A team of three Business Administration Marketing students will be among the best and brightest from across the country primed to compete in the Scotiabank Vanier College National Marketing Case Competition February 28-March 2.
Teams from 25 colleges and CEGEPs across Canada will convene in Montreal for the inter-collegial national marketing case competition. The annual event puts Business Administration to the test, with a chance to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to a true-to-life business experience. Teams of three students have three hours to analyze a business problem and create a viable marketing plan, then present a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation to a panel of judges, peers and guests.
“The Vanier competition celebrates its 20th year this year, so we are very excited to once again be competing in this prestigious national competition,” said Terri Champion, Professor and Program Coordinator, Sales and Marketing, and Business Administration Marketing. “All three [participating students] competed at OCMC in November and all won awards (in multiple categories).”
NC’s team includes Business Administration Marketing students Dario Spiteri (year three), Jill Kosior (year three) and David Dioszegi (year two). They have been training for the competition for the past eight weeks by analyzing past cases and developing solutions. They’ve honed their communication skills and identified the individual strengths they bring to the team.
For Spiteri (Port Colborne), each competition has been an opportunity to learn new skills and grow for the next. This will be his second time competing at the Vanier National Marketing Challenge, and he has previously competed at the Ontario College Marketing Competition (OCMC) as well as the Corvinus Undergraduate Business Experience (CUBE).
“Participating in and training for case challenges is the ultimate way to build on in-classroom education,” said Spiteri. “Being able to use my education to help real businesses solve real problems has allowed me to contextualize my learning and gain insights on marketing throughout a variety of industries.”
With Vanier now just around the corner, he feels excited to face the challenge.
“I know that we have done all that is possible to prepare, and now I’m ready to get to Montreal, have fun with our solution, and enjoy the event,” he said. “These case challenges are amazing places to network, so I am excited to see some old friends as well as meet some new people.”
Kosior (Stoney Creek) enjoys the experience of competing alongside other passionate students from across the country, as well as networking with peers, past competitors and industry professionals. She has been competing in a variety of case-based competitions since her second year and she has wanted to participate in the Vanier Case Competition.
“Watching my peers compete and see success was an amazing experience and one that I wanted to be a part of,” said Kosior. “While the nerves and jitters still linger as we approach this weekend, this team has built a strong foundation, and I truly do believe we are ready to tackle whichever challenge is presented to us.
“I am excited to catch up with some old friends, meet some new peers and represent Niagara College … in Montreal.”
Dioszegi (Niagara Falls) said he enjoys putting his education into real applications, competing against other schools and learning from other perspectives and solutions. He has competed in other marketing competitions and also works in marketing research within the Research and Innovation division.
Since January, he has been preparing for the Vanier competition with the team, working on presentation formatting communication skills, on analysis formats to help further the value of their presentations, and on previous case work that they prepared twice a week.
“I am grateful for having this opportunity, the coaching and my teammates,” said Dioszegi. “I have been able to learn a lot from the experience of my teammates and their knowledge. I am excited to compete this weekend.”
Dioszegi and Kosior are also looking ahead to April, when they will travel to Hungary to compete in the Corvinus Undergraduate Business Experience (CUBE), which brings together 16 teams of high-achieving students from the best business schools around the world.
“Having Dario on the team has been a tremendous benefit as he has previously participated in Vanier and Corvinus,” said Kosior. “Utilizing our prior knowledge and learning along the way our team is ready to make some waves at Vanier this year.”
