PGT students prepare a marketing and product development plan for local firm Greggs.
Dr Matthew Gorton, NBS8526 Module Leader, Reader in Marketing, Joint Head of Marketing, Operations and Systems Group. 160 Postgraduate students from NBS8526 Principles of Marketing module, Greggs Plc. Senior Management and other universities that vary each year. In 2015/2016 they were Northumbria University, Teesside University and Sunderland University.
Together with the Associate Lecturer Ian Buchanan, who has developed the idea to incorporate real business practice into Principles of Marketing module, for several years we have been organising “Greggs Marketing Challenge”. Student teams are required to use different marketing strategies and theoretical framework in order to prepare a marketing and product development plan and present it to the Senior Management of Greggs Plc. The team with the highest mark competes against other universities to win a prize and spend a day at Greggs HQ in Newcastle. We start organising the project by meeting with Greggs management and other participating universities in spring before the start of the new academic year. We review the progress of the previous marketing challenge and develop a brief for the following academic year by the beginning of September. Then the speakers from Greggs are invited to outline the challenge to students and the groups of 5-6 people are assigned. Throughout the module we have 11 seminars led by Ian Buchanan, where each team has an opportunity to get feedback on their progress and discuss further project steps. The final presentations by each group to the Senior Greggs management usually take place in January, followed by mark allocation and selection of the team that will represent Newcastle University in the inter-university challenge at the end of February. We also work together with Greggs PR and local publishers to cover the event in the local news. The project is worth 50% of the NBS8526 module mark for Newcastle students.
Primarily, this project allows students to apply theory from lectures to solve a real business problem, as well as get feedback from the industry professionals. It is also a two-way process, as we are interested in building corporate connects with local businesses for future projects involving NUBS students, as well as Greggs are interested in student market segment. The inter-university competition takes the project to a different level and we believe it also makes students more motivated to do their best.
We have been receiving good project feedback from Newcastle students about their experience, as well as from Greggs Senior Management on the quality of research from our students. Student enjoy being linked with a local business and develop practical skills. Greggs Marketing Challenge has been a success for several years and we are planning to keep running it in the future.
Inter-university Competition – Greggs Marketing Challenge for PGT students
Assessment and Feedback, Student Engagement, Skills and Employability
Postgraduate taught
Newcastle University Business School
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Up to 10 students in a group
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