University of Greenwich team wins IDM National Student Competition 2011
Released 01 July 2011: The winners of this year’s IDM National Student Competition were announced last night at a drinks reception attended by some of the biggest names in direct and digital marketing. AdVenture, a 4-strong team from the University of Greenwich took the coveted winner’s title for their excellent response to a real-world brief provided by the Training and Development agency for Schools (TDA).
AdVenture team members Andrea Alessio, Oana Raluca Dinca, Kendal Kraymer and Marianne Trotta pipped fellow competition finalists Wise Owls from the University of Huddersfield in a competitive pitch at the TDA’s offices in Manchester. AdVenture win a cash prize for their efforts and their lecturer, Matthew Housden, wins a trip to the US DMA conference in Boston in October.
TDA Campaign Manager, Kirsty Manning, commented:
“We have been very impressed by the standard of submissions to the competition, with the students showing a clear understanding of the communication challenges and the target audiences. The submissions were thoroughly researched, with in-depth campaign strategies and high calibre creative ideas”
She added: “There is no profession more important for our children than teaching. It is a high status career which needs to maintain a continuous stream of the very best people joining the profession every year. To this end we have been delighted to work with the IDM over the past year in getting some of the brightest minds at our universities discussing how to promote the benefits of teaching as a career.”
Some 150 student teams submitted entries in response to the competition brief this year, which required entrants to devise a plan to encourage 40,000 students to register their interest in taking a teaching qualification on the TDA website. The IDM’s Education Programme also ensured that many more UK universities, which didn’t enter the competition, were able to use the brief as part of their syllabus.
The IDM Education Programme, of which the National Student Competition is just one part, is overseen by the IDM Trust, whose mission is to help educate and inspire the brightest university students to enter the direct and digital marketing profession. Their work is funded by the generosity of IDM Patrons as well as profits from the Institute’s training and membership concerns.
Also present at last night’s awards were 27 students from another Education Programme initiative, the IDM Barrie Spelling Summer School for graduates. Summer School students are hand-picked by the IDM and represent the very best from around 300 very strong applicants. The students are currently spending a week at the IDM’s Teddington offices gaining an intensive and practical introduction to the direct and digital profession.
The IDM will be launching next year’s competition in September, the 2012 brief supplied by Partners Andrews Aldridge and their client BMWi.
For more information on the IDM Student Competition, including the 2011 TDA brief, visit theidm.com/studentcomp. For an overview of the IDM Education programme, visit theidm.com/education.
Note to editors
For more information contact Juliet Hilditch on 020 8614 0229 or email juliethilditch@theidm.com.
