Northern Commerce funds new digital marketing competition at Fanshawe

This month, Fanshawe College is launching the Northern Digital Marketing Challenge, an experiential learning competition open to students in the Business Administration Marketing, Marketing Management, and Honours Bachelor of Commerce (Digital Marketing) programs.

The Northern Digital Marketing Challenge is co-funded by Fanshawe’s Centre for Research and Innovation and Northern Commerce. The challenge will task teams of students to build, execute, and manage live marketing campaigns using Google and Facebook for 14 local businesses over a two-month period and will be led by Liz Gray, a faculty member of the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business.

At the end of the two-month challenge, teams will present their campaigns and results to a panel of judges from Northern Commerce, where a grand prize winner will be selected. Students will be given the opportunity to learn directly from the team at Northern Commerce, an industry leader who recently won the 2019 Google Premier Partner Award for Growing Businesses Online.

“Many members of our team are graduates from Fanshawe College and as proud members of that community, we saw a unique opportunity to give back through the Northern Digital Marketing Competition,” says Corey Dubeau, VP Marketing at Northern Commerce. “Our goal is to provide students with invaluable experience working hands-on with in-demand digital marketing platforms like Google and Facebook. This type of experiential learning is something that would not otherwise be possible for students until after graduation.”

“A major goal of our Internal Research Fund is to build internal capacity for research and innovation, while partnering with business, industry and community to address their problems and/or needs,” says Dan Douglas, dean for Fanshawe’s Centre for Research and Innovation. “This project contributes to the culture of research and innovation at the College. We are delighted that this funding promoted a strong external partnership with Northern Commerce.”

“We are very appreciative of the support and experiential learning experience provided by Northern Commerce. Partnerships with industry provide our students with such a valuable experience that they are able to take with them when they graduate” says Lisa Schwerzmann, Associate Dean, Kinlin School of Business.

There are over two billion active monthly users on Facebook and over 3.5 billion Google searches made every day. With massive audiences, these two platforms offer powerful opportunities for businesses to reach new audiences and accelerate their growth. The Northern Digital Marketing Challenge provides students with experience working with advertising tools businesses need to build their brand and drive sales—gaining confidence and hands-on skills along the way.

“This challenge is all about students taking what they learn in the classroom and leveraging it into real-world digital marketing campaigns,” says Liz Gray, instructor at Fanshawe College. “It’s an exciting opportunity they can put on their resume and bring with them as they embark on their career.”

Interested students may apply for the Northern Digital Marketing Challenge by contacting Liz Gray, Fanshawe College professor.