A total of 14 third-year Marketing Management students from the University of Pretoria took part in the BMW centenary celebrations, hosted in conjunction with Bridgestone South Africa, as part of the their practical project. The event took place on Saturday, 20 August 2016 at the Red Star Raceway in Delmas.

 

The students formed part of the official Bridgestone team for the day and assisted in running the official Bridgestone social media accounts, interacting with the crowd using Instagram boards, and selling pink valve caps. Ms Kelly Fester, Bridgestone’s Public Relations Officer, guided the students throughout the day and gave them valuable insight into real-time marketing at large events.

 

At the event, Bridgestone showcased their #PinkValveCaps Project, launched in 2013, which aims to raise breast cancer awareness. More than R10 000 was raised within three hours, which was donated to this year’s #PinkValveCaps Project beneficiary – PinkDrive. The purpose of the PinkDrive project is to bridge the gap between private and public healthcare by introducing mobile health units to address the needs of less fortunate and medically uninsured. Bridgestone South Africa contributed toward the PinkDrive’s first mobile mammography unit and currently supports this initiative through tyre sponsorships for the mobile units and various fund raising efforts.

 

The centenary celebration culminated in a centenary parade, beginning with a static display of old and new BMW vehicles and motorcycles in the shape of Africa, followed by 147 vehicles and 256 motorcycles doing slow circuit laps. The marketing students also participated in the parade and were taken on a ‘hot lap’ session around the track by professional drivers, in vehicles used by the BMW Advanced Driving School.

 

The students were thrilled to be part of this exciting event and to support Bridgestone’s #PinkValveCaps initiative, as well as to have had the opportunity to work alongside such prestigious brands. One student commented that studying Marketing Management at the University of Pretoria offers students so many opportunities, from field work journeys to experiencing marketing from a professional perspective.

From left to right (top): Ms Kelly Fester, Bridgestone’s Public Relations Officer, the Bridgestone pink valve caps, Shawné Anderson, Jennifer Came and Nabilah Satar Mahomed*.

Bottom left: Aerial view of the Red Star Raceway with BMWs forming the shape of Africa and others forming the number 100 (in the middle).

Bottom right: The Practical Project students. Back row: Lisa Hendon, Tineke Steenkamp, Daniella Rodrigues, Tshepo Moloko, Thandile Maya, Jennifer Came, Shawné Anderson, Andrea van Antwerpen, Zilke Barkhuysen, Simoné Erasmus.

Front row: Richard Eltringham, Melvin Nkwane, Nabilah Satar Mahomed, Tania Mansfield.

 

*Nabilah Satar Mahomed managed the photography and social media for the day and contributed toward the web story.