IBC Master’s Students Deliver Final Presentations to Beiersdorf

In April, our International Brand Communication Master’s students kicked off an exciting new Practice Project with first-time partner Beiersdorf – a Hamburg-based global player and home of such beloved brands as Labello, 8×4, Hidrofugal, Florena, La Prairie and, most famously of all, NIVEA. As part of their 2nd semester module „Consumer Psychology & Insights“, supervised by Prof. Dr. Limon-Calisan, the students were tasked to analyse an undisclosed Beiersdorf brand by way of conducting consumer research. To spice things up, they were divided into three competing groups.

On August 1, the teams gave their final presentations in a session that lasted more than three hours, but stayed exciting all the way to the end not least because the teams had picked three different target groups. Since every team excelled it was a head-to-head race, but in the end Josh, Ayla and Ana edged out the competition. Congratulations! While all teams had the privilege of going on a subsequent private (usually employees-only) tour of the factory that included insights into of the production process for cremes and their packaging, the winning trio was also awarded with a much appreciated fine selection of Beiersdorf products.

Normally the handing over of a prize marks the end of a competition. In this case, however, it’s only a waypoint to a much bigger competition! In the days following the presentations, Josh, Ayla and Ana will be interviewed further in order to identify the winner among winners, i.e. the one who would receive a wild card for the 4th edition of Beiersdorf’s International Internship Challenge on September 18-19. The grand prize: An all-expenses-paid and salary-on-top internship with one of the company’s 150 affiliates outside of Germany!

We are very curious to learn which member of the trio will move on to the big competition (and perhaps even win it?) – keep an eye out for the upcoming reveal! But first things first: Huge thanks to all teams for achieving great results that have impressed our partner, especially with regards to how customer insights were translated into a marketing mix. Last – but certainly not least –  huge thanks to all involved at Beiersdorf! We appreciate the time and trust you have invested in us. Let’s do this again soon!

Our students got very positive feedback from the Director of PEARL BRANDS and Senior Brand Manager Beiersdorf, Maria Lukoyanova: ‘I would like to thank all the students and Yonca for a fantastic job. I was impressed by a very high quality of presentations, professional approach and attention to the details. Teams showed real passion for our brand and come up with concrete proposals (designs and prototypes) how to bring their strategy to life.’