Recent Liverpool Business Clinic projects

Organisation details: Regenerus is a registered charity and social enterprise providing a wide range of services for the local community to improve health and well-being and create a better, more inclusive society. Their focus is on offering transformational support through creative activities: community growing, arts, heritage and culture workshops and outdoor environmental classrooms.

Two project teams worked with Regenerus on separate briefs.

Regenerus Project brief 1: The Investment Centre team

The brief was to develop strategies to increase occupancy rates for their range of managed workspaces in Bootle, Liverpool - bringing levels back up to pre-pandemic occupancy. Students were required to undertake market research and a competitor analysis and were tasked with developing a marketing strategy to enable the charity to reach its target market.

Outcome: Ruth Livesey of Regenerus said, “tasked with developing a marketing strategy for the Investment Centre, which offers a range of managed workspace managed by social enterprise Regenerus, the team have brought fresh ideas to reach new audiences. At the introductory meeting it was clear that they were well prepared and had already undertaken background research, working their way through a set of well thought out questions to tease out more about what we offer, who our target audience are and how we currently reach potential new tenants.

“Bringing creative new ideas to add to our approach, the team have been enthusiastically busy designing marketing materials, drafting social media posts and producing virtual tours on video, a valuable contribution and much appreciated.”

Students: Final year undergraduate students, BSc (Hons) Business Management

Final year undergraduate student, Molly Brown, reflected on her experiences, “Working on this project has provided me with invaluable real-life consulting and marketing experience. It has allowed me to put my theoretical knowledge into practice, which I believe will be highly beneficial for my future career.”

“I have developed key transferable skills, such as effective communication, project management, team work, analysis and in-depth research. Overall, the project has been a great alternative to a traditional dissertation.”

Duration: 24 weeks

Regenerus organised Bootle’s first Climate Action Festival in 2022, with over 20 stallholders and welcoming over two hundred visitors. In preparation for the 2023 event, LJMU Business Clinic students were asked to provide support in event planning and co-ordination, recruitment of stallholders, event contributors and ongoing communications relating to logistics.

They were also asked to research and identify sponsorship opportunities, as well as reviewing the marketing strategy development and delivery, to ensure active participation in the event on the day.

Outcome: The team’s professional attitude and engagement in the project, made a positive impression on Ruth Livesey of Regenerus. “Receiving a team profile before our introductory meeting was a great touch and added the feel of a client - consultancy relationship. As this is the second year that Regenerus are organising the Climate Action Festival in Bootle, the team had done their research and arrived with clear objectives for the meeting, working through lessons learnt to current plans, adding their ideas and suggestions and finishing the meeting with a task list - well managed and very professional!”

Regenerus appreciated the students “taking the time to meet with members of our local community who volunteered to help at the 2021 festival, the team's enthusiasm helped sparked lively chat where the different perspectives led to the cross fertilisation of ideas.”

“The team successfully identified new contributors and sponsors for this year's festival, designed some great marketing content and introduced us to some bang up-to-date social media approaches.”

Students: Final year undergraduate students, BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) with International Business Management

Final year student, Hollie Glassey, oversaw the creation of marketing materials. This included posters for the climate action festival for social media accounts and pin boards within the local area of Bootle. She created infographics for the event on the benefits of using LED lightbulbs to educate the local community, including QR codes to measure everyone’s carbon footprint. Additionally, Honest coffee, a vegetarian food provider who focuses on making sustainable coffee, was recruited to provide beverages and food at the festival to the local community.

Jana Dimitui and Shona Campbell were responsible for networking with sponsors for financial aid and giveaways and recruiting new stallholders at the festival. During this they spoke on behalf of Regenerus and successfully recruited sponsors and stallholders, such as RefillMyCandle and Spit-Roast. Jana and Shona also crafted social media posts for the Instagram and TikTok account to create awareness of the upcoming event and appeal to a younger generation to educate them on climate change.

Lastly, Gera Doherty was responsible for the risks assessments of the event and ensuring excellent communication between all stakeholders concerned with the event to ensure efficient and effective events planning.

Hollie commented, “during this project, I have most enjoyed the responsibility and freedom we were given by Ruth to be creative with our own ideas. For example, when creating the marketing material, I had full control of what to produce, the colour schemes and images included. Ruth allowed us to work independently to network with sponsors, stallholders and food providers without supervision when speaking on behalf of Regenerus.”

Shona Campbell of Team Quatro said, “It has been helpful to get insight into the real working world and helped with communication skills and how to build relationships with those you work with in order to work better.”

Duration: 12 weeks

Organisation details: Cains Brewery Village is the pioneering leisure destination within the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool’s digital and creative district. They curate the tenant profile and proactively work an engaged collective with all on-site traders to promote and complement their highly independent offerings.

Project brief: Their brief was to review the brand strategy and ongoing regeneration of the Cains Brewery Village site. Students were tasked with assessing and evaluating the quality of the current site offering compared to other similar operators. They were asked to determine an implementation plan of the offerings the site would require, competing with similar global urban villages. This project needed to consider the impact of the upcoming train station, new tenants and agreed development plans.

Outcome: The project culminated in an impressive presentation to key stakeholders onsite at Cains where each student presented their findings to Cains Brewery Village management. The students were praised for their individual recommendations and bringing their own specific focus to the project.

Students: Final year undergraduate students, BA (Hons) Marketing

Final year undergraduate student, Will Wallis, said “It was an honour to have the opportunity to work as a marketing consultant for Cains Brewery Village. It was an invaluable experience to work with a real-life client, trying to understand their wants and how I can benefit their company. I really believe this module has benefitted me looking forward into the future.”

The business consultancy module “has taught me to learn, adapt and not be afraid of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. This is my final year in education and I’m glad I took a consultancy module instead of the standard dissertation. LJMU gives you opportunities to grow as an individual and the Cains Consultancy module was definitely one of these opportunities. I would recommend it to anyone.” Final year undergraduate student, Sophie Scott

"The consultancy project not only enabled me to gain industry experience working with a real client but developed my skillset in a line of work that is constantly mentioned in the business world but rarely covered in class. I had always had ideas on what businesses Liverpool was crying out for so to complete my own research and present my findings to the director of an influential business was an invaluable experience" Final year undergraduate student Jordan Robinson

Duration: 24 weeks

Organisation details: Liverpool Feds W.F.C. is an English women’s association football club, playing in the FA Women’s Premier League Northern Division 1.

Project brief: The club are working towards identifying commercial partnerships, grants and increasing brand awareness for the club. The brief was to investigate potential partnerships, sponsorship and grant opportunities for the organisation. Students were also tasked with creating a marketing plan, increasing game attendance and raising brand awareness in the local area.

Outcome: Students produced long-term recommendations on how to improve commercially. This included securing a contra deal for a new banner outside the club grounds. Additionally, they produced a fresh marketing plan, developing strategies to raise awareness locally. They were pleased to see the positive impact they have made on the organisation.

Abby Pope and the team at Liverpool Feds WFC provided continuous support of the students and were delighted with the outcomes of the project, “I have been really impressed with the team and their overall desire to make improvements to our football club. They have been incredibly independent and shown outside-the-box thinking to produce some great ideas to impact us now and in the future.

“The communication has been clear throughout, and I can tell they are really bought into what we are trying to achieve. Honestly, I cannot fault them, and I am really grateful they have come on board during a pretty pivotal time in our club's development.”

Students: Final year undergraduate students, BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International

Student, Samuel Morris, said “we have been helping the team improve in regard to local visibility, seeing the differences we have made be implemented. Weekly meetings with our business consultant helped guide us in the correct direction and provided us with industry data and feedback.”

Duration: 12 weeks

Organisation details: Frank Soo Foundation (FSF) is a non-profit, independent organisation based in Watford which facilitates more inclusion and diversity of East / Southeast Asian football. It implements a variety of open football events, coaching opportunities and networking with the local community.

Project brief: The foundation hopes to expand in the North West region. They are currently focusing on Liverpool, as this is where Frank Soo, the first East Asian to ever play for England national team, was born, raised and played football. The foundation organised a grassroots football event with East / Southeast Asians in Liverpool.

LJMU students were tasked with devising a social media strategy to help organise and promote a new one-day Football Tournament to be held in Liverpool, for participants from an East / Southeast Asian background. The students focused on promoting the tournament through various social media channels.

Outcome: The event was planned to raise awareness of Frank Soo’s heritage, including his background, culture and experiences. The organisation aimed to create a sustainable football event format for the future, with the goal of developing mutual relationships between LCFA and East / Southeast Asian communities in Merseyside.

The Frank Soo Cup, held on the 25 February, was an immense success, recognised by both The FA and the community. More than eighty players in six teams, from Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham attended. There were over fifty spectators including Jacqui and Andy Soo, the great grandchildren of Frank Soo. LJMU Sport Business students worked to promote the event, and to recruit teams for the tournament. They developed a logo and a poster to recruit participants and advertise the Frank Soo Foundation, as well as giving guidance on social media strategies.

The Frank Soo Foundation were delighted with the outcomes "It has been a great opportunity for The Frank Soo Foundation to work with LJMU students especially for making the event more diverse and professional. Their independent work and outcomes earned favourable reputation from the board of the foundation and LCFA. We are hoping to expand the tournament in the future along with John Moores." Maxwell Min, LCFA and The Frank Soo Foundation

Students: Final year undergraduate students, BA (Hons) Sport Business

The Sport Business students were incredibly grateful for the support and guidance they received from the Frank Soo Foundation. They particularly enjoyed communicating with the various Asian football communities to encourage participation at the event. Student, SJ Chang, said that the Frank Soo Foundation has “always supported the direction of our project with enormous feedback.”

Duration: 12 weeks

Organisation details: 100watts is a venture studio based in Pune, India, enabling technological innovation across retail and consumer brands. They identify B2B tech start-ups, working on innovations and helping them to achieve product market fit, and develop their business strategy and go to market plans. 100watts also helps organisations create market access and secure funding, functioning as a tech accelerator for these ventures.

Project brief: 100watts aimed to consider new growth prospects through a wider footprint of new stores. Students were asked to revise 100watt’s e-commerce strategy to achieve increased customer engagement and spend value. As part of this, they were briefed with identifying a list of key business challenges faced by retail and consumer packaged goods brands. Additionally, they were asked to research potential innovation partnerships.

Outcome: The student group produced a detailed report on the business challenges faced by retail, D2C and consumer packaged goods brands in the UK and Europe. In addition, they compiled a list of brands and stakeholders who would be suitable to work with 100watts as corporate innovation partners.

Managing Partner of 100watts, Ajay Aggarwal, reflected on the consultancy process with LJMU Business students, “The project journey has been excellent since the students were very proactive and enthusiastic on the subject. I must say they continue to show the same level of energy during the whole duration.

“I also appreciate their earlier understanding of retail space through their earlier experiences. This helped a lot to create interest and excitement.”

Students: Final year undergraduate students, (BA Hons) Business with International Business Management

“Working with Ajay and his company 100watts has been incredibly insightful and valuable to us, we have kept regular contact with him on a weekly basis, working together to carry out tasks. This has given us a sense of what working as a coordinated team is like in the business world. We have carried out research and found solutions to challenges that companies face regarding their business functions. Ajay has been very helpful and easy to communicate with.” Brandon Sanchez Flores

Duration: 12 weeks

Organisation details: The Mersey Youth Support Trust (MYST) is a registered charity supporting entrepreneurs. They assist fledgling business to reach the next level by providing affordable subsidised office space close to Liverpool City Centre. MYST particularly seek to collaborate with people who are unemployed or under-employed or may be disadvantaged, allowing them to take responsibility for their own future.

Project brief: Students were tasked with undertaking a feasibility study for a new community cafe in Kirkdale, Liverpool. This was to provide the charity with a shop front to promote and expand its support and services. It will also serve as a venue for hosting workshops and community events. The brief asked students to conduct market research into competitor trends, opinions and engagement. They were also asked to consider a ‘sustainability agenda,’ staffing and training whilst taking financial considerations in account.

Outcome: The student team produced a floor plan and concept design for the future development of a community cafe, taking into consideration MYST’s requirements; a digital suite and an open entrance. They also created and presented a cost analysis of the cafe, a competitor analysis, and strategies to make the cafe more sustainable.

Kevin Lovelady at MYST reflected on the success of the project. “Working with Seb, James, Jack and Rhys has been fantastic - their enthusiasm, diligence, attentiveness and creativity has been exemplary. Their work will be of enormous benefit to the organisation both in the short term and longer term, in helping us focus on some key strategic areas, backed up by their in-depth research and findings.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with them and we would have no hesitation in recommending them for any future opportunities. We wish all the very best with their degree and future plans.”

Students: Final year undergraduate students, (BA Hons) Business with International Business Management

Students reflected on how Liverpool Business Clinic has helped their understanding of real-world working, “The assignment has helped us understand the day-to-day operations of a working business, whilst developing an understanding of the work (i.e. Financial Forecasting, Competitor Analysis and Advertising) that goes into starting up a new business.”

Final year undergraduate student, Seb Lynch, commented, “the two most notable skills that we feel we have gained throughout this experience would be time-management - demonstrated through the process of meeting team deadlines and completing work around other assignments. And secondly, team-communication skills - gained through our weekly team meetings, delegation of tasks and different communication channels.”

Duration: 12 weeks

Organisation details: The LFC Foundation is the official charity of Liverpool Football Club.. With a focus on social action, the Foundation undertakes volunteering, campaigning and fundraising activities. Its goal is to increase the numbers of young people engaged in social action.

Project brief: Sports Business students were tasked with designing Social Action Campaigns to engage with local communities. The campaigns were designed under one of the three LFC Foundation delivery themes of Wellbeing, Skill or Community.

The campaigns were to focus on evidence-based issues that are in prominent in Merseyside, including poverty, young people at risk of crime such as ‘county lines,’ and gangs, social isolation or access to food banks and community pantries. Students were asked to research sports charities and the support that they offer local communities to inform their campaigns.

Outcome: Students developed creative plans for community events and campaigns to reduce knife crime and to raise awareness of homelessness in the city of Liverpool. This project has allowed them to deepen their understanding of how social action is delivered and how sport club affiliated charities use the power of their brand to raise awareness of community issues. Students were delighted to present their ideas at a recent event in celebration of the Memorandum of Understanding between Liverpool John Moores University and the Liverpool Football Club Foundation.

The students proposed an LFC Foundation Lock in with tournaments and fun activities. They would each raise sponsorship money which will go to local homeless charities around Liverpool. Their ideas were praised, with the students and the LFC Foundation looking forward to future collaboration.

Students: Level 5, Sports Business students

Sports Business student, Beatrice Spencer, discussed her group’s proposed campaign, “we have been working with the LFC Foundation to create a social action campaign to have a wider effect on the community around Merseyside.”

Duration: 12 weeks

Project: To design a community social action campaign.

Brief: This project aimed to develop student awareness of Sports Charities and how they support and operate within their local communities. Students were to gain an insight into the reach Sports clubs have within the community and how “Power of the Badge” can raise awareness for causes that greatly impact the community of Merseyside such as; promoting healthy lifestyles; increasing community participation in sports; crime prevention; education initiatives; increasing employability skills; and supporting mental health.

The aim of the project was for students to design a social action campaign against the themes of Wellbeing, Skills and Community and to utilise the expertise of staff working on the various outreach programmes that are run by LFC Foundation, to inform their research and guide the development of their own campaigns. 

Outcome: Students were invited to deliver a presentation outlining their proposals for their own social action campaign to a specialist panel of LFC Foundation members. The winning presentation centred around a Community based campaign called the LFC Foundation Family Festival. A one-day event planned for over the summer at Doric Park, designed to increase family participation in outdoor physical activities with a view to promoting wellbeing within the local community. Events on the day were to include football as well as other physical and cognitive activities. The event would partner with local charities and food banks to promote nutritional awareness and healthy eating.  The aims of the campaign were to improve relationships between families, get more children involved in physical activities and to increase community involvement with the LFC Foundation.

The two students who created the campaign are to be invited to the LFC Foundation to spend a day shadowing a campaign manager to gain an insight and greater understanding of the role involved in running a community outreach programme.

Students: Level 5 (second year) BA (Hons) Sport Business

Duration: 10 weeks.

Project: Ticket Relaunch

Brief: To conduct market research into various ticketing strategies from across a range of different sporting organisations within the domestic UK sports market (Football and Rugby Super League) and the wider international market (Australian Rugby League, American NFL and NBA leagues and Canadian Ice Hockey league) with a view to potentially offering modern alternatives to the traditional season ticket approach. To provide market research into the clubs’ price matrix; the types of packages and bundles on offer; how these clubs have promoted and advertised ticket sales through social media; and how fans have responded to these changes.

Outcome: The students conducted in depth market research to create price matrix documents to compare competitors’ equivalent prices, the range of packages on offer and how these were promoted across various social media platforms. The market research will be used by Wigan to inform their ticketing strategy moving forward.

Students: Level 6 (third year) BA (Hons) Sport Business

Duration: 10 weeks.

Adrian Ward, Marketing Manager at Wigan Warriors say about the project:

It has been a pleasure to work with so many passionate LJMU students who have been keen to showcase their credentials as the marketeers of the future in our industry. They have provided genuine help to us by undertaking a real-life research project that we’re putting to direct use in order to offer the best possible ticketing packages for our supporters.

The diligent research from the students, which was well presented and hugely relevant to our plans, allows us to access a breadth of information that would have taken our department months to compile alongside our existing projects, so this resource has been a vital time-saver and has given us plenty of food for thought as we plan for new and innovative ticketing options for the seasons to come. It’s valuable research that will be read by directors and the leadership team within our Club to shape our thinking on how to keep taking us forward.

We are very keen to continue working with future generations of Sports Business students from the Faculty of Business and Law at LJMU and offer more hands-on opportunities for them to add high quality research projects for a leading institution to their CVs; an aspiration that will hopefully provide mutual benefits for years to come.

Brief: DTIG asked current students to explore areas for potential growth, by diversifying the current portfolio of products on offer. They were asked to devise and implement marketing plan and to explore the pros and cons of delivering a series of events.

Outcome: Students developed and improved the DTIG Linked In social channel to improve company’s market presence. They implemented improvements on company website including enhanced visibility through meta descriptions and improving SEO to positively impact search rankings.

The group also improved passive income by introducing a video subscription service to the website; allowing the platform to make revenue on existing material and knowledge.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Students were asked to review the Power Platform website, audit content, and undertake market research.

Outcome: Students researched similar sites across England and based on their findings, created a new content proposal and a new content scheduled plan. They conducted market research with current students to identify student expectations, spot gaps and develop areas of improvement. The group also identified and implemented changes to make the website more accessible and improve navigation.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: To develop a feasibility study for maxfashion.com to enter European and UK markets through cross-border shipping.  This included reviewing product range, price point, customer demand and service proposition; delivery time; returns; order tracking.

Outcome: The feasibility study presented by the students provided the basis to develop a strategy for marketing, logistics, pricing, and product suitability. It included a full SWOT and competitor analysis to address the product range of clothing for Men, Women, Kids, Footwear and Accessories and a detailed review of the ideal ‘anchor category’ in which to enter European and UK markets.

The groups also created a data management system, to assist the organisation post project, advising on website development and future recommendations for consumer buying patterns.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Review growth potential and investigate diversification of current services and products. Develop a strategy to convert retail customers into digital customers to enhance sales.

Outcome: Students created an ideas strategy to convert retail customers into digital customers to develop and grow their ecommerce sales.

The group identified a target market using a pricing and positioning strategy. Students created and implemented a marketing strategy which included organic and paid social media posts.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Devise and implement a marketing plan for 2022.

Outcome: The group produced a 2022 marketing strategy and action plan. Emphasis was placed on targeting the student sector with an enhanced social media presence (a 30% linear increase).

Ailis and Sophie, Business with Marketing students were given a brief to form their own company to act as a consultancy for Alpha. They created Fortis, and Alpha gave them the opportunity to create content and run its social media channels, working (virtually) alongside the company’s in-house digital marketing specialist.

“It was a difficult time for students, especially those who were in their third year, because they weren’t able to travel or go into businesses on placements,” says Alpha Business Development Manager Steven McKinlay.

“It was the first time we’d linked up as a company with LJMU but we were keen to help Ailis and Sophie and find ways that they could help us too.”

With the core Alpha Taxis running alongside a new Alpha Grab, their city-based equivalent of Uber Eats, launched in lockdown; the two students were allocated one business each to promote.

“We gave them quite a free rein, they designed the posts, chose the target market and came up with a strategy. They decided they were going to go down the competition route, offering an Amazon voucher as a prize, so we gave them a budget to manage which included the prize and also the post boost.

“It wasn’t something we’d have really considered before, but they came through with some really good ideas that helped us to reach a wider market, especially students.”

With under 25s a major market for any taxi company, Alpha were keen to tap into Sophie and Ailis’s insight. “I think you’ve always got to listen to young people because they know what’s going on and everything that’s new which you need to stay relevant.

Sophie says the Alpha Taxis placement gave them valuable real-world experience and has encouraged both to pursue digital marketing as a career. “Our main plan was to design a student marketing campaign and we also did a general campaign alongside that to optimize their social media channels because when we did some research we found they were missing out on certain aspects.

“It was definitely good to see the real side of what we’d been studying because sometimes we’d come up with ideas which we thought would work and then in practice we realised why they weren’t already doing them. So it gave us a more practical view of things which was really useful.”

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Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing

Duration: 11 weeks

Brief: Produce a report showing how and where retailers are combining channels to market, including final mile logistics using Fintech.  

Rarely Heard Voices is the private, global community of Retail leaders, participation is by invitation only. They specialise in brokering transactions between investors, retailers, brands, celebrity talent and franchise groups.

Outcome: Students began with data collection and in-depth research analysis of current systems.

Using Tableau, the group created a data visualisation tool to illustrate how the company currently processes data. This allowed an enhanced understanding of current localised practice, garnering insights and predictions that can enable the client to make informed decisions, hopefully leading to a sustainable competitive advantage.

Students: Level 6 (third year) from BA (Hons) Business with Marketing, BA (Hons) Business with International Business and BA (Hons) Business with Finance programmes.

Duration: 11 weeks