Marketing students deliver real-world campaigns in international Heineken challenge

Collaboration with Kirkwood and BISM gives students hands-on experience with Heineken brief

An international creative challenge led by Abertay University has once again brought together students from across the globe to develop and pitch innovative digital marketing campaigns for global drinks brand Heineken.

Abertay’s Dundee Business School continues to build on its long-standing partnerships with Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, USA, and BISM – Bucharest International School of Management in Romania. The collaboration encourages inclusivity, student mobility, and cross-cultural learning, and has grown steadily since launching as an online initiative in 2020. It now forms a core part of Abertay’s undergraduate marketing programmes.

As part of the challenge, Marketing students from all three institutions worked together in international teams to respond to a live industry brief from Heineken. Students carried out market research, identified key audiences, developed creative campaign concepts, and produced a range of promotional materials before presenting their ideas to an expert judging panel.

Academics from the partner institutions joined representatives from Heineken to assess the final pitches and select the strongest concepts.

Alongside the project work, students visiting Dundee from the United States took part in a wider programme of activity designed to enhance their industry insight and cultural experience. This included a professional development workshop with Insights, and visits to organisations such as DC Thomson and Abertay’s CoSTAR Realtime Lab at Water’s Edge, which provides cutting-edge facilities for virtual production and creative technologies.

Dr Kathy-Ann Fletcher of Dundee Business School said:

This project continues to demonstrate what is possible when students are given the opportunity to collaborate internationally and work on live industry challenges. It supports the development of key skills including teamwork, cultural awareness, and creative problem-solving, while giving students direct exposure to industry partners.

Jim Macgregor, Head of Change Enablement at Heineken, said:

The standard of work produced by students remains consistently high. Their ability to respond to complex challenges with clear, practical solutions is impressive, and it’s always valuable to see fresh perspectives from emerging talent.

To learn more about studying marketing or business at Abertay, visit the Dundee Business School pages.