Jacob Skrutowski, a junior in marketing, and Jeremy Ernst, a junior in computer science, were watching a movie and scrolling through their social media accounts when Skrutowski found a Facebook post for a national marketing competition by Unilever. Every year, Unilever offers a contest called UniGame, in which students can share their marketing ideas to make the world a better place while competing against other college students for prize money.
What started as a team of two quickly expanded when Daniel McCaskill, a senior in marketing, joined the group. The team began working on a new product extension based on brands of Unilever. After formulating a concrete idea, they used Skrutowski’s videography experience and equipment to produce and submit a video in just three days. Watch the students' UniGame video.
Three days later, Ernst, Skrutowski and McCaskill were notified that their concept had been selected in the top three from a pool of submissions from over 30 universities. With only a week’s notice, the final teams were flown to Englewood Cliffs, N.J. for two days at the beginning of February.
While in New Jersey, the team gave a 15-minute presentation to the executives of Unilever and had the opportunity to tour the innovation research facility. During their tour they were able to meet many Unilever employees and to preview future consumer goods and grocery technologies.
“We didn't win, but we walked away with plenty of free Unilever stuff, $3,000 prize money, and a free trip. We got to tour their innovation research facility, which was awesome, and we got to network with numerous executives,” Skrutowski said. “It was a great time and a tremendous learning experience.”