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UEL marketing students win Thames Water awards for water efficiency campaign

Friday 24 February 2006

With London and the South East facing the worst drought for over 80 years, enterprising students at the University of East London (UEL) are helping Thames Water spread the word about the importance of efficient use of water.

Over 60 students from UEL’s Business School worked in teams to develop a series of marketing plans for proposed Water Efficiency Campaigns that will be run in East London this summer. The students’ ideas included targeted campaigns aimed at hospitals, schools, leisure centres and university campuses.

The students’ presentations were judged by a panel from Thames Water and UEL staff, and the three winning teams were awarded cheques for £500 at a ceremony at UEL’s Longbridge Road campus on Thursday 23rd February.

Lynn Launchbury, Water Efficiency Campaign Manager for Thames Water, announced the winners saying: “This has been a genuine marketing challenge because we urgently need to help people change their behaviour around water use.

“We are facing the very real prospect of drought, and Thames Water is making big investments both in pipeline infrastructure improvements and in encouraging consumers and businesses to use water more efficiently.

“The three winning teams have created impressive campaigns, focussing on three important areas: hospitals, leisure centres and universities. We will incorporate elements of these into our campaigns this summer and look forward to building on the success of this project and developing our partnership here at UEL.”

Dermot O'Brien, Executive Director for Thames Gateway of the East London Business Alliance (ELBA), presented the awards on behalf of Thames Water.

He told the students: “London Thames Gateway is the biggest regeneration area in Europe, and will create tens of thousands of new jobs. At the same time there are tremendous challenges. The University of East London is right at the heart of this process and you are in a unique position to contribute to and benefit from everything that is happening.

“Employers, including ELBA members, are increasingly looking to recruit from our diverse local communities, and above all they want people with the right attitude and drive to succeed.”

The students were given an imaginary budget of £50,000 to produce a cost effective, environmentally friendly campaign.

Piudensiana Makoyo, one of the winners, is studying her BA (Hons) Marketing degree part-time while working as Assistant Sales Manager at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Docklands. She said: “We are delighted to receive this recognition.This has been a challenging project that has got us working together and thinking about marketing in different ways.”

Dr Nnamdi Madichie, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at UEL Business School, said: “This has been a quality experience for our students enabling them to develop a range of skills and expertise. We are looking forward to developing our collaborative work with Thames Water and other industry partners.”

UEL’s Business School teaches over 2,500 students around the world and enjoys a well-established reputation for providing business and management education to students, entrepreneurs and organisations. The School has close and active links with business and education partners both locally and internationally, and offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

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For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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