Cassandra Berglund, currently in her final year of studying BA (Hons) Business & Management at Regent’s, took part in an Industry Challenge with Landor and McLaren during the second term of her second year.
Here is her insight into the experience - and what she learned from it.
The industry challenge
In the second year of my degree, I chose the Industry Challenge module, which gave me the opportunity to apply what I had learned at Regent’s to a real-world brief and contribute fresh ideas to an established business. Our challenge was to explore how McLaren could engage Gen Z while preserving its distinctive identity and legacy.
Developing McLaren Mode
Drawing on research and our own experiences as members of Gen Z, my team developed McLaren Mode: an app concept designed to build engagement beyond race weekends through participation, rewards, exclusive access and a sense of progression.
I took a leading creative and strategic role, bringing the different elements together and applying knowledge from my Emerging Technologies module to build a functional app prototype. This allowed us to demonstrate how the concept could work from a user’s perspective, giving McLaren and Landor a tangible example of how they could connect with younger audiences.
Recognition from Landor
We were invited to present at Landor’s headquarters, where its Strategy Group praised our research, confidence, structure and attention to detail, describing our work as ‘Above and Beyond’. The team also offered support if we applied for future internships or roles at Landor. This made the experience particularly meaningful, helping me build professional relationships that could support my future career.
Skills for the future
The project strengthened my strategic thinking, creativity, leadership and teamwork, while building my confidence in presenting ideas. It also reinforced that a good idea needs to reflect both the audience’s needs and the brand’s identity.
Seeing McLaren Mode come to life and receiving recognition from industry professionals were the most rewarding parts. The experience showed me how the skills I’ve developed at Regent’s can translate into a professional environment and inspired me to pursue similar projects in my future career.