Two extremely motivated
Graphic Design students from St. Clair College have just learned that they are one of three finalists in the Follett Higher Education Group marketing competition. Danielle Giroux and Erica Dufour are the only Canadian postsecondary finalists in the competition. As a result of their win they are being flown to Chicago to make their presentation to a panel of fifteen judges on Monday, April 25th.
Follett Higher Education Group is a family owned bookstore provider that has been operating for more than 137 years. They are the nation's largest operator of college bookstores, with more than 850 locations through the U.S. and Canada. Follett is holding a marketing competition as a method of selecting student interns for a 10 week paid internship at their head office. The winners will be selected based on the quality and innovativeness of their presentation.
That's where Danielle and Erica come in. They heard about the competition just before Christmas and became excited by the opportunity, especially because Erica had just spent time in Chicago and fell in love with it. “The minute I saw that the internship would be in Chicago, I knew I had to enter the competition,” says Erica. Both women are in their second year of St. Clair College's Graphic Design program.
“We spent our Christmas break researching the company and then starting to brainstorm ideas about how we would position Follett and build their marketing plan,” says Danielle. “We spent much of our time researching all aspects of a marketing plan, pricing media and building a budget based on various tactics to meet their objectives.”
The two students work extremely well together and both share a passion for hard work and coming up with the best creative product. “The requirements for the brief are very specific and we wanted to support and embrace Follett's corporate responsibility commitment to sustainability,” says Danielle. “Without giving away our presentation prior to next week's finals, let's just say we are very happy with where we are at with the presentation.”
Graphic Design Faculty Nick Kuipers was blown away when the students told them what they had done. “The institution is notified of the competition and generally it's handled as a class project. We didn't have time to integrate it into our curriculum and unbeknownst to us, Danielle and Erica went ahead on their own and did a fabulous job. We are extremely proud of their accomplishments.”
The competition takes place in Chicago, Monday, April 25th. The other two finalists are from Utah and Georgia.
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