Five Algonquin marketing student teams placed in the top five at this year’s Ontario Colleges Marketing Competition hosted by Georgian College in Collingwood.
The main events began the morning of Nov. 21 after a few technical difficulties. The 16-member team faced off against their marketing counterparts from other Ontario colleges.
The competition tests business skills and knowledge attained in Algonquin’s classrooms.
“It’s not enough to know the answers. It’s enough to quickly identify the answer under pressure,” said professor and coach Jim Neubauer.
A prequel to the big events, known as Quiz Bowl was held on Nov. 20, as participants from each school were mixed up into teams of four. They were given a scenario they’d never seen before and asked to create a plan without the use of the Internet.
“The stuff we’re going to learn in the Quiz Bowl is nothing like we’ll learn in the classroom,” said participant Sam Guyan.
“This way we get to meet other people who are motivated just like we are,” said Emily Robinson.
Algonquin has been a long-standing participant in this competition, attending for 20 of its 35 years. The competition welcomes the best-of-the-best in business and marketing programs to compete against one another and test their skills.
“To say I’m the top 14 in all of Ontario is pretty cool,” said Morgan Devries, whose team placed fifth in the direct marketing portion.
Students involved felt their participation would be beneficial for their future. For example, Madeha Irshad said putting this on her resume was a driving factor in participating as she doesn’t “do a lot of extra-curricular.”
Participants put in hours of training above their course load each week with their coaches in preparation for the events. They held a send-off event, which was a mock quiz bowl Nov. 18 to get the team prepared for a live crowd and intense pressure.
“We’re looking for students with problem analysis capabilities, team work capabilities, entrepreneurialship capabilities… and time management,” said Neubauer.