The Macau Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) announced in a statement yesterday that its Tourism Retail and Marketing Management students recently provided marketing ideas through an industrial project to MacCrew, a local company started by young entrepreneurs.

According to the statement, the company is a “lifestyle business where arts, fashion, lifestyle and F&B” are combined to produce an “innovative space” for consumers to experience, adding that sports shoes or sneaker customisation is also the company’s business model.

The statement pointed out that the students came up with “guerrilla marketing” strategies with the goal of helping the company create “maximum media impact” as well as alternative business models that enable them to market custom made shoes.

Wikipedia defines guerrilla marketing as a company utilising surprise and/or unconventional interactions to promote a product or service as an advertisement strategy.

According to the statement, the founders of the company were impressed with the students’ presentations, adding that several of the ideas would possibly be followed up in the future, the statement underlined.

Course leader Fernando Lourenço noted the significance of engaging with local stakeholders to create “meaningful projects” where the process benefits multiple parties, citing this instance as higher education institutions supporting local entrepreneurs while “creating a better learning opportunity for students that goes beyond textbooks”. 

This undated handout photo provided by the Macau Insitute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) yesterday shows Tourism Retail and Marketing Management students discussing marketing ideas.