Italtile and University of Pretoria’s Marketing Department

2022 has been the fifth successful year of collaboration between Italtile and the University of Pretoria’s Marketing Department, with a student programme that saw third years rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in a series of modules developed to tested their marketing, branding and sales promotion savvy with real challenges – immersion in projects that reflect current retail trends.

It has been a year of readjustment as students moved from remote working – thanks to the tail end of the COVID pandemic – to a hybrid of home study and class study, and finally, back to the classroom. While much of the year was managed online, the students did get to collaborate face to face for the final challenges which included a team project to answer a promotional campaign brief centred around the Biophilic Design macrotrend and present to the adjudicators in June this year for final year marks.

The board of adjudicators included Italtile Marketing Manager Nicole Russell and two senior creative members of her Marketing Team, along with University of Pretoria Marketing Department’s Professor Melanie Wiese and Professor Danita van Heerden – all of whom believe in the value of bringing the hands-on ‘world of work’ into the classroom.

Competition was fierce, and all students had their eye on the ultimate prize – internships at Italtile.

The final prizegiving event signalled the end of the programme for 2022; it was held at the Menlyn showroom, one of Italtile’s flagship branches, on 28 July. Prizes given were for Best Groups decided by Italtile, Best Groups from the University of Pretoria perspective, Top Student and Highest Marks.

The loudest applause was for the four students who won internships at Italtile showrooms – all have commenced employment and are already hard at work! Italtile is thrilled to welcome Thando Phehlukwayo, Kelly McVicar, Favour Oluwamakinde and Lethokuhle Sibeko on board.

Once again, Italtile and the University of Pretoria saw the rich rewards of collaboration between the world of work and the domain of academic study and look forward to the journey of the UP/Italtile Brains Trust in 2023.