Working on a live marketing brief with the British Heart Foundation

21 May 2018

MSc Marketing & Strategy student Becky Larry-Izamoje shares her experience of her recent trip to The Shard to work on a live marketing brief with the British Heart Foundation. Students were tasked with coming up with a marketing strategy for the charity, and presented their ideas to a panel of judges. 

Becky Larry-Izamoje

I am Becky Larry-Izamoje, an MSc Marketing and Strategy student at Warwick Business School. I chose this course in line with my vision to work as a brand management specialist and strategy expert in the future.

The trip organised for the MSc Marketing and Strategy students was, in one word, ‘insightful’. The day began at about 11am after our arrival at The Shard and began with an introduction by our course director, Dr Laura Chamberlain. The day’s outline was discussed and the ball was set rolling.

MSc Marketing & Strategy course director, Dr Laura Chamberlain, introduces the day 

The main focus of our trip was a look into a real-life marketing and strategy brief presented to us by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Rachel Piggot, Survival Marketing Manager at BHF and Rosemary Brown, Senior Marketing Manager at BHF, alongside two trained CPR Consultants, took us through the day’s activities. The first half contained an introduction to the company’s present operations and prior marketing activities, which have been a great success. We then took part in a taught life training exercise where we got the first-hand learning experience of CPR.

After this, we were given our brief for the remainder of the day. The brief contained information concerning some of BHF’s current and previous marketing strategies and activities, and the outcomes they had received from those. We were then given the task of coming up with a future marketing strategy for BHF, to ensure that people actually learn and give CPR. The whole point was not just to spread awareness, but also to ensure CPR was taught and used more as a rescue tool in a life-threatening scenario. The target audience for this task was 40 years and above, and the students initially saw this as a challenge in itself, as our research and suggestions had to be as specific as possible.  We worked in groups of five to come up with ideas, and then delivered a 5-minute pitch to the distinguished guests, who were joined on the panel by other representatives of Warwick Business School.

Students deliver their 5-minute pitch to the judging panel 

In all, the experiences from the day were eye-opening and thought-provoking. It was different from our past workshops, as we had previously worked more with FMCG companies, and other product/service based companies.

This trip, however, presented a real-life issue worth researching, alongside putting our marketing and strategy insights and skills derived from the course into practice. The ten student groups delivered fantastic ideas as to how the British Heart Foundation can move forward in the coming years, alongside marketing activities which can strengthen their global presence. The focus was not only on spreading global awareness, but more importantly on debunking the notion that CPR is difficult to give. The training and presentations enabled us to understand how significant a single moment is when an individual suffers a cardiac arrest.

The end of a successful day with the British Heart Foundation

In closing, the experience at The Shard was beneficial as we learnt both personal and interpersonal skills, and were also able to bring aspects of our marketing and strategy modules to the table. We also received individual certificates on completion of the CPR training, which was an added benefit. I would definitely encourage anyone offered a similar opportunity to partake in the experience.

Find out more about our MSc Marketing & Strategy on our course webpages.