Thorpe Park continued its highly valued association with the Royal Holloway MBA programme for a third time again this year with a fresh marketing twist.
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Students observed the innovative upcycling of a disused boat house thanks to the lure of movie franchise SAW |
After an informative behind the scenes exclusive tour of the impressive collection of world class roller coasters, situated adjacent to the Thames in Thorpe (near Staines) and enthusiastically led by alumnus Jack du Pille, education facilitator at Thorpe Park, MBA students sat down to the understand the serious business issues that sit behind the amusement industry.
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Aircraft wreckage, upturned vehicles and an alien invasion ?Definitely not the usual context for MBA learning |
Initially briefed on customer insights, company strategy and trends in the wider entertainments industry by management team members Dare Ilori, development director Chris Edge and marketing director Jason Wills, a free flowing Q&A session ensued with highly engaged MBA's asking probing questions of the team.
MBA candidate Srinathshows his heavy lifting credentials |
Previous iterations of the group consultancy challenge have seen the Thorpe Park leadership team invite consideration of a range of topics ranging from strategy, operations, marketing and sustainability.
This year, with recently appointed marketing director Jason Wills spearheading an innovative direction, the focus of the five areas for investigation had a strong focus on marketing issues.
Students found the experiential nature of the business visit, with the briefing held in one of the staff training rooms, very motivating. They were all keen to use their developing academic knowledge and test its application in the context of a real group consultancy context. Later in the year the Thorpe Park team will be invited on to campus to interact with student groups as they make their recommendations, drawn from academic learning and the broad, international work experience they possess.
Many MBA students hail from warmer climates and although it was raining at points, as you can see from the fotos, not everyone believed that this was merely a typical autumnal day. I am not sure they believe us locals that significantly colder weather is coming once winter properly sets in.
Next up ? A pizza night with the chance to catch the episode of hit TV series InBetweeners* with the Thorpe Park visit. (*note: InBetweeners is quiet edgy and is not for the faint hearted, I think it might be described as cult humour, Thorpe Park features from 12 minutes in)
