Marketing Project Pays Offs

A case analysis prepared by five of SFU’s full-time MBA students entitled: “Selling the Canadian Armed Forces Brand to Canada’s Youth” received the Pearson Education Prize for the Best Case Study on the case track of the 2008 Academy of Marketing Conference, the UK’s largest academic marketing conference.

What started off as a group assignment for Leyland Pitt’s MBA marketing class has given the team of Kylie McMullen, Pinder Rehal, Katy Read, Judy Luo and Ashley Wu international recognition for applying what they’ve learned in the classroom to real world situations. “It was a particularly well-written case, with a strong dilemma and was well-structured to provoke discussion and analysis,” explains co-editor and PhD student Lisa Papinia. “I did a minor edit with Leyland, and we submitted it to the case study track of the Academy of Marketing conference in Scotland.” PhD student, Colin Campbell, presented the case at the Aberdeen Business School at The Robert Gordon University.

The abstract of the case is as follows:

In 2005 the Canadian Forces needed to increase recruitment. Canada’s ageing population and the war in Afghanistan were just two of the many reasons driving an immediate focus on signing up new young Canadians. However, the task was proving more difficult than anticipated. The army’s brand – always conservatively constructed to reflect the more peaceful side of military life – had served to alienate many would-be soldiers who interpreted this portrayal as patronizing and boring. However, a focus on the more militaristic realities of war might have served only to put off the families of potential recruits to whom these youths turned for advice and support. With the face of the military presented largely through its recruitment campaigns, the Canadian Forces’ marketing department needed to do some introspection in order to determine how to proceed.

For their work, the students will receive a cash award of 1,000 pounds and an invitation to publish an extended version of the case in a subsequent edition of the Journal, Marketing Intelligence and Planning before the end of 2008.