In its sixth annual Next Generation (“NextGen”) Competition for undergraduates, GfK in North America is urging students to explore such key marketing topics as purchase journeys, teen and young adult consumers (the Now Generation), and “future-proof” innovations.

Learn more about the competition and access complete topics and guidelines.

For 2017-18, GfK has simplified the process for initial entry into the contest, making it easier for individual students or small teams to take part. In the first phase, students identify a marketing issue to study and propose a self-funded research project to provide answers to that problem. No primary research is conducted in the initial phase, and entries are limited to 1,000 words.

Watch a video about the 2016-17 NextGen winning team. 

GfK and a team of client Mentors then choose a small number of finalists to actually conduct their research and report on their findings and implications. The winning team receives a $1,000 prize and a visit with GfK experts to learn more about consumer insights as a discipline and a career.

For 2016-17, clients who took part as Mentors included Beiersdorf, Campbell’s, Estee Lauder, Eli Lilly, General Mills, Mondelēz International, Nestle SA, Sodexo, and Unilever.

The contest is ideal for undergraduates who are taking or have taken courses in Market Research, Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Statistics, Sociology, and related topics. The deadline for initial entries is December 1, 2017; finalists will be notified on December 15. Finalist teams will then conduct their research, synthesize their findings, and submit final reports by March 30, 2018, with winners to be notified on April 20.

For more information, contact marketing@gfk.com.