When five teams of London Business School (LBS) MBA students were given the task of assisting the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, to stimulate the nation’s economic growth, they jumped at the chance.
The UK government enlisted the RAF with the commission to formulate creative strategies to draw customers in order to boost the economy.
Commander of the RAF Red Arrows, Air Vice-Marshall Andrew Turner said of the students,
“They have given us a range of innovative, thoughtful, and insightful ideas that we just hadn’t contemplated before, [in addition to providing] some really useful business perspectives… If we can turn these ideas into action, it will help reposition the Red Arrows [to]… launch products and engage stakeholders all over the world – all to help promote UK prosperity.”
Entitled ‘The London Business Experience’ (LBE), the two-week immersion course allowed students to offer solutions such as partnerships with other brands and the deployment of mobile technologies. One recommendation was engagement with leaders in the fashion industry; another was the development of an app with which followers of the Red Arrows could vote for the maneuvers that they wanted to see at events. Each of these solutions included participation from advertisers such as band labels.
“Red Arrows LBE was a great opportunity to step out of the London and finance bubble, and actually provide a wider perspective on how businesses and teams work in different parts of the country,” remarked Ishaan Aggarwal, MBA participant.