For young people looking for a future working in all aspects of the car industry, Georgian College’s Automotive Business School of Canada is the route to combine education with a general passion for vehicles.
The school staged its 37th annual edition of the event this past weekend on the school’s Barrie campus. The school’s Auto Show is run as professionally as any of the major national and international events run year-round with far bigger budgets and professionals. In this case, it’s part of the students’ curriculum. It’s a one-year commitment to attract sponsorships, vendors and manufacturers seeking to promote their products with displays to do test drives or activations. Pfaff had a Porsche Drift Track that gave attendees a chance drive one of the brand’s cars at high speed around an oval.
There were also various family activities, such as a dog show, motorized racing bikes and inflatable slides, to provide entertainment for all ages.
“We were hired for this position about a year ago and every year it rotates, and you start planning from day one,” said Neven Freyberg, a third-year student who served as the Director of Marketing and Media Relations. “With the marketing aspect you’re figuring out designs, your logos, your slogans at the very beginning and then you start ramping up on social media and physical marketing, and that’s just on my perspective. Then you have my colleague, Anabelle Baxter, who is our Sponsorship and Performance Director. She’s working on leads for the entire months trying to get people to sponsor, to pay for events, it’s the same for all of us involved.
“Realistically, it’s a whole year of planning, and if we would have had even more time we would have loved it. It’s busy – it’s go, go, go – but it’s been an amazing opportunity.”
One of the big attractions this year was Mercedes-Benz returning for the first time in five years, the first German OEM to do so. As well as featuring several new cars, it also featured a rock cliff display. MB returned to the Canadian International AutoShow this year after a similar absence.
“We have quite a few brands that don’t go to the other auto shows, and it really shows (the Georgian College Auto Show) is more than just a place to show off their vehicles,” said Neven. “It’s a way for students to engage with the brand, learn about the vehicles and potentially work with them down the line. It’s also just for students to learn their skills in supporting people and growing their careers.”
I encountered Neven shortly after talking to Georgian College’s Marketing Manager Taylor Woods. I was looking for a student to talk to and Taylor suggested Neven, who was standing nearby. In my brief time chatting with him, I found Neven exuded the embodiment of this program.
“For me, I always knew I wanted to go down the business route and I’ve always loved cars my whole life,” Neven said. “I originally wanted to go to a school like Queen’s and study Commerce, kind of like the rest of my classmates wanted to, but I found out about this program in Grade 9 when I was struggling a little bit in school with my mental health.
“I actually realized that maybe going to one of those top-end Ivy League schools might not be the place for me. I wanted to kind of stand out from the crowd, be a little bit different, and I learned about this school and the program and it really changed my perspective on what I should pursue (and) how I should learn.
“Honestly, since I’ve gone here, I know this is the best decision I could have ever made. There’s so much experiential learning here, there’s so many different opportunities. I really know that I’ve flourished here that I might not have been able to at another school.”
He said students may go into the program thinking it’s all about selling or marketing cars, but they soon learn it offers a broad range of avenues to pursue.
“What we’ve kind of realized is there’s so many different places within the auto industry, there’s different aspects of it,” Neven said. “Maybe they like parts, maybe they like marketing, maybe like aftersales. It’s really let us grow coming into ABSC and we’ve learned where we want to go.”
Perry Lefko is the Content Manager of The Car Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free to forward any story suggestions or comments.
