Students of the MSc in Marketing programme recently worked on a real-life product launch with Virbac , one of the world's leading animal health laboratories, under the supervision of Marketing Professor, Alexandra Cambell, visiting Professor from the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada.

Professor Campbell described the project. We were fortunate to have the opportunity for  MSc Marketing students to apply what they have been taught this year to a real-life business project. Students  worked on this project with Virbac as part of the Advanced Marketing Planning course, which is the final course of their programme.  Throughout the year the students acquired a number of different skills and this project gives them the opportunity to refine those skills in the context of a real business situation. Since EDHEC constantly reaches out to the business community it was a natural choice for us to collaborate with an international company such as Virbac which has its headquarters near our Nice Campus. Next autumn the company is launching a new product and EDHEC students offered their expertise to facilitate this introduction. They  conducted a market-potential analysis and recommended a brand positioning strategy to Virbac management.

During this project, students were divided into different teams to work on the various aspects of the assignment:  competition analysis, customer analysis, product positioning, market trends, and marketing and communication strategy.  Their task was challenging because, unlike business cases we did in the classroom, this project involved finding and analyzing real information and making assumptions about the data they have been able to collect.  Unlike in the classroom setting, students  discovered that often there are no easy answers! After students did their preliminary research and I was already very happy with the quality of their work. In the first week of June students will put everything together and presented Virbac management with their conclusion and recommendations. The students' product strategy  was given by Virbac to their advertising agency who will develop a detailed communications plan.

Virbac was created in 1968 and today is a world leader in its sector: present in more than 100 countries with 24 subsidiaries, 2260 employees and with a product line that includes vaccines, antiparasitics, and antibiotics. 

Mr Denis Jarrin, Marketing Director of Virbac is extremely satisfied with the quality of collaboration his company has with Professor Campbell, EDHEC and its students. Our alliance with EDHEC is a great opportunity for our company. It has allowed us learn more about the school, its activities and its students.  This project, has given us the chance to get an external, unbiased opinion for the launch of our product and I am convinced that the students' enthusiasm and knowledge will give rise to original ideas that will help us launch our product successfully.