It all started two years ago when four Year 4 Business School students decided to form a marketing interest group.
Named NUS Marketing Interactive (NUS MINT for short), the group has grown from 12 founding members to 21 people today.
From organising panel discussions to delivering social media campaigns for external brands, this group is worth your attention if you want to further yourself in the marketing field.
Outside-In sat down with BBA Year 4 students Lee Jia Xin and Hew Qian Yu, who hold leadership positions at NUS MINT. Here are some behind-the-scenes stories and their aspirations for the group.
BBA Year 4 students Hew Qian Yu (left) and Lee Jia Xin hope to share the value of marketing through the work of NUS MINT. Qian Yu is holding a packet of seaweed snack that they promoted on social media last semester.
Q: How did NUS MINT start out?
Jia Xin: I was one of the founding members when NUS MINT started in 2017. The digital marketing wave had just started then and some people thought that it was just fluff. We wanted to show the value of marketing and organise events specifically to demonstrate how marketing can make a difference.
Q: We heard that members need to go through interviews to join the group.
Jia Xin: We have projects with external partners so we need to make sure members have the relevant skills and aptitude to contribute. That said, our group is open to those from outside of the marketing specialisation or even outside the business school as well. Our interviews are also more of an informal chat to know the person.
Q: Tell us more about these external projects.
Qian Yu: The impact we are able to create is much greater when we work with an external client. We have three projects with Unilever thus far. I used to intern at Unilever, so after I joined NUS MINT, I reached out to my ex-colleagues to see how we can contribute. We have partnered with them, running social media campaigns for three of their new products.
Our first partnership was for the brand @lovebeautyandplanetsg, which consists of shampoo, conditioner and body wash products. We created a Bingo challenge on social media, where people can complete environmental-friendly tasks, such as using their own bottle instead of disposables, and stand to win products.
The other projects are for a herbal tea brand (@pukkaherbssg) and a seaweed snack (@norilicious.official). We planned the campaigns, sourced for the right influencers and helped to build brand traction among millennials.
Jia Xin: We have also organised a panel discussion on hitting the sweet spot in digital marketing and analytics, consisting of representatives from Grab, NBCUniversal, Shopback and Seedly. It was a well-attended two-hour panel discussion with about 50 attendees. Some interesting points the panelists brought up include using analytics to determine consumers’ interests, and how to best recommend the right products. They also unanimously felt that subscriptions are a better way to retain customers compared to promotional codes.
We are able to show that through conceptualisation and algorithms, marketing can really contribute to business outcomes
Q: What are some of your memorable experiences?
Jia Xin: In 2017, three of us at NUS MINT were invited by the NUS Entrepreneurship Society to give a talk about digital marketing and the audience included start-up founders. Typically, founders don’t focus much energy on marketing since there are many aspects of their business that require their attention. We are able to show that through conceptualisation and algorithms, marketing can really contribute to business outcomes. Being able to shift their perception on marketing, even just a little, is very gratifying.
Q: What is next for NUS MINT?
Qian Yu: We started an internal branding strategy arm for the group. It looks at how we can market ourselves to the student population and how we can add value to students. This team will look at our past events and interview students about their perception of NUS MINT. This review process is ongoing at the moment and we hope to uncover insights to implement more suitable projects in the future.
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If you are interested to join NUS MINT, please email to nusminteractive@gmail.com.
