Four Strathclyde University students have won work experience with a global promotional marketing agency after devising a marketing communications strategy designed to improve sales of Vosene shampoo.

The Marketing Store Worldwide (Scotland) teamed up with Strathclyde to sponsor guest lectures from experts in the marketing communications industry and launched a competition for second and third-year students.

Almost 200 students entered the marketing competition, which involved deciding what message to put across, who the target audience should be and what type of media to use.

Margaret Jackson, research officer in Strathclyde's centre for social marketing, said: "Industry initiatives such as the help provided by The Marketing Store Worldwide are becoming increasingly valuable for higher education. It gives students a chance to put the theory of what they study into action and, importantly, gives them a taste for hands-on experience in the world of business."

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The competition was designed to expose students to the thinking processes involved when an agency tackled a marketing brief, Ms Jackson said. The students worked in 44 small groups on the project outside their normal course work and had four weeks to complete it.

"This was done on top of their course work, so they really demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment," Ms Jackson said. "They loved the creative process they had to go through, which gave them a chance to use their own ideas to brainstorm with a real-life product."

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The students gave group presentations on their strategy. Strathclyde shortlisted five teams to make presentations to a panel of judges from the company, which chose the winning group of Jennifer Lacoik, Craig Moffat, Lauren Mowatt and Virginia Martinez.