At the intersection of business and technology, Scheller College students study the impacts of technological innovation and digital disruption every day in the classroom. This spring a team of undergraduates put their knowledge to the test with a global competition sponsored by Procter & Gamble.
Scheller College undergraduates Bethany Bell, Christine Nguyen, and Hannah Schafer teamed up with economics major Celina Apollon and industrial design major Mary Hirvela to compete in the P&G CEO Challenge. This annual competition challenges students around the world with a real business problem facing one of the consumer-packaged goods company’s major brands. This year’s competition project was “Head & Shoulders in the Winner-Take-All Digital World.”
The Georgia Tech team’s first challenge was the online case-study test, where they finished in the top five out of 240 teams throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The five regional finalists moved on to the next round of competition in Cincinnati, P&G’s global headquarters, where they participated in a company tour, brand storytelling workshop, and presentation to the Head & Shoulders brand team.
Using their skills developed as marketing and strategy majors, the team recommended a #BeyondTheBottle campaign to expand the Head & Shoulders brand beyond its current position as dandruff shampoo. Christine Nguyen elaborated, “We suggested an extensive diagnostic quiz on their website in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter ads to promote the #BeyondTheBottle initiative. We also recommended Amazon as their prime e-commerce channel with a personalized Amazon shop, Amazon Echo deals, and Alexa Skills commands.”
In addition to advancing to the regional level competition, team member Bethany Bell was recognized with the Best Presenter Award. Congratulations to this impressive team on their national recognition.