WeSolv and Salesforce are pleased to announce the winning teams and top performers of the recently completed Salesforce Product Marketing Strategy Challenge.
This second Challenge represents the growing partnership between WeSolv and Salesforce in an effort to recruit more diverse MBA candidates for the CRM giant’s Product Marketing Summer Internship Program. 691 students from 45 MBA programs across the country spent just shy of two weeks immersing themselves in Salesforce and its competitors’ solutions for the Consumer Goods market. Armed with this knowledge, teams developed real strategic positioning and messaging recommendations for the brand. Read more about the Challenge here.
Among a group of 96 talented teams representing MBA programs from coast to coast, three received superior scores from both WeSolv and Salesforce SMEs before moving on to the final round. Each presented their solutions virtually to distinguished Salesforce judges Dana Foster Chery, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Eric Stahl, SVP, Marketing, and Jody Farrar, Director, Product Marketing.
These teams and top performers offered a mere glimpse of what the other hundreds of MBAs developed during this Challenge. Please join us in congratulating all of the participants who went the extra mile to prove their mettle in this Challenge!
First Place (Clockwise Upper L-R) : Vishal Chandawarkar, Naja Edwards, Alexandra Morbitzer, and Avinav Sinha (Michigan Ross)
What made them stand out: The Ross team stood out for their creative use of visuals, their in depth research into Salesforce’s ideal customer, and a few innovative solutions they offered in terms of channels. Their analysis and recommendations were backed by a conversation with an actual buyer from the Consumer Goods market who had recently evaluated Salesforce for his organization. This primary research impressed the judges, who also lauded the team for creatively using the actual Salesforce platform interface as a backdrop for their visual presentation and for incorporating the use of AI into their messaging and channel strategy.
What team members said:
“WeSolv’s Salesforce Challenge gave me an opportunity to work on an exciting real-world issue for one of the most innovative companies in the world.” – Avinav Sinha, Ross ‘20
“[This] was an incredible learning experience that gave us the unique opportunity to provide an impactful business recommendation for a dream company while competing against teams from other top MBA program across the country.” – Alexandra Morbitzer, Ross ‘20
“The tight timeline pushed us to stay focused in our exploration as we drew insights from the broad and far-reaching consumer goods industry to build an impactful, razor-sharp final recommendation.” Vishal Chandawarkar, Ross ‘20
“In addition to gaining exposure to leadership within Salesforce, I was able to more clearly identify what a career in tech could look like for me.” Naja Edwards, Ross ‘20
Second Place: Bilal Ali, Brittany Lewis, Sachi Osterloh, and Katherine Xiao (University of Texas McCombs School of Business)
What made them stand out: This team from McCombs took a unique approach to evaluating the consumer goods market by dividing it into attitudinal segments. They defined the appropriate target personas and their primary pain points with specific examples and completed a very thorough competitive analysis, outlining significant opportunities for Salesforce. Based on their research, they recommended one particular segment for the Salesforce team to pursue more strongly, backing it up with specific positioning and channel strategies.
What team members said:
“The WeSolv Challenge was an excellent opportunity to learn more about Salesforce, practice building a business case, and flex our creative muscles.” – Bilal Ali, McCombs ‘20
“Through WeSolv’s Salesforce Challenge, I gained insights into the real marketing challenges businesses like Salesforce face.” – Sachi Osterloh, McCombs ‘20
“I’m thankful to have had this opportunity through the WeSolv Salesforce Case Challenge to dive in and tackle a real world product marketing problem.” – Katherine Xiao, McCombs ‘20
“WeSolv’s Salesforce Challenge was a great opportunity to delve deeper into Salesforce offerings, exercise creative problem solving, and engage with a real business challenge while in schoo” – Brittany Lewis, McCombs ‘20
Third Place: Amy Kong, Trisha Nussbaum, Catherine Pan, Jillian Witt (NYU Stern)
What made them stand out: This NYU Stern team presented creative solutions and detailed steps for implementing them, including new social media page concepts with sample content and modifications to the Salesforce website to help facilitate the customer journey. They also suggested new interactive demos that more clearly articulate the value of Salesforce’s retail execution solution.
What team members said:
“I loved this WeSolv Salesforce Challenge because not only was it fun, but I also learned a lot about Salesforce and the CRM market! The challenge also reinforced my strong interest in Product Marketing.” – Amy Kong, NYU Stern ‘20
“The Salesforce Challenge was a great exercise in getting down to the nitty gritty of the type of research and the level of understanding a Product Marketing Manager has to have about potential customers, and how to reach them.” – Jillian Witt, NYU Stern ‘20
“Not only did I learn more about a company I’m deeply interested in, I was able to apply my passions for marketing and technology to develop a tangible recommendation.” – Catherine Pan, NYU Stern ‘20
“The Salesforce Marketing Case Challenge was such an exciting and rewarding opportunity to work with my peers and make an impact!” – Tricia Nussbaum, NYU Stern ‘20
Salesforce Challenge Top Finishers
In addition to team scores, all participants received their own individual scores based upon their team’s performance and individual data points. Out of 691 candidates, the following individuals received top scores:
Vibhav Agarwal – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Bilal Ali – UT, McCombs School of Business
Vishal Chandawarkar – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Santiago Clara – MIT, Sloan School of Management
Naja Edwards – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Jaime Garcia – MIT, Sloan School of Management
Rubab Gardezi – USC, Marshall School of Business
Stephen Guerin – UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Shivani Gupta – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Hayley Hacker – UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Louise Hunter – UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Samyak Jaroli – Dartmouth, Tuck School of Business
Sarah Jarrar – USC, Marshall School of Business
Priyanka Keserwani – Dartmouth, Tuck School of Business
Amy Kong – NYU, Stern School of Business
Chris Lee – UCLA, Anderson School of Management
Brittany Lewis – UT, McCombs School of Business
Sam Luu – Dartmouth, Tuck School of Business
Megan Luu – USC, Marshall School of Business
Alexandra Morbitzer – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Trisha Nussbaum – NYU, Stern School of Business
Sachi Osterloh – UT, McCombs School of Business
Catherine Pan – NYU, Stern School of Business
Mukul Sajnani – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Arpan Shah – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Augusto Siguero – MIT, Sloan School of Management
Avinav Sinha – Michigan, Ross School of Business
Kenneth Tang – USC, Marshall School of Business
Jill Witt – NYU, Stern School of Business
Leonor Xavier – MIT, Sloan School of Management
Katherine Xiao – UT, McCombs School of Business
This Challenge is just the beginning of the journey for these top teams and top performers. While winning teams will receive cash prizes, all top performers will fast-track the interview process for a Product Marketing Internship role at Salesforce.
What’s Next?
By engaging top talent to solve a real hands-on business challenge, Salesforce stakeholders saw candidates in action and can now leverage data to efficiently identify and recruit the best talent for their product marketing internship roles. In addition to crowd-sourcing solutions to real marketing challenges, the Salesforce recruiting team received a slate of diverse, engaged, knowledgeable, and talented candidates with solid skills and competency data—predictive data. Are you a company interested in learning about a similar approach for your MBA recruitment needs? Visit our website and connect with us!
Salesforce plans to launch a new Challenge to source Full-Time Product Marketing roles early next year. Interested in joining the next Salesforce challenge? Join WeSolv to make sure you get on the list to receive information about this Challenge!
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