April 13, 2021

Thanks to a generous donation from Paradise Valley Golf Course and the creativity of students in Medicine Hat College’s (MHC) business program, locally-owned Fruitful Specialty Shop will receive $400 along with marketing strategies to help grow their business.

The project, which is part of the MKTG 3550 - Creating Brand Intelligence course, challenged students to provide marketing support to a local business. By using brand intelligence tools and techniques, learners were able to design and develop promotional campaigns based on research of customer demographics, buying behaviors, and online and traditional advertising tactics.

“We chose Fruitful because of their web presence and their story; it is a company owned by three sisters, Rebecca (Whenham), Aurora (Bechard) and Andrea (Whenham). They create specialty crêpes, smoothies, fruit bouquets and chocolate covered strawberries,” says Miranda Davies, coordinator and instructor in the School of Business and Continuing Studies. “The students saw so much opportunity to help them share their passion for art and food with the community.”

Although Fruitful hasn’t been shown the final plans yet, they are excited to see what the students come up with and are grateful for this experience.

“We are so honoured to have been considered for this opportunity and to work with the great minds of the marketing students,” says Rebecca. “They had great questions and we can't wait to hear their suggestions for our business.”

For Jordan Brooks and Emily Wouters, fourth year business students, working with Fruitful is one way in which they feel students can support local businesses.

“Supporting small businesses is one of the easiest activities you can take right now to help build your community and foster a sense of pride in the place you live,” explains Brooks. “While many people have different options for supporting local businesses through their dollars, as students we have a unique opportunity to donate our time in the pursuit of success for local small businesses.”

Brooks adds that this course not only provided the learners an opportunity to directly interface with the owners to understand their business, but also helped the students build skills in communication and compromise. It enabled the marketing class to take part in what he calls an “excellent opportunity to immerse ourselves in the fast-paced ecosystem of the marketing and advertising field.”

Wouters is thankful for the experience and hopeful that it will make an impact. 

“Being able to offer our knowledge to a local business to help them succeed is so important because, unlike larger corporations with teams of marketers and swathes of data, many small businesses lack that competitive edge,” says Wouters. “Being able to provide the expertise we have built in this class, and others, is a way to give back to a community that has invested so much in MHC and us as individuals.”

The students will be presenting their ideas on Apr. 13, 2021. Samples have been provided below.

If you are interested in learning more about the business programs at MHC, visit www.mhc.ab.ca.

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Sample Work

Provided by Jordan Brooks and Emily Wouters.