Manship student wins Ketchum’s Mindfire Challenge

11/09/2015

Manship senior Elizabeth Hilton has won Ketchum’s Mindfire Mobile Phone Challenge. Hilton’s idea was selected as the best out of submissions from students from 50 of the top universities from around the world.

The Mindfire Challenge is a program developed by Ketchum (an international public relations agency with offices in 70 countries) in which college students throughout the United States and abroad submit ideas to help solve the business challenges of different Ketchum clients. Mindfire has brought innovative ideas to Ketchum clients such as IKEA, FedEx, Frito-Lay, Wendy’s, Hertz, White Wave Foods and more.

Hilton was invited to participate through MC 4005, a senior-level public relations course focusing on public relations campaigns.

“I choose to participate because it’s a great way to see how the creative process works and allows us to get our name out there and to start thinking in a strategic way for clients,” said Hilton. “It’s been a great experience working on the project.”

Hilton already has experience working with top clients though. This summer Hilton interned with Weber Shandwick in its southwest division located in Dallas, Tx. Within this role, Hilton worked as a part of the digital team, media team and several other client-specific teams gaining expertise in a variety of communication-based initiatives. Her client experience involved a wide sector of industries including technology, digital, social media, banking, consumer and oil and gas.

Because of confidentiality issues, details about the Mindfire Challenge client or the idea cannot be disclosed, but it dealt with a new campaign for a mobile phone company.

“I actually found out I won the award first from a member of my campaigns group who told me congratulations of Facebook,” she said. “I had no clue what they were talking about, then I checked my email and saw I had emails from Dr. Jensen Moore who teaches MC 4005 and Mindfire Challenge manager Ronald Tolson Jr.”

In exchange for her creative ideas and energy, Hilton will receive career coaching, training and job alerts from Ketchum, along with a $100 prize. All Mindfire challenges and ideas are confidential, making the community a trusted, real-time resource for clients including FedEx, IKEA, Frito-Lay North America, Wendy’s, Hertz, Mattel and Nokia. It also makes for a great addition to any students resume

About Mindfire

Ketchum’s Mindfire crowdsourcing site allows graduate and undergraduate students with communications and digital skills from leading universities in the U.S., the U.K. and Asia to participate in an open innovation community, where real challenges facing Ketchum and its clients are posted for students to tackle, alone or collaboratively.

About Ketchum

Ketchum is a leading global communications firm with operations in more than 70 countriesacross six continents. Named 2012 PR Agency of the Year (PRWeek) and the winner of an unprecedented three consecutive PRWeek Campaign of the Year Awards, Ketchum partners withclients to deliver strategic programming, game-changing creative and measurable results that build brands and reputations.