University of Leeds wins IDM Competition with T-Mobile loyalty programme
Released 03 July 2009: A team of students from the University of Leeds has won the prestigious top prize in this year’s IDM Student Direct Marketing Competition for their comprehensive proposal for a loyalty and communications programme for T-Mobile.
The winning team, calling themselves C.A.N. Direct, comprised marketing students Chih Yuan Chen, Ayako Nakane and Alison Norden. Their Gold Award win was announced last night at the annual IDM Patrons Dinner following a tension-filled pitch earlier in the day against the other competition finalists and eventual Silver Award winners, Big Bad Wolf, from the University of Greenwich.
The competition brief, set by sponsors T-Mobile and agency Tullo Marshall Warren was distributed to all UK universities with marketing modules on their syllabus. Based on a real-life scenario, the brief asked students to devise a loyalty programme for the communications company and to develop a complete marketing strategy and communications plan.
The judges, including representatives from T-Mobile, TMW and the IDM, said of the winning entry:
“The C.A.N. Direct entry demonstrated a clear understanding and empathy with the T-Mobile brand. The team covered all the requirements of the original brief and their proposal was well presented, had a succinct and clear plan and the strategy flowed well throughout."
Entry to the competition gives students the opportunity to put into practice much of the theory they have learned in their course work. As well as a cash prize for C.A.N. Direct, there is the real possibility that the winning team’s proposals will be put into practice - and, as these bright young students enter the job market, their success last night gave them the chance to shine before a prestigious audience of IDM Patrons, some of the leading figures in the direct marketing profession.
The IDM Patrons Dinner marks the culmination each year of the efforts of the IDM Education Programme. The Institute, with the help of its sponsors and Patrons, annually invests £250,000 into the programme, with a mission to attract a constant stream of talented graduates into the direct marketing profession. Its initiatives include the Student Direct Marketing Competition, a week-long graduate summer school each July (now renamed the “Barrie Spelling Top Student Summer School” in honour of the late and much missed Chair of the IDM Education Trust) and a dedicated student website, URtheBrand.co.uk. Some 35 students from the programme attend the IDM Patrons Dinner, alongside a roomful of influential senior marketers who support the IDM with their patronage.
For more information on the IDM Student Direct Marketing Competition and to read the competition brief in full, visit www.theidm.com/studentcomp. For full details on the IDM’s Education Programme, visit www.theidm.com/education.
Note to editors
For more information contact Juliet Hilditch on 020 8614 0229 or email juliethilditch@theidm.com.
