Portsmouth Business School
BA Marketing PharmaTimes competition finalist
Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:02:00 GMT
Ollie Duncombe, a BA (Hons) Marketing student on a placement at Baxter Healthcare, was recently
entered by Baxter for a prestigious competition run by PharmaTimes for young marketers working
in the pharmaceutical sector. Both Ollie and his line manager were delighted when he was chosen as
one of five finalists.
The finals were held at the RAF base in Marlow and the challenge of the day was to create a full
marketing campaign targeted at health care professionals. Ollie had to decide on a number of
factors ranging from advertising boards to budgeting. He designed a presentation and presented his
findings to a panel of eight industry experts. Ollie found the process quite daunting particularly as
the judges made sure that he provided a robust defence of his recommendations.
Whilst he didn’t win the competition, the prize for being chosen as a finalist was an all expenses
paid trip to London. The finalists were put up in a spectacular hotel and spent the evening at a
black tie gala dinner. Ollie commented: “It was a great experience. I would highly recommend the
pharmaceutical sector to prospective placement students and graduate marketers.” He then went
on to say “Without the understanding of marketing as a subject gained in my first and second year, I
would never have become a finalist in the competition”. Ollie was the first placement student within
Baxter to be entered for the competition and was up against young marketers who had already
commenced their careers in the pharmaceutical sector.
Beth Rogers, Head of the Marketing and Sales Subject Group commented: “On behalf of the whole
teaching team I would like to congratulate Ollie on his success. It is wonderful to see placement
students making such a significant contribution in such a short period of time.”
PharmaTimes provide an outlet for industry experts to analyse the current market, to create
awareness around the latest developments in the sector and to discuss the global and National
Health Service news. The PharmaTimes Marketer of the Year competition offers marketers
the chance to test their professional skills through a unique programme of competency-based
exercises devised and judged by an independent panel of senior industry marketing leaders and key
stakeholders.