BBA Marketing student wins national prize for research paper

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 - 12:30

Alana Devitt, a final year BBA Marketing student, in the School of Business, has been awarded the LePere prize for the best undergraduate paper on a set topic. It is a busy year for Alana because along with finishing her degree, she is also President of the MU Business and Finance Society.
 
The LePere Award is given by the Marketing Society at its Annual Research Awards, attended by over 300 professional marketers, on Friday 6th December. The LePere award was created in memory of John LePere to recognise and reward excellence in the field of Marketing. It also celebrates future leaders of the industry.
 
Alana’s was asked to write on the topic of “Challenger brands; what is it that allows them to build so much brand affinity and such deep customer loyalty?”. A challenger brand is a brand that breaks to mould and while not a market leader or a particularly niche brand, it is one that sets itself apart from the competition. Alana’s work focussed on Tesla as a challenger brand in the automobile market and extended the theory of challenger brands to consider how social media influencers can also be considered as challenger brands.
 
Professor Joseph Coughlan, Professor of Marketing: “We are very proud of Alana’s achievement in winning this very competitive award. Our Marketing students over the years have done well in the competition. It is very fitting that Maynooth university, a brand that can be considered a challenger brand in its innovative way of educating students, wins the award this year. Our BBS/BBA Marketing continue to grow and evolve and our pathways in Marketing in Arts are giving students an insight into the opportunities that a career in Marketing can bring. The award brings strong industry recognition to the Maynooth University marketing programmes including our two MSc programmes in Marketing”.