Last week Year 8 enjoyed a ‘Business Brains’ careers workshop led by Bright Futures. 

Students competed against each other in small teams in an environment designed to recreate a real marketplace. Each team was given a failing product to re-brand. This included critiquing the current product and identifying why it might be failing. They then had to consider their customers and competitors and the personality of the new brand which they wanted to create. 

They were introduced to 12 different types of brand names, such as Compound names (DropBox, PayPal, Screwfix), Literal Names (WeBuyAnyCar, Hotels.com) or Abstract Names (Apple, Amazon) and then the students experimented with names until they struck gold!  Each team then designed a new Logo and Slogan to accompany their brand name. 

The final stage of the process was a profit-making activity. Students bought materials, created newly branded products and sold them. After the trading time was over, each group was shown their accounts on the big screen! This led to discussions of the key terms, including profit, loss, and break even. 

The Year 8s on what they enjoyed the workshop:

“It gave us a taster of the workplace environment. Learning about sales and designing and how to satisfy customers.”

“Learning about how different companies differentiate themselves from other companies.”

“Working with people I don’t usually hang out with and exploring different logos and business names. I am very inspired now.”

“The workshop taught us about businesses while keeping it fun and giving us some hands-on experience in a business.”

“Learning about careers as well as managing a business.”