UCLan student to get business advice from TV dragon after winning creative competition

25 March 2022

Jiaqi Rong was in the victorious team at the Two + Two event

A University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) student will spend the day learning from one of the dragons from BBC’s Dragons’ Den after winning a creative competition.

Jiaqi Rong was a member of a five strong winning team at the recent Two + Two student competition and she will now travel to London to receive advice and get a unique insight from entrepreneur Steven Bartlett, founder of Social Chain.

The second-year creative advertising student, from China, said: “When we won the championship, the room was very noisy, and my team members repeatedly asked is it us? Have we won? I couldn't believe it. During the competition, all the team members fully expounded their own opinions and suggestions. We had excellent creative ideas and I’m absolutely delighted to be recognised by the judges.”

"We had excellent creative ideas and I’m absolutely delighted to be recognised by the judges"

Jiaqi Rong, second-year creative advertising student

Jiaqi and her teammates competed against 200 other creative and marketing students from 16 universities across the North of England in the one-day event, held in Manchester.

The five-hour challenge focused on data for good and sustainability in transport and was set by headline sponsor Wejo, a Manchester-based connected vehicle data software solutions provider. The teams had to think about a variety of marketing aspects, including key audience insight and brand insight, and create layouts and scripts. In addition, they had to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at various stages throughout the day.

“It was a hard brief to think of a big idea to change the world in a short amount of time,” said the 21-year-old. “We thought it's not just about the benefits of sharing data, it's about convincing our audience that we can help them. Our final idea was to put ‘me’ into ‘we’ to change the world. This also corresponded with our focus on making a better world.”

"I’m confident we’ll see the names and faces of this year’s winners at the front of the industry in the near future"

Julie Ollerton, Managing Director of organiser’s Creative Resource

The event also tested the students’ communication skills as they were split up and had to work with fellow students from different universities. She added: “It was the first time I’d met my team members and it was hard to work together to deliver our work in a short space of time. There were differences of opinion during the process, but these differences didn’t affect the outcome. I think it actually helped us win the prize because we brainstormed so well and the discussions expanded our thinking.”

As well as spending time with the investor, they will have their final ideas displayed on the second largest digital billboard in Europe, on Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse.

Julie Ollerton, Managing Director of organiser’s Creative Resource, said: “The quality of the creative ideas was of a high standard that blew the judges away. I’m confident we’ll see the names and faces of this year’s winners at the front of the industry in the near future.”

Julian Gratton, Senior Vice-President Brand, Marketing and Content at Wejo, added: “Throughout Two + Two we witnessed outstanding collaboration between students and professionals. The creative ideas and pitches amazed us with their intelligent and creative approaches and the students embraced our Smart Mobility for Good positioning. The winning team got to the heart of the human benefits that Wejo can deliver now and in the future.”

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Two + Two winning team01 / 01

L-r: University of Leeds' Olivia Duff; Manchester Metropolitan University's Rory O’Moore; Lancaster University's  Ashwini Kelkar; Karl Sanderson, Executive Creative Director of Vivid; Leeds Arts University's Taylor Orford and UCLan's Jiaqi Rong
L-r: University of Leeds' Olivia Duff; Manchester Metropolitan University's Rory O’Moore; Lancaster University's Ashwini Kelkar; Karl Sanderson, Executive Creative Director of Vivid; Leeds Arts University's Taylor Orford and UCLan's Jiaqi Rong