Nationale Marketing Strijd
This event is organized every year and brings together the best marketing students from all over the Netherlands in a 2 day contest. During these days, students will compete each other in teams and will solve real life marketing cases delivered by large corporations from the Netherlands. After these 2 days, one team will win the title: “Marketing Talent of the year”.
With this event, the MAN wants to show students the practical side of marketing in a competitive setting, thereby sparking creativity and innovativeness. Also, as a student you can gain valuable information from company representatives.
This year's edition has been won by team "The Jackson Five". Please find a report of the 2010 edition below.
Winner National Marketing Battle 2010: Team “The Jackson Five”!
On February 2nd and 3rd Tilburg was the scene for the 20th edition of the National Marketing Battle. In the NH Hoteles Waalwijk, 165 students formed teams and competed each other for a prize of €2000,- and the prestigious title of “Best Marketing Talent of 2010”. The theme of this year’s edition was: “Can you feel it?”
After the opening of the 20th edition by Ruth Linders and guest speaker Martijn van Licht, the battle commenced. All winners of the first round, consisting of inhouse days, could immediately compete in the quarter finals organized by de Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways). The other teams had the opportunity to fight for a comeback in the extra rounds organized by companies like TNT, Unilever, DSM, AkzoNobel and T-Mobile. In this round, teams could still secure a place in the semifinals.
For some extra energy, Unilever provided all participants with cups of tasteful Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream. Then, an evening programme took place to have some relaxation; some students were invited to recruitment dinners by companies and all the others were provided with a delicious dinner in the NH Hoteles. Later that evening, Rataplan, a Dutch cabaret group, facilitated a theater show similar to the Dutch famous television show “De Lama’s”. Obviously, the evening was closed with a drink in the hotel party room.
Day 2
On the second day, that started early in the morning, every participant received both a wakeup call and a card with the day programme for this day. In addition, participants received TNT-anti-hangover packages that they had ordered via SMS the day before. And, indeed, some people were in dire need for such a package. The finalists were also announced, and they were invited by VODW marketing to take part in an alternative programme, being a cooking workshop.
Still, 15 teams had to continue the battle for their participation in the finals. This was done by solving cases in the semifinals organized by Unilever, TNT, T-Mobile, DSM and AkzoNobel. The other teams were offered a workshop from either : Leading Talent For Leading Brands, Experience Economy, and Mercurius Identity Marketing.
After the workshop it was lunchtime. Several students joined Unilever and TNT for a recruitment lunch in the city centre of Waalwijk. The remaining students had lunch in the hotel. When lunch was over, all the teams that lost the semifinals were challenged to put their effort in doing some more workshops with companies like Océ, Alice and Fairchild.
For the 9 finalists teams, it was time to work on a case by de Nederlandse Spoorwegen that consisted of writing a marketing plan to promote the accelerated use of the OV-chipcard in Dutch public transport. Each team had the opportunity to ask a 5 minute consult from Fairchild Marketing, to get answers to marketing related difficulties. After each team presented their solutions in short pitches, the jury selected 4 teams that had to present their work to all participants and the jury, consisting of Linda Schulte (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), Wendy van Esveld (MarketingTribune), Henk Roest (Head of Marketing Department Tilburg University) and Peter van Houdt (Fairchild).
And the winner is…
After all 4 teams presented their ideas, the jury had to select the final winner. But, first the audience could vote on the audience prize, made possible by Leading Talents for Leading Brands, to be awarded to one of the 4 finalist teams. The audience prize was eventually awarded to team “Pink Panthers” ; Emily de Laat (Maastricht University), Thijs Hoonings (Tilburg University), Lotte Groeskamp (Nyenrode University), Eveline Drenth (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Edwin Bergmans (Erasmus University Rotterdam). The jury did not select the same winner, but agreed on “The Jackson Five” to be the winners of the National Marketing Battle 2010. The team consisted of: Merel Spierings (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Linsey Vlemmix (Tilburg University), Steven Tol (Nyenrode University), Lisanne Elfring (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) and Raoul Wijnberg (Tilbug University). They are the proud owners of the title: Biggest Marketingtalent of 2010! Congratulations to team “The Jackson Five” on behalf of 3MA.
After the award ceremony and the official closing, it was about time to have a walking dinner in the city center of Tilburg. Everyone travelled there by bus, except for the winning team that had the exceptional right to travel in a pink limousine from Waalwijk to Tilburg. The National Marketing Battle 2010 ended with a lustrum-party in bar “De Studio”, music was provided by “The Rolls Royals”. The party-atmosphere was superb and many beers were part of the menu.
The National Marketing Battle
The organization of the National Marketing Battle 2010 can look back at a successful edition this year. We would like to thank all participating companies and the participants for their contribution and involvement. Don’t forget to subscribe for next year’s edition of the National Marketing Battle, that will take place in Rotterdam. You can find photos and information on the website of the National Marketing Battle.
