A team of marketing students from Northumbria
University, Newcastle, has been crowned winners of this year’s UK Data and
Marketing Association (DMA) Talent Marketing Challenge.
The six Digital Marketing Masters students from
Northumbria’s Newcastle Business School, were up against 60 other teams from
universities and colleges across the UK. Known as team Cubed, they were
provided with a brief from youth travel agency StudentUniverse and their client
Tourism Northern Territory (NT) to develop a marketing campaign raising
awareness of Australia’s Northern Territory and increase bookings from
18-30-year-olds.
After a rigorous judging process, four teams were shortlisted to pitch
their campaigns virtually via Zoom to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
According to the panel all teams came up with “brilliant campaign ideas and delivered
slick, professional pitches”. After discussing each campaign at length the
judges named Northumbria’s Daria Ansari Saeid, Laura Alice Garcia, Laura
Charlton, Laura Cunningham, Olivia Anderson and Rod Forbes from team Cubed, as
winners.
In addition to
being presented with the top prize for their outstanding response to the brief,
each team member received £300’s worth of StudentUniverse travel vouchers. They
also have the opportunity to work with StudentUniverse and Tourism NT on a
month-long campaign. Team members from the other three finalist teams, including Digi-Gen, also from Northumbria, received a £30 Amazon voucher.
Dr David Hart, Associate Professor at Northumbria
University, said: “Northumbria has a proud history of success in the DMA Talent
Student Competition, with more wins than any other university. This year were
delighted that five of the 10 entries shortlisted by the DMA judging panel were
from Northumbria, and two of our teams made it to the final pitch.
“We have been so impressed with
how our students at both undergraduate and postgraduate have tackled this
exciting brief, producing industry standard proposals covering everything from
creative strategies to analytics. Our Digital Marketing provision continues to
enjoy great success, and this is another marker that our MSc Digital Marketing
course really does prep students for the graduate marketplace.”
Sam Willan, General
Manager of International Markets at StudentUniverse, commented: “I was
incredibly impressed by the winners’ understanding of the customer journey and
their multi-layered marketing strategy to effectively engage 18-30-year-olds.
Our final decision was based on which campaign we believed was not only
strategic and innovative, but who demonstrated an understanding of the
motivators and pain points of our target market.”
Lucy Pares,
Marketing Executive at Tourism NT added, “The winning team conveyed
an in-depth awareness into what makes Australia’s Northern Territory such a
desirable destination for young, aspirational travellers. Their extensive
research and intricately detailed three-phased plan to encourage young
travellers to visit the Northern Territory was very impressive.”
Kate Burnett, MD of DMA Talent said: “During such
a difficult time for students across the UK, DMA Talent are delighted to
recognise and reward the hard work, strategic insight and creativity of these
talented young professionals. Initiatives like our Marketing Challenge provide
students with invaluable marketing experience and that all-important connection
to the workplace, enabling them to harness key skills such as creativity,
analytical thinking and problem-solving.”
The (DMA) comprises the DMA, (IDM) and . It seeks to guide and inspire
industry leaders; to advance careers; and to nurture the next generation of
aspiring marketers.
