The Department of Marketing Management and Italtile collaborated to provide the Strategic Marketing Management honours students with an opportunity to gain insight and work on a realistic industry challenge, which served as the exam project. Leading up to the final exam presentations, Italtile provided the students with endless opportunities to get to know and live the Italtile way.

As an introductory session, Italtile discussed the project outline and provided students with background information on the company. The honours class were also treated to bottomless Craft Coffee, a specialty of Italtile. Each student team received a goodie bag filled with gifts from Italtile, as well as a ‘travel passport’ to guide students through the project at hand. The students were tasked to develop a marketing strategy to increase sales for Italtile’s specific target markets. As part of the project, students also had to review Italtile’s current and past marketing strategies and conduct a competitor analysis.

Nicole Russell, Marketing Manager of Italtile (second from the left), and students from the Department of Marketing Management enjoying a cup of Craft Coffee

Marketing Management honours class with goodie bags from Italtile

Italtile hosted a prestige industry evening where top designers, architects and the honours students were invited to experience the luxury of the Italtile brand. Two of the industry professionals who shared insights with the students were Evette Annandale, who specialises in commercial design, and Laurika Brümmer, an interior architect from Inside-Earthwork Interiors. This wonderful event provided students with a glimpse of ‘living beautifully’. Students were blown away by the time and effort that Italtile invested in them, experiencing what it would feel like to be a client of Italtile.  Italtile spared no expense to create a very memorable evening for the students. Each student walked away knowing that they got a taste of ‘the Italtile way’.

In addition to providing students with an opportunity to work with a significant and well-respected brand, Italtile awarded the top three teams with cash prizes after the final presentations. The top three teams were:

Winners: Kevin Canada, Tyrone Hart and Radlyn Naidoo

Runners up: Brandon Simpson, Jacqueline Voges and Adel van Eeden

Third place: Lauren Thom, Arend Kahlau and Amber Tidbury

Honours students after their final presentations

Honours students after their final presentations