Italtile, leaders in the retail of premium quality porcelain and ceramic tiles, sanitary ware, taps, bathroom furniture and accessories, collaborated with the Department of Marketing Management in the first semester of 2018, to provide the third-year BCom Marketing Management students with an opportunity to gain hands-on sales experience in the Personal Selling and Account Management module. The module concluded with a prize-giving function held at the Engineering Building 1’s exhibition space to reward the top performers in the module. Among the attendees for this function was the Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Prof Elsabé Loots; joint venture Partner for the Italtile Commercial Division, Mr Marius Maree; the Marketing Manager of Italtile, Ms Nicole Russell; and the Head of Department of Marketing Management, Prof Yolanda Jordaan. The following awards were handed out:

 

Runner’s up of the Italtile exam project:

Winners of the Italtile exam project:

Top performers for the module:

In addition, the function also celebrated the awarding of internships to eight students who were selected from a pool of 20 candidates, based on interviews held by an Italtile panel a week prior to the function. The following eight students were awarded an internship at Italtile for the remainder of 2018, and based on their performance, they may potentially be offered full-time positions at Italtile from 2019 onwards.

 

Recipients of internships:

The most admired prize at the function was for the student with the most tenacious sales spirit that Italtile believed would be a great asset to the team. This particular prize included an all-expenses paid trip to Bologna, Italy, during the month of September 2018 to attend the annual International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings along with the Italtile management team. The lucky recipient of this amazing prize was Brittni van Zyl.

 

The function concluded with refreshments, while students had the opportunity to network with the Italtile representatives. As Department, we are very appreciative of the partnership with Italtile in 2018 and look forward to more exciting collaborations in the future.

 

Personal Selling and Account Management Class of 2018. Front row: Prof Yolanda Jordaan (Head: Dept. of Marketing Management), Prof Elsabé Loots (Dean of the Faculty of Economic Management Sciences), Mrs Jade Verbeek (Lecturer), Ms Nicole Russell (Marketing Manager of Italtile), Ms Brittni van Zyl (student winner of trip to Italy), and Mr Marius Maree (JV Partner for the Italtile Commercial Division)