Maxol Brand Development Manager, Fergal Harrington, Maxol CEO, Tom Noonan, MOREISH employee Caroline Hicks, Marketing Programme Director at Dundalk Institute of Technology John Sisk and Business lecturer Mario Mac Blain
Fuel and convenience retailer Maxol have announced a new partnership with Dundalk IT as part of the institute’s Global Student Project 2015.
On foot of Maxol planning to open a new service station directly opposite the college in 2015, the company invited the marketing department in the college to assist in ensuring that the service station takes full account of the likely requirements of consumers in the vicinity of it.
The cross college collaboration project will see DKIT students join forces with students from universities in USA and Australia to develop a new mobile app for Moreish, Maxol’s new convenience food and café brand.
Using digital communication facilities and on-line project management software, the teams of students will work together to design the Moreish café app for Maxol. Students will test the app among the student and staff base at DKIT, with the intention to expand its use across the 30 Moreish deli cafés that are expected to be open by the end of 2015. Potential built-in features of the app will include; food ordering, delivery, payment and a loyalty programme.
The Global Students Project 2015 brings together students, staff and companies from Ireland, USA and Australia to work on a commercially focused research project. Each sponsoring business partner benefits from a dynamic cross cultural team collaborating to provide the best results. It gives students the opportunity to learn global workforce skills in real-life settings that cross boundaries and explore different cultures. The learning is rich, challenging, and exciting and is the very essence of what third level degrees should aspire to.
There are several outstanding aspects to this project, not the least of which is the collaboration between students and staff on three continents all working on it over a period of 12 weeks, through the use of digital communication facilities such as SKYPE and Google Hangout. The three teams will, literally, work around the clock during this time. The Australian team will hand over their work at the end of the day to the team in Ireland, and the Irish will do likewise (hand to USA team) at the end of their day, after which the process passes back to the Australians to start all over again.
All teams, having communicated on-line for 12 weeks, then assemble on DkIT campus in late May 2015 to present their final commercial report to their client and to participate in the official opening of Maxol’s new state of the art service station just across the road from it.
Commenting about the project Maxol CEO Tom Noonan said “This is a terrific opportunity for Maxol to get real input from a group of young people starting out on the road to exciting marketing careers. Our new outlet in Dundalk will contain all that is best in forecourt retailing but, we want to make sure that we appeal to the large young customer base that will be literally right on our doorstep. We also welcome the opportunity to have an input from people from other parts of the world. Maxol recognises the importance of continually evolving, while making sure that we give consumers exactly what they want in every community where we are represented.”
John Sisk, Marketing Lecturer and Programme Director at DKIT added: “We are looking forward to working with Maxol, an indigenous Irish business, on what we believe will be an exciting and challenging project for our global student team. The opportunity to work on a real life commercial project with students from different cultures will be an experience that will stand to all of these students in their career and personal development.”
Maxol has also confirmed it will support the costs of the DKIT team in 2016 when they travel to the USA to participate in the programme.
Maxol’s new Moreish deli cafés provide a new destination for delicious food served to eat in or on the go. The Moreish range of fresh and healthy food options includes specialty sandwiches, hot food, salad boxes and fresh fruit pots. Moreish has partnered with Bewley’s for its coffee and teas and has both barista and self-serve offerings.
Further details on the Global Student Project can be viewed at
https://www.dkit.ie/management-financial-studies/courses/bachelor-busine…
Maxol have been refused permission to add an off licence to their new filling station on the Dublin Road.
Talk of the Town 