JMSB wins Relève publicitaire, comes in second at Défi Marketing

Two teams of Concordia students reached the podium on May 9, capping off the John Molson Schools of Business’ most successful year ever at case competitions.

BComm students, Amber Cochrane, Melissa Ferrara, Joelle Gourdji, Alexandra Heimann, Ashley McDonough and Simon Weber beat out teams from six other Quebec universities to win the 2012 Concours de la Relève publicitaire, organized annually by the Association des professionnels de la communication et du marketing (APCM).

The APCM  partners with  a different major corporation every year that acts as the client for the competition.  In January, it was announced that this year’s client was to be the National Bank. Competing teams were given the mandate to develop a marketing campaign to secure 3,000 account and/or Mastercard sign-ups from Quebec students aged 18 to 24.

In late April, each team had one hour to present their campaign to the bank's advertising agency, BOS. The presentations were held at BOS’s offices and were judged by a jury of senior executives from the bank, the advertising agency and distinguished members of the marketing communications industry.

“The level of competition was extremely high,” says Harold Simpkins, the JMSB marketing professor who coached the team. “In the end, the jury chose JMSB's team as the winner because, according to them, their work best exhibited solid dedication, professionalism and excellence in marketing communication.”

“You all have a solid future and career in marketing communication,” the judges told the team. “We really enjoyed your presence, energy and passion throughout the contest.” In fact, the team’s campaign so impressed the bank and its agency, that not only have they decided to implement the proposed strategy, both the National Bank and BOS will be offering internships to the winning students.

Another Simpkins-coached team, made up of Julie Delassus, Axel Dunikow, Camille Dumont, Amanda Marcovitch and Anthony Peyre placed second in APCM’s TD Défi Marketing competition.  The team, recruited from Simpkins’s Integrated Marketing Communications course, scored 93 out of a possible 100 points, just one less than the winning team from UQAM.

The Défi is structured much like the Relève, except  that the client company is always a not-for-profit organization. This year, the client was la Fondation Maman Dion, a group founded by Thérèse Tanguay Dion, Céline Dion's mother. The organization raises money to provide school materials, eye glasses and furniture to Quebec primary and secondary school students who are financially disadvantaged.

Participating teams were asked to create a positioning strategy for the foundation and to propose a fundraising plan. Simpkins says that the jury, which included Executive Director, Paul Dion (Celine's brother), heaped extraordinary praise on the JMSB team. “They were particularly impressed with the team's professionalism, enthusiasm and thoroughness. They  especially liked the team's recommendation that the foundation hire a JMSB Marketing Co-op student to help implement their excellent  proposed marketing strategy.”

"The achievements of our students in these two high-profile competitions is truly remarkable," said JMSB Interim Dean, Alan Hochstein. "What a fitting end to JMSB's most successful competition year ever. Congratulations to all of the students and coaches, who continually make Concordia proud."