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Four students from the University of Otago have successfully taken away first prize in the New Zealand Brand Challenge. Run by the New Zealand Marketing Association, the competition involved six universities from across New Zealand. Taylor Wheeler, Josie Cochrane, Ryan Edgar and Logan Edgar were all selected to represent Otago. John Guthrie, a marketing professor at the University, coached the group for the competition.

Given a week to plan their pitch, the university teams were given the task to present a 15-minute case around a business challenge based in New Zealand. The subject of this year’s competition was the Farmers Trading Company and how to best target one of the segments aged below 30 years old. The Otago team presented an idea that centred on in-store suit tailoring, “presenting Farmers as more of a sexy brand that could attract young professionals,” said Josie Cochrane.

Taylor Wheeler told Critic: “It was a stressful week preparing our presentations. Coordinating varying schedules proved to be particularly challenging …

“John [Guthrie] really put the pressure on us for the week and doubted we would pull it together in time. But I think his passion for us to succeed and the fact he made us constantly question ourselves was key to our win.”

Ryan Edgar astutely noted that this pressure “made the cold ones after slide down pretty nicely.”

Guthrie said the win is a great result for the Otago brand: “It reflects the quality of the students and the quality of the teaching. It especially reflects the very high international quality of the Otago Business Case Competition programme.” Although he cannot yet guarantee that the students will move on to compete internationally, Guthrie said “their success certainly puts them in the frame.”

Three of the team members all regularly compete in similar competitions at a local level and Guthrie said the trio had previously won a local competition earlier this year. The fourth team member “won a number of competitions last year.”

The winning team was also invited to attend the TVNZ Marketing Awards at The Langham Hotel, Auckland. At the event, held last Thursday, the trophy was re-presented to the team. Guthrie said: “This will be in front of 750 people who are from New Zealand's largest companies. This is a seriously major brand waving opportunity for the team.”

The team urges other students to get involved in such competitions in the future. Ryan Edgar said “the experience [from case competitions] is rare to get anywhere else during your time at University. It's very real-world and that's what employers want.” Wheeler added, “I would highly recommend students to get involved with the extra-curricular opportunities that Otago offers.”