The BCom Honours (Marketing Management) Class of 2021 began the year with a sport-themed client challenge. As part of the apprentice-style approach adopted for the honours degree, students are presented with actual challenges faced by industry partners, and are required to present a solution to the client by applying their knowledge of a particular theme.

 

This first client challenge entailed a project by the honours students in the Department of Marketing Management for TuksSport. TuksSport has a long-standing reputation for sporting excellence, a broad sports offering and world-class facilities and coaching expertise. TuksSport caters for both novice and elite athletes, and also for recreational sport participants. TuksSport club membership is open not only to current students and staff, but also to alumni and the broader community. With more than 36 clubs to choose from (including golf, chess and water polo), there is something on offer for everyone.

 

Deputy Director of TuksSport, Lydia Monyepao, had the following to say about this project for the students: “TuksSport as a department has always upheld the values of the University of Pretoria’s mission of being a hub for both development and implementation and strives towards this goal. The partnership with the students of the Department of Marketing Management allowed students to cut their teeth on the fabric that makes TuksSport a sporting powerhouse and meaningful insights were gathered.”

 

Due to the current Covid-19 situation, numerous organisations have not been able to engage with their stakeholders face-to-face, as they have done in the past, and TuksSport has been no exception. Consequently, TuksSport challenged the Marketing Management honours students to develop an innovative customer engagement campaign to suggest ways to foster engagement with stakeholders, despite current lockdown restrictions.

 

On Wednesday, 10 March 2021, the marketing team of TuksSport addressed the honours class, to provide the students with some background about TuksSport, and to explain the client challenge brief to them. After the presentations, the students were a little nervous and slightly overwhelmed, as this was to be their first client challenge for the year. Nonetheless, they were very excited to “get the ball rolling” and “tackle” the challenge head on.

 

 

 

Student teams had two weeks to work on the assignment, before presenting their campaign pitches to the TuksSport panel on 24 March 2021. The panel comprised Lydia Monyepao (TuksSport Deputy Director: Professional Services), Angelica van Dou (TuksSport Marketing Manager), Aluwani Rembuluwani (TuksSport Activations and Promotions Coordinator), Marli Toerien (TuksSport Marketing Coordinator: Internal Communications, Branding, Events and Clothing), Bright Ndebele (TuksSport Communications Officer and Website Coordinator), and the lecturer for the Marketing of Services module, Dr Michelle C van der Merwe. The presentations took place in the EMS Research Hub under strict health regulations and with social distancing measures.

 

Many unique and creative ideas were presented to the TuksSport panel. Van Dou had the following to say about her experience of the presentations:

 

Choosing the winning teams was a tough decision, as all teams had creative ideas and interesting suggestions. The three teams that “made the cut” and were chosen as winners by TuksSport were:

 

Four Plus One (third place): Luke Macpherson (team leader), Jennifer Cazalet, Phemelo Khunou, Sean Musgrove, Tialeigh Greyling.

 

Fuze (second place): Sonja Adelaar (team leader), Kimberlee-Jane Craythorn, Kival Dhavraj, Nicole Joubert, Ruben Jansen van Vuuren.

 

Bandits (winners): Nicholas Veale (team leader), Kate de Wet, Keagen Fulton, Margaretha le Roux, Nuvesha Naidoo.

 

A quote from one of the student teams:

 

Now the ball is in the Marketing Management honours students’ court to continue the remainder of the year with the high standard set with the first client challenge…!

 

Winning team: Bandits | From left to right: Keagen Fulton, Nicholas Veale (team leader), Nuvesha Naidoo, Margaretha le Roux, Kate de Wet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second place: Team Fuze | From left to right: Kival Dhavraj, Ruben Jansen van Vuuren, Nicole Joubert, Sonja Adelaar (team leader), Kimberlee-Jane Craythorn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team photographs of some of the other teams that presented on the evening: