'Tayto'-ly Great Crisp Ideas!

‘Advancing enterprise’ was top of the agenda for first and second year business students from South West College who competed in the Tayto Challenge on returning to College following the Christmas break.  As part of the Advancing Enterprise project the College teamed up with Northern Ireland’s favourite crisp brand, Tayto for the aptly named ‘Tayto Challenge’ offering students the opportunity to create an exciting new product to complement Tayto’s existing portfolio.

The overall aim of the Advancing Enterprise project is to enable students to gain valuable support and guidance from experts in the field of enterprise. The Tayto Challenge is just one of many exciting competitions being held across the College, aimed at encouraging students to become creative in generating business ideas.  The project also offers help to those that have already taken steps towards being their own boss, with expert guidance aimed at assisting them in turning their dreams into reality.

Teams of business students from Dungannon, Enniskillen and Omagh Campuses gathered at the stylish and innovative STEM Centre at the Dungannon Campus, a fitting location to unveil their business ideas to a panel of judges, headed up by Nina Doyle, Tayto’s Marketing Manager.  The participants were graded on their creativity, product knowledge, market research, elements of the marketing mix and their overall presenting skills.

Following the presentations, the judges were faced with a tough challenge to decide on an overall winner, which eventually resulted in joint winners followed by second place.  Joint winners were the Dungannon and Enniskillen teams, followed by Omagh who won second place.  The winning teams impressed the judges with their creative ideas, which included adding in-the-bag dips and flavour sachets to accompany their flavoured crisps, which were also supported by strong market research, attractive packaging and comprehensive marketing campaigns to support their new product in the competitive crisp market.

In recognition of the students’ impressive work, all participants will visit the legendary Tayto Castle in Tandragee where they will experience the full magic of Tayto, see how the fantastic crisps and snacks are made and meet Mr Tayto, the famous brand mascot.