Marketing students take part in live project
179 undergraduate students recently took part in a ten week live project as part of their Market Research module.
The project involved students gathering insight on perceptions towards UMII, an app that aims to connect like-minded university students based on shared interests and personality traits. UMII’s founder Elliott Perks gave an invigorating talk to the students at the start of the project and provided the students with two research briefs, one B2B and one B2C. Students were required to carry out a research process that included; secondary research, a sampling plan, a qualitative methodology, data collection and data analyses. This resulted in a 2,500 word research report.
Students had access to the Management School’s market research facilities, including the dedicated Marketing Suite, and commented “We would all like to thank the Management School for such a unique opportunity at such an early stage during our degrees - this live project has not only opened our eyes to the world of market research, but has provided us with a wide-ranging set of skills that will undoubtedly help to enhance our graduate employability prospects.”
Throughout the project students developed a wide range of skills including; critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks, accessing and analysing information, and leading by influence. It also helped to improve their confidence as the six best reports were shared with the company and their findings are being used to help shape UMII’s selling and marketing campaign. Students spoke about their hard work paying off and commented "knowing that the report is actually being used by UMII makes all our work worth it" and that "they felt very proud of their work".
Treasa Kearney, Lecturer in Marketing and Module Leader for Market Research, said “Whilst live projects can be tricky for students to navigate for the first time, they provide a safe space for students to not only learn but also apply theory to practice. These opportunities really encourage students to learn new skills, skills that will help them become more employable in the future, as well as giving students the confidence to know their work is very relevant and important to the organisation.”
Elliot Perks, Founder of UMII, commented “The reports have been just as fascinating as they have been important - thank you for allowing us this opportunity. We will be using feedback from the reports in our marketing campaign, which gave us incredible insight into the student population.”