Wirral Met College’s Computing students took part in the national Digital Day competition on 17th November 2015, which was organised by Mando Group on behalf of BIMA (The British Interactive Media Association).
The Digital Day competition was seen by college tutors as an excellent opportunity for students to develop their commercial awareness and entrepreneurial skills, to increase their prospects when they progress into work following college.
The students worked in teams on different challenges; there were three challenges set for the day from Standard Life, Vodafone and Sony Music.
Standard Life set a task to get students to think of a fun, easy and, most importantly, digital way to help younger adults to save money. According to BIMA, Britons are currently the worst in Europe at setting money aside as savings, meaning we have little to fall back on or to finance our dreams.
Vodafone required teams working on their challenge to pitch their ideas on improving the existing My Vodafone app, to get more people to download the app and to use it on a more regular basis.
Sony Music set their task for students to plan a digital marketing campaign to promote their favourite Sony artist’s new album release, using emerging digital channels to maximise downloads and purchases of the album.
The students worked in teams to create a brand identity, providing details of the features and benefits of their solution and innovative ways to market their service through digital technology.
The winning team called ‘Zapp App’ included Wirral Met level three computing students, Ashley Kay, Natasha Davies, Alex Mania, Louise Copson and Lucy Jones, who created an App for One Direction fans. Their App was created to encourage fans to become more engaged with One Direction and the App included lots of new features including live streams of concerts, with a digital marketing campaign encompassing the theme ‘Replace Zaine’, encouraging fans to use their own selfie to become the fifth member of the band. The winning team clearly demonstrated the features and benefits of their App, and gave a comprehensive overview of the digital channels they would use to promote this service. They will now be entered into the Digital Day nationwide competition.
Steven Swann, Creative Director at Mando Group said, “We were thrilled to be paired with Wirral Met and the students really showed us a lot of great thinking. This is something we hope Wirral Met will get involved in again. The day has been a real success for both parties and we hope that the winners do well in the national final.”
Sue Higginson, Principal at Wirral Met, said, “Opportunities to work with the world of business provides our students with a chance to really understand the innovation and technology that employers seek. In this case, it also showcases the innovation and talent of our students and we are delighted to be part of this initiative.”