The quality of the work done by last years MSc in Marketing students in the Carver project, was such that Mr Théo Ehrhardt, France's exclusive importer of the Carver One encouraged the distributor of the Zest, another innovative car, to get the help of this year's Marketing students.

During the Marketing Planning course where the objectives are to familiarise students with the range of decisions implicit in strategic market planning and to develop skills in using a variety of analytical frameworks for making such decisions, students are going to develop a marketing plan for this recently launched, fun vehicle.

The Car

Acrea, the company behind Zest, decided to make a car that would be easy and fun to drive and far from traditional vehicles fitted with technology and designed for speed and performance. With its two seats and well thought out ergonomics, Zest can be driven by anyone, without limit to age or physical condition from 16 to 96 years of age. Thanks to its infinitely variable speed transmission, driving is extremely easy with just a steering wheel, accelerator and brake...With its 15-inch wheels and high-clearance suspension, the Zest is a cross between the English roadster and a buggy; and it can go anywhere. The car concept has been presented in car fairs and motor show from Barcelona to Geneva and since then, the success of the car has been tremendous, with the support of Importers willing to distribute the Zest in countries such as France, Italy, Spain or the United Kingdom. The car is worth about 10 500€ - 12 500€.

The Project

Dr. Campbell, visiting professor of Schulich School of Business, Canada presented this year's project to the MSc marketing students during her recent visit to EDHEC and introduced them to Mr Patrice Lafond, South of France distributor of the Zest. During an hour meeting, students were able to view and test the car on the EDHEC campus. Mr Lafond was also on hand to answer the students' many questions on his job as a distributor, his customer profile in the French Riviera and of course many technical questions about the Zest.

Divided into 8 groups in the class, each group is now gathering information that they will give to the other groups to contribute to the knowledge and strategic thinking of the class. This will enable students do cover a complete Market Analysis - through a market overview, market segmentation, competitive analysis and customer profile. This part will cover valuable insights of the industry through secondary resources and selected customer interviews.

Later in the month the students will present a marketing strategy covering the whole marketing mix (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) to the Managing Director of Acrea who will come to EDHEC for the occasion.

Read about the Carver One project here