Win-Win for Fanshawe Marketing Students and Recycled Paint Manufacturer Boomerang

A team of Fanshawe College students received a $500 award from Boomerang Recycled Paint after winning a contest to create a marketing plan for the Quebec-based company.

Hanin Tarazi, Steve Blasiak, Eryk Gabriel, Emma Forte, Angela Colebrook and Jeff Palmer at the Boomerang Recycled Paints presentation

For the past four months, students in the third year of Fanshawe's Business Administration Marketing program have been busy developing comprehensive marketing strategies to raise awareness for Boomerang, a manufacturer which has been recycling unused portions of domestic paint for the past 17 years.

By collecting unused, unwanted and discarded paint (whether Benjamin Moore, Sico, CIL, Para, Behr, Pratt & Lambert or any brand), Boomerang produces a high quality paint made of 99 percent post-consumer paints from recycled contents. Boomerang reports that by 2006, 3.6 million kg of discarded paint was collected. They even recycle the cans - in fact, 85 percent of everything collected is recycled. Boomerang Paint offers a full-circle completely recycled product, unique in the paint industry.

"Boomerang is such a great fit with our program objectives," said Dawn Rovers, professor of the Business-to-Business Marketing class at Fanshawe. "Their focus on resource sustainability and corporate responsibility resonate loudly with the students."

Boomerang, which began in 1989 as a community project by the Victoriaville School Board in Victoriaville, Quebec, now has distribution channels nationwide. Boomerang is currently available through independent dealers, Para Paint retail locations, and is sold under the name Rona Eco Recycled Paint in Rona stores across Canada. The recent opening of their new distribution facility in Brampton, Ontario is the latest in the expansion plan for this socially-conscious organization.

In partnership with the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business at Fanshawe College, Boomerang is now exploring ways to increase awareness of its product line. The company offered a $500 award to the students with the best ideas.

"Boomerang presents a unique marketing challenge and I am very proud of the professionalism, the creativity and insightful recommendations our student consultants have made," said Rovers.

Third-year Business Administration & Marketing students spent the fall semester creating marketing ideas for submission to Boomerang.

"It was wonderful to see so much effort and diligence put into these submissions," said Steve Blasiak, Business Development Manager for Boomerang. "It was an interesting and eye-opening experience for me that in itself broadened the scope of future potential Boomerang conversations."

Each submission was judged by senior executives, and the winning team was announced on Thursday, January 28, 2010. Jeff Palmer, Eryk Gabriel, Angela Colebrook, Emma Forte, and Hanin Tarazi presented their proposal to Mary Pierce, Chair of the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business, and David Belford, Dean of the Faculty of Business, along with guests from the media. Steve Blasiak was also present, having returned to Fanshawe College to congratulate the students and present their award on behalf of Boomerang.

For further information about Boomerang, please visit www.boomerangpaint.com.