A team of IFT students claimed third place in the “Novotown University Business Case Competition 2018”, a marketing competition held by a unit of Hong Kong’s Lai Sun Group.
Participants were required to present a 6-month marketing plan to promote Novotown, a multi-phase integrated tourism and entertainment project under development in the neighbouring Hengqin Island, in Guangdong Province. The main target market for each plan was young people and families from the Greater Bay Area.
The proposal produced by the 5-member IFT team was praised for its creativity and its feasibility in terms of implementation.
More than 180 participants – spread across 42 teams – joined the competition. An aggregate of 9 Greater Bay Area higher education institutions were represented.
Only 6 teams were selected to contest the final, which took place on 22 April, at the Zhuhai International Convention and Exhibition Center, in Macao’s neighbouring city, Zhuhai. The other teams in the final were drawn from, respectively, the Zhuhai College of Jilin University, Jinan University, Sun Yat-sen University, the University of Macau, and Macau University of Science and Technology.
The team from IFT – called “Rocky N’Girls”– proposed the use of flash mob events and of street-based virtual reality experiences to draw visitor interest to Novotown.
“We proposed a ‘virtual reality challenge’ that could simulate the experience of visiting Novotown,” says team leader Rocky Cheong. He is in Year 4 of a Bachelor of Science in Tourism Event Management.
“We also suggested inspiring people to post in social media funny videos of them enjoying the virtual reality experience activity,” he adds. “The aim was to promote a positive public perception of Novotown.”
The IFT team won a RMB3,000 cash prize and a trip in June to visit the operations of Taiwan-based healthcare group Sanitas. The firm will run a Sanitas-branded healthcare and beauty treatment centre at Novotown.
Members of the top-3 teams at the “University Business Case Competition 2018” are also eligible to take part directly in the interview stage of the selection process for Novotown’s management training programme, which allows participants to work in different positions on the project.
