IFTM students offering marketing ideas to entrepreneurs in the creative industry
Students from the Tourism Retail and Marketing Management programme engaged in an industrial project to help a group of dynamic young entrepreneurs who started a very innovative company called MacCrew. This is an eclectic lifestyle business where arts, fashion, lifestyle and F&B are merged to create an innovative space for consumers to experience. As part of the business model, sports shoes or sneakers customisation service is one of the key elements of MacCrew. Customers pay for the design and customisation service for their chosen shoes.
As part of the industrial project, IFTM students developed innovative guerrilla marketing strategies aiming to help MacCrew to generate maximum media impact and alternative business models that allow the brand to market million-dollar custom shoes. The founders of MacCrew, Allen Choi and Michael Mak were impressed with the presentations from students and noted that several ideas could be followed up.
The course leader Dr. Fernando Lourenço emphasised the importance of engaging local stakeholders to create meaningful projects where multiple parties can benefit from the process. In this case, higher education institutions support local entrepreneurs whilst creating a better learning opportunity for students that goes beyond textbooks.