DMA’s Marketing Challenge Is Here to Test Industry’s Up-And-Coming Talent

Today, DMA Talent, the Data & Marketing Association’s talent function, has launched the Marketing Challenge 2020, in partnership with StudentUniverse and Tourism NT.

The annual contest offers university students the opportunity to respond to a live brief from an internationally renowned brand.

The objective is for students to devise a marketing campaign for StudentUniverse that grows awareness of Australia's Northern Territory (NT) to an international audience of 18-30 year olds.

StudentUniverse will use the winning team’s insight in a multi-channel marketing campaign, commencing in June 2020. The team will also be invited to StudentUniverse's offices in London to work in partnership with Tourism NT to execute the project and bring it to life. The victors will also win £300’s worth of StudentUniverse travel vouchers each, to use in any number of worldwide destinations.

Entrants must demonstrate a multitude of skills throughout the process, including the ability to devise and plan a six-month strategy to encourage pick up, to communicate their thoughts to an expert judging panel, and, most importantly, work as a team to provide innovative solutions to one of the company’s most interesting business challenges.

“StudentUniverse and Tourism NT have offered students a unique opportunity to feel like a part of their organisation and provide solutions to a real-life business problem. The winners will even get to help spearhead the live campaign in June 2020!” said Kate Burnett, General Manager of DMA Talent. ”Our mission at DMA Talent is to inspire young people to join the marketing industry and create clear pathways for them to do so. The Marketing Challenge offers aspiring marketers invaluable, practical experience that will help them forge successful careers in the industry.”

The brief will also be used by lecturers across the country as a valuable teaching aid on marketing and business courses.

As official partners, StudentUniverse and Tourism NT will feature on the judging panel that will decide the winners, alongside some of the industry’s leading figures, including members of the DMA and IDM’s (Institute of Data & Marketing) senior management team.

Sam Willan, general manager of StudentUniverse UK, commented: “After several years of successful partnership, helping to promote Australia’s Northern Territory to young travellers, we want to take our activity to the next level. Partnering with DMA Talent gives us a fresh perspective on how we can position and promote both StudentUniverse and the Northern Territory to a key market, in a way that will resonate with our target audience. International travel is such a beneficial part of modern education programmes, so the fact that we can use this competition to help students’ kick-start their careers, while challenging them to inspire their peers, made it impossible to say no to this initiative.”

Fleur Sainsbury, regional manager - UK, Ireland, Netherlands & Nordic, Tourism NT added: “The young traveller is an extremely important demographic for Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) and what better way to encourage them to visit, have fun, and find work in the NT than a creative challenge created in partnership with StudentUniverse and the DMA? By asking this very segment to inspire their peers to consider the NT we hope to grow peer to peer endorsement and, of course, travel to our amazing part of Australia.”