Humber Marketing Students Win Big at OCMC

On Thursday, Nov 15th, students from The Humber Business School boarded a bus and headed to London, ON, to take part in the Ontario College Marketing Competition (OCMC). Hosted by Fanshawe College, teams from colleges around the province met up to face off against each other in two days of marketing-focused competitions.

Humber College had winning moments right from the start!

First off, the Team’s Social Media Intern, James Anderson, won the Social Media Picture Prize for the content he created and managed across the team’s OCMC social media platforms.

Next, on Thursday night, the Quiz Bowl Event brought students from various colleges together to be placed on teams with students from other colleges who then competed against each other in topical marketing questions. By the end of the night Humber had podium finishes! A 1st place went to Anushka Ramessur’s team, and a 3rd place went to Britney Pearson for hers. Way to go, Ladies!

On Friday, Nov 16th, the individual competitions took place. Students worked, in teams of either 1 or 2, on cases representing the many areas of the marketing discipline like International Marketing, Strategic Marketing or Job Interview, etc. Teams had 30 minutes to study a case, build a marketing plan, and construct a 7-slide PowerPoint presentation; then, they had just 15 minutes to present their findings (corporate objectives, alternative choices, marketing mix options, and implementation plans) to a panel of academics and industry professionals – many of whom were representatives from the very companies featured in the cases. (Talk about pressure!) But it didn’t end there. Teams had to also defend their suggestions in a short Q&A session following their presentations. It was an intense and stressful 45 minutes!

Humber’s winnings continued that night at the Dinner and Awards gala when the case competition results were announced. Our Strategic Marketing Team of Anthony Simpson and Cassio Mori took a 5th Place Finish and our Retail Marketing Team of Nelli Bystrytska and Zelijko Kasun also took a 5th Place! Jumping to our feet, coaches and team members, alike, celebrated our teammates’ wins (ie: shrieked) with all the gusto Team Humber is known for. More than once, the cry of “Hawk Yeah!” was heard.

On the way home, on the 17th, members ruminated on their experience and all agreed that it was a one-of-a-kind opportunity: to bond with lifelong friends and (future) colleagues, to gain a deeper understanding the nature of teamwork, and, ultimately, the chance to apply many of the valuable skills we have learned over our time, here, at Humber.

A big shout out and thank you to all participants!