CaseIT MIS Case Competition

community involvement / CaseIT 2019 organizing committee

- elevating the brand presence and digital marketing strategy for an international-scale business case competition

00. The World’s Premier MIS Case Competition

Held annually in Vancouver, Canada in collaboration with the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, CaseIT invites the top undergraduate business students worldwide to challenge their business case analysis capabilities and strategize conventional solutions. Competitors present to experienced industry professionals for two rigorous time-limited business cases during the weeklong event.

01. Objective

Strengthen the digital presence of CaseIT's established brand identity and develop an engagement-focused marketing strategy to better connect with international stakeholders.

As the Creative Director, I maintained CaseIT's competitive-fun image, balancing sophistication and playful challenge in outward-facing graphics and media. I advocated for a bold vocal tone and determined the visual direction for all print and digital ephemera for the 2019 iteration of the competition.

02. Challenges

Prior to this year, each iteration of CaseIT had a new brand identity. For consistency purposes, CaseIT 2018 had established a brand to be used for years to come. As most members of the marketing team I led were unfamiliar with case competitions and CaseIT, the existing branding was a starting point, but we didn't have enough context to confidently rationalize our design decisions.

We held discussions with the Chair and Vice Chair of the organizing committee to gain insight on CaseIT’s mission and vision and who our target audience entailed.

Our brainstorming sessions then sought to determine suitable messaging to complement CaseIT's brand. I created moodboards to visually convey professionalism, connectivity, and movement — general categories that metaphorical and descriptive keywords fell into. From this, we developed the theme “Speed of Technology” as a foundation for our team's creative interpretation.

03. Outcome

Our digital marketing strategy took off on Facebook and Instagram with 11 campaigns that grew CaseIT's follower base and increasing engagement rates to 23.5% (up from 21%).

The print materials I designed take to a refined version of the pre-existing red-accentuated greyscale colour scheme, playing with the usage of its iconic red dot to push the limits of bold statements, while staying true to CaseIT's business-technology focus with movement-inspired vectors based on our theme.

04. Takeaways

“CaseIT has changed my life” is the first cheesy line CaseIT directors will say when reflecting upon their experience. Designing for an event of international scale and caliber is mind-boggling, but it’s incredibly rewarding. I’ve unexpectedly grown most as a leader, become more resilient under high pressure, and have learned to vocalize my thoughts more often, whether through providing feedback or expressing my needs to succeed where my responsibilities lie.

I’ve also made 42+ lovely acquaintances, some of whom are my closest friends. (That’s the second cheesy line!)