Successful MAEUR Advertising Day

On the 22th of March 2024, our annual Advertising Day took place. As one of the most historic events of MAEUR, dating back all the way to 1993, students had the opportunity to broaden their horizons in the field of marketing. The participating companies GiG and Valantic shared their approaches to advertising and assisted ambitious students in solving a real-life business case. This gave the students an excellent opportunity to leverage their analytical and creative abilities whilst connecting with industry professionals.

Our agency partner Valanctic is known for pushing the boundaries of digital transformation and creative strategies. As digital commerce and innovation experts, they advise a wide range of Dutch and international companies on digital strategies for business growth. Presenters Lara and Tom gave an insightful presentation on their work as online advertising consultants. Instead of specializing on one platform, Valantic offers support on every step of the digital customer journey - from setting up a webshop to SEO - to ensure effective 360° end-to-end customer experience management for their clients.

Their approach is a “full-funnel advertising strategy” to meet customers at every stage of the funnel, at the right moment. They target the right audience with the right message, depending on the funnel stage the customer is at.

This year’s case company was GiG, who are known for redefining the Dutch hard seltzer market with their low-calorie, flavorful beverages. Just Ponsen, Business Developer Student Partnerships for GiG Hard Seltzer, gave us an insight into how GiG is revolutionizing the seltzer scene. They are the only independent seltzer seller on the Dutch market and, unlike other brands in this category, they don’t brand themselves as “healthy”. Rather, they offer “drinks for those who grow up, but don’t grow old”. GiG’s marketing focuses on its good taste and how easy it is to drink, while offering a healthier alternative to other alcoholic beverages.

So far, the company has focused its marketing efforts on students and being present at events, such as small-scale festivals, as these target markets are most receptive to GiG’s messaging and product. Now, they wish to increase sales among an older demographic and strengthen their presence at festivals and other events to generate more brand awareness.

The Advertising Day participants were given the task to help solve this exciting real-life business case, consisting of two parts:

1. How can GiG appeal to a target audience of 20-40 year olds? How should they adjust their marketing mix to best approach them?

2. What activations will effectively communicate the essence of GiG, generate the most buzz on social media and leave a lasting impression on the current target audience?

After a nice lunch break, the ambitious participants had 1 hour to immerse themselves in the industry by solving this case and showcasing their problem-solving skills.

While groups of 4 students were preparing their solutions, Lara and Tom assisted each team with their consultancy expertise. Sebastiaan (one of the participants of the Advertising Day) shares his thoughts: “It was really great to work on this case and together with my 3 group mates we had fun and interesting discussions to come up with solutions for the case. Moreover, it was great to have the people of Valantic give us some insightful tips while solving the case. I would definitely recommend going to the Advertising Day!”

Within a short time, the four groups came up with very different and unique ideas. Each team presented their innovative approaches to GiG, each followed by a discussion and Q&A with the professionals. Afterwards, the event concluded with networking drinks at the Erasmus Paviljoen. The winner of the case competition was announced and the participants had the opportunity to connect with the present marketing professionals.

The Advertising Day 2024 was a great success. MAEUR thanks Valantic and GiG for sharing their expert insights and giving the participants a chance to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world challenges in this interesting case!

Are you interested in getting insights into the field of marketing through expert talks? Or do you want to connect and chat with industry professionals? Then check out our upcoming events here.