Deloitte and BrandGames Create Virtual World for Teen Business Education

Deloitte partnered with Brand Games in the early 2000s to create basic business simulations for middle and high school education as well as recruitment purposes. In 2006 they rolled out the Virtual Team Challenge for High Schools, challenging teams of students to run simulated charity events.This year's contest, running through March 24, features over 5,500 students from about 100 high schools nationwide trying to host a festival to raise money for United Way. The winning team gets to make an actual donation and gains a grant for their school, but Deloitte is also hoping to build more accounting and business talent among youth.  "Deloitte had a vision for this--and we've been helping brands and companies use games as part of both their consumer-facing and internal communications for years, so our toolset was a perfect fit," Jim Wexler, executive vice president of marketing at BrandGames, told MediaPost.