Recent Projects

Project: To design a community social action campaign.

Brief: This project aimed to develop student awareness of Sports Charities and how they support and operate within their local communities. Students were to gain an insight into the reach Sports clubs have within the community and how “Power of the Badge” can raise awareness for causes that greatly impact the community of Merseyside such as; promoting healthy lifestyles; increasing community participation in sports; crime prevention; education initiatives; increasing employability skills; and supporting mental health.

The aim of the project was for students to design a social action campaign against the themes of Wellbeing, Skills and Community and to utilise the expertise of staff working on the various outreach programmes that are run by LFC Foundation, to inform their research and guide the development of their own campaigns. 

Outcome: Students were invited to deliver a presentation outlining their proposals for their own social action campaign to a specialist panel of LFC Foundation members. The winning presentation centred around a Community based campaign called the LFC Foundation Family Festival. A one-day event planned for over the summer at Doric Park, designed to increase family participation in outdoor physical activities with a view to promoting wellbeing within the local community. Events on the day were to include football as well as other physical and cognitive activities. The event would partner with local charities and food banks to promote nutritional awareness and healthy eating.  The aims of the campaign were to improve relationships between families, get more children involved in physical activities and to increase community involvement with the LFC Foundation.

The two students who created the campaign are to be invited to the LFC Foundation to spend a day shadowing a campaign manager to gain an insight and greater understanding of the role involved in running a community outreach programme.

Students: Level 5 (second year) BA (Hons) Sport Business

Duration: 10 weeks.

Project: Ticket Relaunch

Brief: To conduct market research into various ticketing strategies from across a range of different sporting organisations within the domestic UK sports market (Football and Rugby Super League) and the wider international market (Australian Rugby League, American NFL and NBA leagues and Canadian Ice Hockey league) with a view to potentially offering modern alternatives to the traditional season ticket approach. To provide market research into the clubs’ price matrix; the types of packages and bundles on offer; how these clubs have promoted and advertised ticket sales through social media; and how fans have responded to these changes.

Outcome: The students conducted in depth market research to create price matrix documents to compare competitors’ equivalent prices, the range of packages on offer and how these were promoted across various social media platforms. The market research will be used by Wigan to inform their ticketing strategy moving forward.

Students: Level 6 (third year) BA (Hons) Sport Business

Duration: 10 weeks.

Adrian Ward, Marketing Manager at Wigan Warriors say about the project:

It has been a pleasure to work with so many passionate LJMU students who have been keen to showcase their credentials as the marketeers of the future in our industry. They have provided genuine help to us by undertaking a real-life research project that we’re putting to direct use in order to offer the best possible ticketing packages for our supporters.

The diligent research from the students, which was well presented and hugely relevant to our plans, allows us to access a breadth of information that would have taken our department months to compile alongside our existing projects, so this resource has been a vital time-saver and has given us plenty of food for thought as we plan for new and innovative ticketing options for the seasons to come. It’s valuable research that will be read by directors and the leadership team within our Club to shape our thinking on how to keep taking us forward.

We are very keen to continue working with future generations of Sports Business students from the Faculty of Business and Law at LJMU and offer more hands-on opportunities for them to add high quality research projects for a leading institution to their CVs; an aspiration that will hopefully provide mutual benefits for years to come.

Brief: DTIG asked current students to explore areas for potential growth, by diversifying the current portfolio of products on offer. They were asked to devise and implement marketing plan and to explore the pros and cons of delivering a series of events.

Outcome: Students developed and improved the DTIG Linked In social channel to improve company’s market presence. They implemented improvements on company website including enhanced visibility through meta descriptions and improving SEO to positively impact search rankings.

The group also improved passive income by introducing a video subscription service to the website; allowing the platform to make revenue on existing material and knowledge.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Students were asked to review the Power Platform website, audit content, and undertake market research.

Outcome: Students researched similar sites across England and based on their findings, created a new content proposal and a new content scheduled plan. They conducted market research with current students to identify student expectations, spot gaps and develop areas of improvement. The group also identified and implemented changes to make the website more accessible and improve navigation.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: To develop a feasibility study for maxfashion.com to enter European and UK markets through cross-border shipping.  This included reviewing product range, price point, customer demand and service proposition; delivery time; returns; order tracking.

Outcome: The feasibility study presented by the students provided the basis to develop a strategy for marketing, logistics, pricing, and product suitability. It included a full SWOT and competitor analysis to address the product range of clothing for Men, Women, Kids, Footwear and Accessories and a detailed review of the ideal ‘anchor category’ in which to enter European and UK markets.

The groups also created a data management system, to assist the organisation post project, advising on website development and future recommendations for consumer buying patterns.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Review growth potential and investigate diversification of current services and products. Develop a strategy to convert retail customers into digital customers to enhance sales.

Outcome: Students created an ideas strategy to convert retail customers into digital customers to develop and grow their ecommerce sales.

The group identified a target market using a pricing and positioning strategy. Students created and implemented a marketing strategy which included organic and paid social media posts.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Devise and implement a marketing plan for 2022.

Outcome: The group produced a 2022 marketing strategy and action plan. Emphasis was placed on targeting the student sector with an enhanced social media presence (a 30% linear increase).

Ailis and Sophie, Business with Marketing students were given a brief to form their own company to act as a consultancy for Alpha. They created Fortis, and Alpha gave them the opportunity to create content and run its social media channels, working (virtually) alongside the company’s in-house digital marketing specialist.

“It was a difficult time for students, especially those who were in their third year, because they weren’t able to travel or go into businesses on placements,” says Alpha Business Development Manager Steven McKinlay.

“It was the first time we’d linked up as a company with LJMU but we were keen to help Ailis and Sophie and find ways that they could help us too.”

With the core Alpha Taxis running alongside a new Alpha Grab, their city-based equivalent of Uber Eats, launched in lockdown; the two students were allocated one business each to promote.

“We gave them quite a free rein, they designed the posts, chose the target market and came up with a strategy. They decided they were going to go down the competition route, offering an Amazon voucher as a prize, so we gave them a budget to manage which included the prize and also the post boost.

“It wasn’t something we’d have really considered before, but they came through with some really good ideas that helped us to reach a wider market, especially students.”

With under 25s a major market for any taxi company, Alpha were keen to tap into Sophie and Ailis’s insight. “I think you’ve always got to listen to young people because they know what’s going on and everything that’s new which you need to stay relevant.

Sophie says the Alpha Taxis placement gave them valuable real-world experience and has encouraged both to pursue digital marketing as a career. “Our main plan was to design a student marketing campaign and we also did a general campaign alongside that to optimize their social media channels because when we did some research we found they were missing out on certain aspects.

“It was definitely good to see the real side of what we’d been studying because sometimes we’d come up with ideas which we thought would work and then in practice we realised why they weren’t already doing them. So it gave us a more practical view of things which was really useful.”

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Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Produce a report showing how and where retailers are combining channels to market, including final mile logistics using Fintech.  

Rarely Heard Voices is the private, global community of Retail leaders, participation is by invitation only. They specialise in brokering transactions between investors, retailers, brands, celebrity talent and franchise groups.

Outcome: Students began with data collection and in-depth research analysis of current systems.

Using Tableau, the group created a data visualisation tool to illustrate how the company currently processes data. This allowed an enhanced understanding of current localised practice, garnering insights and predictions that can enable the client to make informed decisions, hopefully leading to a sustainable competitive advantage.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks