Marielle Badger is an MSc Digital Management ’21 candidate who participated in the inaugural MSc Digital Management Case Competition, held virtually on April 28-29, 2021. In her article below, she writes about her experience during the competition and how she and her teammates were able to handle the surprise twist that accompanied the case.
At the beginning of the winter semester, the MSc in Digital Management program leaders informed my cohort that we will have our first-ever Digital Management Case Competition in April. I was nervous when I heard the news because I did not know what to expect. To prepare for this, I decided to sign up for the MSc Association’s Digital Management Case Competition held in March and apply what I had learned during the fall and winter semesters. Fast forward to April 27. We had a workshop activity led by a Deloitte consultant to teach us how to tackle case competitions; that is, the dos and don’ts of presenting findings to the judges. The nerves had already kicked in, the case organizers had formed our teams, and I had no idea if we would work well together. To add to the nervousness, we had no clue what our case would entail, and it was to be released at 9:30 a.m. the next day! My teammates and I met briefly to get to know each other’s educational backgrounds and skills to ascertain where each team member’s strengths lay.
What is it going to be?!
My teammates and I were strikingly nervous, but also excited at the same time to get creative and come up with a feasible and creative recommendation that might lead us to the finals. So, what is it going to be? Loblaws Digital or an automotive brand? We started thinking about and predicting what company our case would be based on. Our assumptions circled the previous case discussions and guest speakers we had in class. Finally, after our brief kick-off session on the first day, our case was revealed, and it met our high expectations. The case was on TikTok. The creative juices were already flowing for my teammates and me, and working on TikTok as the case made it even better! How exciting! We decided to regroup in an hour to start working on our findings and recommendations to make it in time for the preliminary submissions at 4 p.m.
Surprise!! A twist in the case!
First, we set up a Miro board to help us properly brainstorm our ideas and connect the dots of the case. Afterwards, we organized our thoughts and came up with a strategy on a Google doc. To better understand TikTok’s geopolitical issues and devise strategies to remain competitive, we decided to apply what we had learned during the Ivey Essentials portion of the program to analyze the internal and external ecosystems. We closely examined the target audience of this short-form video-sharing platform to better understand how our recommendations will fit closely into this market and potentially tap into other markets. At 9 a.m. sharp on day two, we received our feedback from preliminary submissions. My teammates and I were already on a Zoom call deliberating our strategy and getting ready to incorporate the feedback received into our final presentation. Additionally, the case organizers informed us that we had to curate a marketing strategy for Ivey’s TikTok account in our feedback email. What?! With just two hours to go, the pressure was on! After much discussion and deliberation, and a few breaks in between, we were able to meet our 11:30 a.m. deadline to submit our final presentation deck.
“We’ve got this!”
I watched the clock on my laptop change from 12:59 p.m. to 1 p.m. – the time had come for us to present our final recommendations and findings to the judges. We were nervous, confident, and proud of the amount of work we had accomplished in such a short time. Right before we joined the Zoom call, we encouraged each other by reminding ourselves that, “We’ve got this!” Although we did not make it to the finals, I was particularly impressed with the creativity and attention to detail my classmates demonstrated in their findings. My key takeaways from this 48-hour case competition are the importance of thinking critically under pressure and discovering ways to apply concepts, class materials, and innovative ideas to real-world problems. The detailed feedback from the judges expanded my knowledge on how to effectively tackle a real-world issue and the areas to consider when coming up with recommendations.
Congratulations to the winning team!