INTRODUCTION

These are a few examples of projects that my students have worked on in the last few years. These meaningful applied learning projects were completed as part of course work in their 2-year Marketing Diploma program.

The Devil made us do it

The Marketing program was awarded a grant through Mitac's Business Strategy Internship in February 2021 for a student to work directly for a local company to work through a research project. The student explored how best to build relationships with key partners to drive sales of a new local craft distilled product during unprecedented times. Devil's Keep Distillery previously invested heavily in sampling by attending spirit fests and doing tastings at ANBL locations when introducing a new product. Due to Covid-19 this was no longer a viable method, as all festivals and in-store tastings were cancelled. The student worked to establish key relationships and try new ways of getting a new product into restaurants with innovative marketing campaigns, social media and video. Check out the Devil's Keep Instagram page to see what they've been up to! This internship lead to a full time position at the company for the student.

Longshore Fisheries - Using Applied Research to solve real-world problems

In December 2015, we were approached by Applied Research and Innovation about Longshore Fisheries exploring new value-added fisheries products and marketing. Building upon the ideas developed by the NBCC St. Andrew's culinary program, the Business Administration: Marketing program students at NBCC Saint John were brought on-board. After conducting market and client research, the students developed marketing campaigns that would set Longshore Fisheries apart from the competition and increase their market share.

In April, the students saw what life is like for a marketing professional when they pitched their campaigns to Hanley for her consideration.

Check out the Video created by NBCC Applied Research and Innovation.

#TideTakeover

We often partner with industry to help tackle real-world problems and give students experience in industry before they even graduate. A team of talented second year marketing students work with the National Basketball League team, Saint John Riptide, to help improve attendance at the end of the 2018-2019 season.

"Our team was asked to create an integrated marketing campaign that could help improve the Riptides attendance. Our team created TideTakeover-- a bold, experiential marketing campaign with the objective to generate brand awareness and customer loyalty and create the “fear of missing out” among fans to increase ticket sales.

The experiential aspects of the campaign (banners and t-shirts) were used to catch the eye of our consumers and generate curiosity for the upcoming campaign. Our team took over the Riptide social media accounts by creating brand new content and giving the Instagram platform an overall theme. We also created a new hashtag and made a promotional video. All aspects of the campaign followed a simple yet bold, black and white theme to grab consumers attention."

Results during the campaign:

300 new followers on Instagram
#TideTakeover used in 32 Instagram posts
Snapchat filter was used by 42 people during the Battle of the 506 which caused it to be swiped 127 times and viewed 1,745 times

Students use real companies to learn

Students apply the theory they learn throughout their 2 years in a final Capstone course. Companies, like KV Oasis, have participated and gained valuable ideas while students complete a full Marketing Plan and Integrated Marketing Communications campaign.

"We thank you for partnering with KV Oasis and allowing us some insight. We took away some actionable items today that we were able to fix... Small things like this go a long way for us."

Isaac McLellan, Office Manager, KV Oasis

NBCC Saint John students create Social Media Marketing Plans for local non-profit businesses

Featured in: One College Wire - May 2015

Under the guidance of NBCC Business Administration Instructor, Michelle Robichaud, second year students in the Business Administration Marketing program worked in teams to create Social Media Marketing Plans for three local non-profit businesses, including the Rocmaura Nursing Home in Saint John.

The Foundation’s Coordinator, Sally Cummings, worked with the teams throughout the semester to provide background information and feedback. The end result? A full Social Media Marketing Plan and one happy nursing home community.

Based on the students' suggestions, Rocmaura overcame a number of challenges in terms of privacy and confidentiality. Now, they are seeing BIG results. They went from an environment where social media was highly discouraged, to one that embraces it. Now, families of the residents are very engaged and in-the-know of what's happening - a true community-building initiative!

Here are a few highlights:

Their Facebook page has gone from 179 likes to 388 likes with some posts that have reached over 3,500 people.
One Facebook post, that showed a resident waltzing with his wife, went viral – reaching 2.2k people!
They now manage a Youtube channel, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
They have increased awareness about the care they provide within community.
They can promote events and give people updates when there are flu outbreaks or other important notices.
Family members have commented as far away as Alberta, saying how much they appreciate the daily updates.
For the first time, they have metrics and data on their audiences through the different channels they employ.
Their posts have reached all over Canada, and as far away USA, Phillipines, Greece, Taiwan, and Sierra Leone.

Way to go!