Driving into Infinity and beyond with BSM competition

• Pupils from Costello College win BSM e-advert competition
• Competition part of Young Enterprise Programme
• Prizes presented on Thursday March 15^th

A group of GCSE pupils have come out tops in a competition to create an attention grabbing advert.

The 22 year-10 pupils from Costello Technology College entered the BSM e-advert competition as part of the Young Enterprise’s (YE) Company Programme, the largest and most comprehensive business education programme in the country.

The pupils, who set up and run a soap company called Infinity as part of the programme, were presented with their winners’ trophy and cheque on Thursday, March 15^th.

The competition was supported by one of YE’s major local supporters BSM, who kindly donated the trophy and the prize money. The winning team won £50, second place £30 and third place £20, which goes towards their business’ profit.

BSM marketing manager Margaret Parsons presented the prizes at the company’s head office in Basingstoke.

She said, “All the pupils in Infinity should be very proud of their achievement, their advert was really professional and showed a high level of creativity.

“BSM and the Young Enterprise are both in the business of developing skills for life and these pupils have really kick-started their potential careers by taking part.

Local YE Chairman Mike Young said, “We’re really grateful to BSM for their backing, which allowed us to run this competition for the first time.  It sparked tremendous inventiveness amongst all the students in the participating companies and the entries ranged from cartoons to acting by the students themselves.  I was amazed at how much they packed into 30 seconds!”

As well as winning the E-advert competition, Infinity also won the best stand competition at the YE Christmas Trade Fair in Basingstoke Town Centre.  However, they face tough competition to retain their title at the YE Spring Trade Fair in Castle Square in the Malls on 24 March, as the seven other YE businesses from local schools and colleges are determined to topple them.

The E-advert competition was open to all the local YE school companies and the students had to make a 30 second video to advertise their business.  The entries were judged by YE Area Board members Andrew Bulpitt (Lenovo), Ian Hamilton (Lilly UK) and Margaret Parsons (BSM).  Infinity narrowly beat Clere Thinkers (the Clere School, Burghclere) who came second and YellowBellies (Brighton Hill Community College), who were third.