinions as themselves, and they had to be professional about it. Practical experience is, after all, one of the mPost valuable things you can offer a university student today,” Parkinson stated.
President of the FMA, Brandon Wallace, said, “We’re very happy that Digicel was able to come and share with us in this way. The fact that it wasn’t just a speech, but a practical exercise that engaged each and every member in attendance, was even more exciting and impactful, as we all can say we actually learnt and did some real work. The challenges meted out to us required us to think outside of the box, which supports the mindset we encourage our members to adopt in order to become successful future marketers; and getting that kind of help and feedback from the professionals at Digicel is very encouraging.”
The FMA, formerly known as the UTech Marketing Club, was established in 2002. This studentled organisation focuses on equipping its members with the necessary skills and experience to become successful marketers. Since its inception, the club has introduced its members to a number of noteworthy marketers from top local companies and youth entrepreneurs. Digicel has been a sponsor of the club since 2016.