News

Thursday 16 September 2010

UK's first leisure complex 'app' to be launched after University project

(L to R) Chris Mitchell, Akande Abiodun Moshood, Suzanne Green and Jane Barton

The UK's first smartphone application for a leisure complex is to be launched by The Cornerhouse after students from Nottingham Business School, part of Nottingham Trent University, recommended the move as part a project to review the company's eBusiness strategy.

The Cornerhouse is home to a 14-screen Cineworld cinema, restaurants, bars, hair, beauty, casino, a comedy club and a nightclub. Five students from Nottingham Business School's MSc in Management course were tasked with researching its eBusiness activity as part of their real-world consultancy project module.

Christopher Mitchell, Ranran Li, Akande Abiodun Moshood, Xiang Li and Ramasangu Ramadoss undertook a thorough review of The Cornerhouse's current activity and explored how it could improve its internet presence and activity with regards to social networking, mobile phones and mobile applications.

The team researched the eBusiness and eMarketing sectors as a whole, including the current trends for internet and mobile usage. The group also questioned fellow Nottingham Business School students on the topic and queried the potential for a Cornerhouse smartphone application, with 93.8% of respondents saying that they thought it would be a good idea.

After receiving the findings, The Cornerhouse has now decided to proceed with an iPhone application, which is currently with Apple for final approval. Once launched, it will allow customers to find out cinema times, follow a link to book cinema tickets, look at Cornerhouse Card offers and access information about businesses within the complex.

Further recommendations in the final report include focusing on Facebook and Twitter as its main social networking sites. Additional development of the current Cornerhouse Card is also recommended, which includes customer-specific offers and expanding the loyalty scheme. It is also suggested that text messages be sent to customers who have signed up for the service and a Cornerhouse Community be created through activities and events which link back to the website.

Jane Barton, marketing manager at The Cornerhouse, said: "We've already ventured into eMarketing but we wanted to find out whether what we're doing is right and where we should go from here. This is the second time we've worked with Nottingham Business School and, like the first, the work from this group was excellent. They were extremely professional throughout the project and kept to the budget and resource constraints we set in the brief.

"After hearing their presentation and reading their report we decided to go ahead with the iPhone application and we'll also be looking at other eBusiness strategies we can implement based on their findings."

Chris Mitchell, MSc in Management and Marketing student and the group's project manager, said: "It was fantastic to be able to apply what we've learnt in our studies to a real-world project for one of Nottingham's leading businesses. We had some excellent feedback from The Cornerhouse and the fact that they're following our recommendations shows that they really valued our work."

Project supervisor and Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Nottingham Business School, Clare Brindley, added: "We're always extremely pleased when businesses such as The Cornerhouse offer up such a significant project for our students and then take their ideas on board. We've had some very successful consultancy projects this year which have demonstrated the benefits of University-industry collaboration for both the businesses and the students involved."