The Marketing case challenges a team of two student participants to think both creatively and strategically in a time-constrained situation. The judges for this event will assume the role of the client in the case study scenario, and will evaluate how well each student team solves the challenge and presents its recommendations.
The Case Scenario
Students will not be aware of the client company before they enter the prep room, but they will be aware of the industry that the company operates in. They will have 30 minutes to familiarize themselves with the situation, formulate recommendations, and develop a presentation.
Student teams in the Marketing Case event take on the role of a marketing consultant giving a presentation on a strategic marketing decision to an organization’s senior marketing or management team. Typical situations could include new product launches, generating awareness, marketing plan development, increasing sales, branding considerations, or similar scenarios. Student teams are expected to make recommendations on any combination of elements from the client’s marketing mix.
The case scenario will assume that the team has not yet met the client, but has received a communication outlining the client’s situation.
General Judging Considerations
The students’ task in this event is to present recommendations for a marketing scenario as described in the case. Students should be able to identify the main problem/issue as part of the background, and outline the specific organizational objectives that apply to the scenario. They will present a well-supported recommendation that includes implementation details related to timing, budget, and resources required. Presentations should be convincing, creative, and supported with data as indicated in the case scenario. Students are expected to use industry-standard business and marketing terminology during their presentation.
Event Objectives
To demonstrate the students’ ability to:
- Analyze a problem situation
- Develop appropriate marketing strategies to remedy the situation
- Present the solution in a convincing manner
Eligibility
All participating students must be from diploma-level marketing or marketing-related programs. Post-diploma, graduate certificate or degree program students are not eligible for this event. Repeat OCMC students cannot enter an event in which they have previously participated.
Student Preparation
- Participants should familiarize themselves with the evaluation criteria. Please refer to the case evaluation form below for details.
- Please refer to the case schedules in the program. No changes will be made unless a conflict situation exists.
- Participants will be escorted to a secure preparation room as per the case schedule. Cell phones are not permitted.
- Paper and pens will be supplied along with printed copies of the case.
- A Windows laptop with wired 2 button mouse and current version of Microsoft PowerPoint will be provided in the preparation and presentation rooms. A clicker will be provided in the presentation room.
- A maximum of 7 slides are permitted in the presentation deck.
- Students may bring a prepared PowerPoint template into the preparation room on a USB thumb drive (USB A Style). Team branding is permitted.
- Internet access will NOT be available.
- Presentations must be saved on a supplied USB thumb drive which will be retained but the judges.
- Participants have 30 minutes to prepare their solution. Participants will be advised when five minutes remain.
- At the end of 30 minutes, the team will be moved to their presentation room.
Presentation
The presentation must not exceed 15 minutes, and will be followed by a 5-minute question period.
Participants are responsible for managing their time during the presentation (judges will ask the team to stop, if necessary, once the 15-minute timeframe has been reached). Judges will ask questions only during the 5-minute Q&A following the presentation. Students will leave the room following the Q&A while judges complete the evaluation form.
Evaluation by Judges
- Judges will ask questions (challenge the students) at the end of each presentation.
- Judges will not provide any verbal feedback to the participants during the competition.
- Judges will complete an evaluation form with numerical scores and appropriate summary comments.
- Judges will rank each team from top to bottom. In the case of a tie between any of the top 5 teams, judges will re-evaluate those teams to break the tie. There cannot be a tie among teams ranked one to five.
- Judges’ decisions are final!
Feedback
Each student team will receive a feedback form from the host College approximately three weeks following the competition.