Marketing Solves Problems Case Competition 2025
University of Illinois Gies College of Business Marketing Solves Problems Case Competition
Have your name etched in the history of Gies! You and your best colleagues can have eternal glory by winning this year’s MARKETING SOLVES PROBLEMS case competition! This annual event has students showcasing their problem-solving skills as well as their creativity as they try to bring back a dead or drying brand, product, service, or business!
Previous winners have saved Pepsi from their marketing disasters, brought Campbell’s soup to relevance in Gen Z, and made AMC Theaters relevant to the post-pandemic consumer. You and a group of other students can work together to help bring back an old favorite brand, product, service, or company. So please join us and earn your names on the Marketing Solves Problems plaque that hangs on the third floor of Wohlers Hall like our 2025 Winners: Esuh Cho and Chaeun Seo!
Video Explaining the Competition: https://youtu.be/dYaSPNSdRhM
What Do You Do:
- Find a brand, product, service, or company that is no longer in business or that is not doing as well as they once had been doing.
- Determine a marketing strategy to help bring them back to relevance in today’s market place. This can be by new branding, marketing, products, anything you can think and you can have multiple recommendations for them.
How Do You Share Your Recommendations:
You have two options to present your recommendations. You can film your group presenting your recommendations and send in a 10-15 minute long video (YouTube Unlisted video or a dropbox link to your presentation video), or you can send in a written proposal (8-12 pages in pdf) on your analysis and recommendations to Prof. Wolters at mwolter@illinois.edu. These presentations or proposals should include,
- The brand/product/service/company you are focusing on. This will give the judges some background on them.
- Why you consider them a dead or dying brand/product/service/company. How did they get to this low point. This will allow the judges to see if you can determine the true issues that have brought the brand/product/service/company down.
- Your recommendations on what they should do to resuscitate their brand/product/service/company. Part 3 is the most important part as that shows your creativity and business and marketing acumen.
- Don’t forget the names and NetID’s of all team members
Who Can Participate:
The Marketing Solves Problems Case Competition 2025 is open to all Gies students. You can choose to do the case on your own or with a group of students (up to four students total in a group). So, it could be a good way to get your group of friends together and improve everyone’s resume with being able to say you won the Marketing Solves Problems Case Competition 2025.
When Are the Presentations and/or Proposals Due By:
Students need to submit their videos or their written proposals by 11:59pm, November 20th Students will email their videos (use an unlisted YouTube video link) or Proposals (PDF document) to Professor Mark Wolters at mwolter@illinois.edu
When Will We Find Out If We Won?
The winners will be announced the first week of December and their names will appear on the plaque in Wohlers Hall in the Spring 2026 semester.
Questions?
Contact Prof. Mark Wolters mwolter@illinois.edu if you have any questions about the competition.
Looking forward to your entries!
Mark Wolters
