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RP students made headlines again by beating several teams from our local universities to clinch the runner-up position in the “Run Your Own Nokia Shop” competition organized by Startup@Singapore. The team managed to impress the judges with their good presentation skills as well as their ability to incorporate RP’s unique characteristics into their Nokia Shop.
The team Mobile Connection, comprising Tan Chee Yuen, Swee Chong Wei Gabriel, He Aixia, Lim Meng Hwee and Soh Jun Jie Justin, showed the judges that a business can be viable even though the market size is small. They also demonstrated that creative marketing can be done at low costs.
Team Mobile Connection (From Left): Lim Meng Hwee, Tan Chee Yuen, Sim Choon Hou (Advisor), Swee Chong Wei Gabriel, Soh Jun Jie Justin, and He Aixia
Mobile Connection proposed the ‘ 3 B’s’ (Branding, Blending, and Bonding) strategy to market the Nokia phones. They demonstrated that by capitalizing on the unique cultures of RP, they were able to execute creative marketing at a low cost. So what exactly is branding, blending, and bonding?
In branding, they market Nokia phones based on a concept - Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime. This fits into the RP culture well because RP students and staff have laptops, and with the purchase of a 3G handphone, anyone in RP can complete their homework/marking anywhere, anytime. The Nokia shop will blend into RP’s unique culture and make use of these unique characteristics to execute creative marketing. It will be “A shop by the students, for the students”. The Nokia shop by Mobile Connection will emphasize on areas like blending into the curriculum of RP, including awarding of academic points for running the shop, thereby integrating it into the curriculum. It will also collaborate with the various student clubs in RP to come up with other promotional events.
In bonding, they will have a membership program whereby members will get to enjoy privileged benefits like exchanging for RP’s unique ringtones produced by Jammerz. In addition, they also have a website and discussion forum to maintain the relationship with the customers.
Mobile Connection also recognizes that profits do not just come from cost alone. They took control of their costs by employing RP students and propose to award them CE points instead of paying them. In addition, they also propose book prizes for the most excellent salesperson. They also came out with an Inventory Monitoring cum cash register program to minimize inventory costs.
Their advisor, Mr Sim Choon Hou, commented on their excellent drive and determination to win. He was impressed by the amount of effort the team had put in for their posters design, program writing, video production, and creative ideas in marketing, etc.
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