The Starlight Children’s Foundation were very pleased by the findings of a ‘real world’ project, which was undertaken by UNSW Business School Marketing students.
The Starlight Children’s Foundation were very pleased by the findings of a ‘real world’ project, which was undertaken by UNSW Business School Marketing students.
Each year student teams in the capstone course (Marketing Consulting Project) in the Masters of Marketing program undertake a range of consulting projects for commercial and not-for-profit clients. Each consulting team is mentored by Professor Paul Patterson to ensure the project requirements meet or exceed the client brief. Previous clients include, the Australian Blood Service, YMCA Australia and SAS.
Professor Paul Patterson (School of Marketing) said, “The course looks to build bridges between academia and industry by allowing students to apply knowledge and skills acquired during the course and their business experience to a ‘real world’ marketing consulting projects, rather than relying on case studies and academic exercises. I’m delighted to say this has been the best cohort since the Capstone course started 14 years ago, the quality of the deliverables presented to the client in early November was worthy of any professional consulting firm.”
The consulting teams undertook three projects – one with the objective of examining the brand positioning, brand meaning, brand relevance and value proposition of the Starlight Children’s Foundation brand with a sample of 600 current and potential donors. The second team focused on testing a range of specific print and online advertising that most appealed to various target audiences; while a third team studied the factors that drive and engage volunteers.
Kerry Shields, the National Volunteer Manager for Starlight Children’s Foundation explained that the projects the students worked on were very important and offered many practical solutions. “The information the teams presented will form part of the recommendations of the future of our online volunteer community and our volunteer engagement strategy in 2017. I really enjoyed working with the team as they were professional, knowledgeable and enthusiastic and I would welcome the opportunity to work with another project team in the future.”
Media contact: Ibrar Khan: 02 9385 9887 | ibrar.khan@unsw.edu.au