At the inaugural Young Marketer of Tomorrow contest, the judges gave a unanimous thumbs up to the six finalist teams’ innovative digitally integrated campaigns.
“I was impressed by the second-place team’s campaign that used augmented and virtual reality to allow consumers to ‘try on’ jewellery and watches on a specially designed mobile app,” said Dr Tina Au-Yeung, group human resources director at Emperor Group and one of the five judges. “Digitally integrated technologies and social media are now a part of our daily lives. We all need to embrace them.”
She added she was also impressed by the meticulous research and planning that had been conducted by the wining team for its campaign. “They took into consideration all the minute details. Their campaign harnessed big data to gauge the needs of target customers for Emperor Group’s residential projects and used social media to engage and attract them to our housing developments. Our marketing specialists believe that their proposal will help tap into potential markets once the technology and strategies are further developed and fine-tuned.”
Organised by Classified Post in association with premium partner Emperor Group, the Young Marketer of Tomorrow contest aims to cultivate and recognise the marketing talent of the future.
“Emperor Group supports the contest with an aim of nurturing young marketing talent,” Au-Yeung said. “We also believe that students’ awareness of our group will further improve due to taking part.”
More than 40 student teams registered for the contest, with 28 chosen to face off in the semi-final round that started at the forum at 11am. Six teams were then selected to compete for the top prize in the final later that day. Each took turns to conduct presentations and answer questions from the judges.
The winning team consisted of Keith Yuen Sheung-chit, Mark Li Zhonglin and Isaac Johanan Ku, three Year 1 students from the bachelor of business administration in international business and global management (BBA (IBGM)) programme at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Their concept was inspired by Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) program AlphaGo.
Yuen explained how they integrated machine-learning technology into their campaign, developing a futuristic concept that focused on collecting big data from consumers to identify target customers for Emperor’s residential projects. “Rather than using digital technologies to interact with consumers, our technology helps us tailor marketing strategies for specific prospective customers,” he said.
Ku believes that machine-learning technology can also help enlarge the potential target customer base. “The algorithm process covers the preferences and motivations of the target customers,” he said. “The collected data can be subtly integrated into the marketing campaign.”
Li said the team was drawn to the contest because of its focus on marketing campaigns that incorporate digital technologies. One of the biggest tasks, however, was working out how to explain the workings of AI technology to people lacking a computer science background. “We had to simplify the information in our presentation,” he said, adding that taking part in the contest adds to the team’s overall university experience and looks good on their CVs.
For Ku, devising such a campaign was an entirely new experience. “I did not have any exposure to AI before. I enjoyed the in-depth research on technology and formulating innovative marketing strategies. This has been a great experience in exploration.”
The two members of the second-place team – Carmen Li Cheuk-wing and Harrison Wan Hiu-fung, both from Hang Seng Management College (HSMC) – threw themselves into the challenge of creating an innovative marketing concept even though they had a heavy workload in their final year. Through the process, Li said, they learned about the importance of teamwork and collaboration.
“Because of the tight deadline, we had brief but intensive brainstorming sessions to generate as many ideas as possible,” Li explained. “I believe our keen awareness of new technological developments and business news helped because we drew on our knowledge of new market trends. Once we decided on using AR [augmented reality] and VR [virtual reality] as the core elements of our campaign, we further developed and fleshed out our strategies and ensured that the campaign was feasible.”
Teammate Wan advised future contestants to take a bold approach in developing their campaigns. “Creative thinking is crucial in marketing. To be able to always think outside the box, students need to stay informed of the latest trends.”
The third-place team – Year 3 human resources management students Alex Wong from Baptist University and Annie Chan from Chinese University – said that they entered the competition as they plan to study marketing in their final years. Their campaign was centred on radio frequency identification technology (RFID) and how to apply it to help lower operating costs in retail.
“We both enjoyed the brainstorming process and then working on research to identify the right technology to fit our campaign,” Chan said. “We studied various marketing campaigns that have harnessed multisensory devices and AR/VR and eventually narrowed it down to RFID.”
To ensure the campaign’s budget was realistic and the campaign would be feasible, the team spoke to several RFID service providers as well as conducted extensive research, Wong said. “The service providers gave us details of the practical applications of the technology as well as quotations.”
Several of the teams’ university professors visited the Career Forum to watch the contest. They agreed that it provided a simulated but realistic platform for students to formulate their creative marketing strategies and that the students learned from the critiques made by the judging panel of current marketing practitioners.
Dr Olivia Leung, BBA (IBGM) programme coordinator and principal lecturer at HKU’s faculty of business and economics, said business case competitions provide students with the opportunities to apply what they have learned in strategy and management classes to the real business world.
“By working on a business case, they learn to critically identify real problems in a complex business situation and then analytically generate creative and feasible solutions,” said Leung, who is also the faculty’s assistant dean (undergraduate). “The presentation and Q&A sessions also allow them to practise effective presentation, public speaking, communication, and teamwork skills. Therefore, case competitions are a platform for IBGM students to advance their knowledge and polish their skills to meet future challenges.
“Students also learn the importance of critical problem solving and effective communication skills in nurturing business and working relationships.”
Dr Lawrence Lo, assistant professor and internship coordinator of the BBA programme at HSMC, said that many students enter business case competitions not to win awards, but to gain experience in solving problems and exploring opportunities in the business world.
“In a competition sponsored by renowned business corporations such as the Young Marketer of Tomorrow contest, undergraduates can learn to develop practical yet creative strategies, as they will become familiar with these real-life examples,” he said. “Although sometimes they make mistakes in the competition and may get frustrated, they can learn from their mistakes in a simulated environment. This experience will help prevent them from repeating the same mistakes in the real world later.”
