Carlo, Giulia and Barbara, Marketing for the Future

A creative mind, a realistic mind and a mediator. At the core of any successful team, team members must complement each other and Carlo Alberto Dall'Amico, Giulia Cacciatore and Barbara Colombo are no exception. The three students in their first year of the Master of Science in Marketing Management won the Italian portion of the Henkel Innovation Challenge and placed third in the international finals in Brussels at the end of April. The continuous production of Carlo's ideas, Giulia's rationale and Barbara's abilities to find common ground was the winning combination.

Barbara, Giulia and Carlo

The challenge consisted of finding a solution that adapts to the requirements that may present themselves in the year 2050, within Henkel's various sectors. "We imagined that a critical factor in forty years may be the scarcity of water," explain the three students, "and we sent a video in which Giulia plays a wasteful housewife of today washing the dishes and Barbara plays a housewife of tomorrow, who can live without water thanks to the new product. The product works because after it's sprayed on dishes, it turns dirt into sand." The video, playing on emotions and suggestive images, allowed the team to qualify for the Italian finals, where 10 groups and 70 participants participated.

On 31 March in Milan's Henkel offices and in front of multinational managers, the three students presented their video again, along with a Power Point presentation focusing on the imagined future, the product concept and the marketing mix. They named the product Dixsand, echoing the name of the Henkel detergent and suggesting a transformation of dirt into sand. The communication campaign focused on the innovative techniques learned in David Mazursky's Consumer Behavior course.

Replacement template	Activation template

"Creativity templates in advertising are techniques that require an effort by the user and therefore stimulate involvement," explain Giulia, Barbara and Carlo. "In replacement templates a letter of the product's name is eliminated and reused evocatively in another word. In our case, the 's' of Dixsand was used in Dixsave, suggesting the water saved when using the product. In the activation template, a real activation is necessary. In our case, the 'x' was substituted by an element in the photograph with the same shape which also reminds the viewer of an hourglass and therefore the passing of time discussed in the text."

The three students were surprised by the respect and interest Henkel managers showed regarding their work. "As a student you think managers are in a different world, but instead there was real interaction and involvement. It was nice and we hope there will be a follow-up, at least in terms of a curricular internship next year." The Master of Science in Marketing Management is held entirely in English and the quality of the students' presentation in English also played an important role in the outcome of their project.

"Henkel strongly believes," says Jens-Martin Schwärzler, General Director of the Consumer Cosmetic division of Henkel Italia, "that its success begins with the quality and potential of its human resources and is thus continuously seeking talented applicants with innovative abilities."

The international finals in Brussels were held 23-25 April and were an exciting tour de force. Students were asked to work hard (drawing up a marketing plan for their product in Belgium, for example) with very little time. "We practically didn't sleep," they say, "but it was worth it." The Italian team made the first cut of 12 teams down to 6 teams and finished in third place overall.

"This result makes us proud," explains Antonella Carù, Program Director for the Master of Science in Marketing Management, "because it confirms the value of our program and teaching methods based on active learning. Even before finishing the first year, these students have demonstrated not only that they have adequate knowledge, but that they know how to apply this knowledge, making competent decisions."