4^th Year marketing students Natasha Boella, Ian Wanyeki and Amy Inda won Best Marketing Student Category prize at the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) awards, held on 18^th November, 2017. This year’s theme was centered on Brand versus Consumer Experience.

MSK is the national umbrella body for all marketers in Kenya whose key mandate is to empower and regulate the marketing industry by creating policies that govern the Marketing Industry, education and training of professionals, corporates and entrepreneurs, marketing and business mentorship, and arbitration through the Advertising Standards Board. The MSK Gala awards aim to award marketing excellence in Kenya.

The marketing students, who participated in a category that was a first of its kind, were required to prepare a case-study that focused on real marketing problems based on a local company, in relation to the theme.

In their case-study, the three students analysed the case of Kenya Airways and their tagline “Pride of Africa”, pointing at the issues that the airline currently faces and how they can resolve these problems to maintain their tagline theme. The students identified numerous issues that the airline faces, and developed six strategies that could improve the services offered and also generate profit for the company.

Through their Marketing lecturer, Dr. James Njuguna, the students were encouraged to enter the competition and were glad they did. The lessons taught in class played a big part in informing their case-study assignment, affording them a well-deserved win.

The things we discussed in class previously, I believe, helped me develop the strategies. What I learnt transpired into real life skills, said Ian.

Dr. Njuguna’s classes taught us Consumer Behaviour, Sales Management and he is teaching us Global Marketing now, these units are hands on. He ensures that what we learn have concrete examples we can relate to. These lessons really helped us develop the case-study to our best, Natasha added.

The students only had a week to submit their case-study, a factor that forced them to work harder than they expected. They distributed their work enabling them to cover all fronts in a short time. Through WhatsApp group meetings, the three met regularly and critiqued each other’s work. After compiling their work, they forwarded the case-study to their lecturer who edited it further before they submitted it.

The win has served as a boost to their Curriculum Vitaes, opening up doors for them to network with marketing gurus. After the win announcement at the gala dinner, the students engaged different companies who were interested in working with them once they finish university. Aside from the boost, the lessons learnt during the assignment process have enabled them to perfect certain skills that needed the practical aspect.

 

Congratulations to Natasha, Amy and Ian on their great win.