Life-changing experiences rarely happen within comfort zones.

Niagara College marketing students discovered this firsthand, along with those from colleges across the province, as the College hosted the 2019 Ontario Colleges’ Marketing Competition.

After months of training with faculty coaches, students had a chance to experience the thrill of competing among the best and brightest at the pressure-cooker marketing competition held November 21-22 at the Sheraton on the Falls Hotel.

For second-year NC Business Sales and Marketing student Katherine Heykoop, the experience validated that a second chance can pay off. The 34-year-old won first place in the Pearson Marketing Message event and was one of five students nominated for the William and Margaret Lydiatt Award.

“I never in a million years could have expected myself to present in such a high-pressure scenario, or have seen myself on a stage in front of that many students or schools,” she said. “Competing at OCMC has instilled a confidence in myself that we all really can achieve anything we set our heart on.”

Winning at OCMC was a life-changing experience for Heykoop. She noted she was at an ‘all-time low’ when she enrolled at NC, recently laid off from what she thought would be her ‘forever career’ as recruiting manager at a local call centre. While she had attended Brock previously, she chose her program at NC knowing the important role of sales and marketing, and believing that the investment would help her advance her career.

Determined to push herself outside of her comfort zone, Heykoop indicated her interest in OCMC on her first day of school as a first-year student and won first in the Entrepreneurship Case at the 2018 OCMC – even though she was the only student in 39 years to compete alone. She also moved on to compete in the Vanier National Marketing Competition and, last spring, she won the College’s Tyler Santing Spirit Award, which is granted annually to an outstanding Sales and Marketing student.

Currently, Heykoop works as a NC expert and as a student marketing coordinator for the Niagara College Student Administrative Council.  She noted that participating in OCMC – and winning – has helped her rediscover her passion and self-worth.

“This experience has inspired me to talk and reach out to other students, and to give them the encouragement that Terri Champion gave to me to start this exhilarating journey of self-discovery,” she said.

NC team wins third in Retail Marketing Case

A team of two NC second-year Business Sales and Marketing students also captured a third-place win at the Retail Marketing Case competition: Niall Cain, 25 (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Natalie Piccirillo, 29 (Niagara Falls),

Hearing their names called out as winners validated all they had been working towards during the past few months of meeting with their coach twice a week, as well as fine-tuning their presentation skills and mock presentations in preparation for the intense competition.

“We worked so hard, so to see it pay off felt so rewarding,” said Piccirillo, who was drawn to Marketing to further her background in retail management. “This win is very meaningful because it means that everything we had done to help prepare us really did work.”

“Performing well at OCMC was a huge confidence boost for me, I feel that the confidence that I have gained through my experience in OCMC will be a huge help when I start out in my career,” said Cain, who hopes to work at a major marketing agency someday. “Being an OCMC participant already looks fantastic on a resume but placing top three makes it look even better. I feel that it will help me stand out when looking for employment in the future.”

NC rolls out the welcome mat

The NC success stories were among many at the 2019 OCMC which drew top marketing students from 12 colleges across the province.

The event was organized by NC’s School of Business and Management faculty members Terri Champion and Malcolm Howe who have been involved with the competition for many years and have witnessed the impact it has on participating students.

“As the host college, we worked hard to provide a great experience for all the competitors and really tried to focus on all the benefits there are to students being involved,” said Champion. “Niagara College welcomed 400 attendees, 125 students, 120 faculty/coaches, 50 judges, 14 sponsors, and 75 volunteers, plus we had some great extra activities this year that we planned that we are really proud of.”

President Dan Patterson kicked off the competition on November 21 with welcome remarks, followed by a Quiz Bowl competition which involved students teaming up with those from other colleges in game-show-style competition.

Most of the competitive events took place on November 22, which spanned critical marketing environments, from direct marketing, entrepreneurship, international marketing, and integrated marketing communications, to marketing research, prospect pitching, retail, and sales presentations. In case competitions, students had 30 minutes to read, analyze and create a PowerPoint presentation, and 15 minutes to present to a room of judges. For Sales Presentation and Job Interview events, students were given information about the company and situation in advance and presented their pitch or mock interview.

OCMC concluded on the evening of November 22 with a gala dinner and awards banquet. Trophies were awarded to the first, second and third place winners for each competitive event, and to the top three college teams who accumulated the most points overall.

“For me, it was a truly amazing experience, and we couldn’t be more proud of our students’ commitment and dedication to the team,” said faculty member Chris Treschak, who has been coaching NC students for months in preparation for the competition. “They were excellent hosts and great competitors.”

In addition to 11 competitive events, this year’s OCMC offered a number of learning opportunities including webinars (hosted by Canada Post), a networking fair, a Career Corner (hosted by Performance Auto Group), a holiday-themed mixology workshop (hosted by NC), marketing-themed contests, and a faculty workshop, ‘Incorporating Data and Analytics into your Marketing Curriculum’ (presented by Environics Analytics).

NC students have been participating in OCMC competitions since 2004. The last time the College hosted OCMC was in 2008.

2019 OCMC sponsors included title sponsor Meridian; gold sponsors Canada Post and Pearson Education; silver sponsors Nelson Education, Abatement Technologies, Performance Auto Group, CAA Niagara, and Environics Analytics; bronze sponsors McGraw Hill Education, and Niagara College; and partner sponsors Boston Pizza Clifton Hill, the Great Canadian Sales Competition, Brand Blvd., and Vanier College Foundation.

For info visit www.ocmc.ca​.