UA News

Students placed first in national competition to market the hybrid Insight to Gen Y.

University of Arizona undergraduates in the Eller College of Management placed first in a competition to develop a peer promotional plan for the Honda Insight, a hybrid electric vehicle, beating out 20 other schools nationwide.

The UA team was one of three finalists – including Georgia State University and California State University, Fullerton – to present to a panel of judges from American Honda Motor Company and ad agency Ruben Postaer and Associates in Los Angeles, culminating a semester-long project sponsored by EdVenture Partners.

"The students knocked it out of the park," said Edward Ackerley, the team's faculty adviser. "They thought through every aspect of this campaign and were able to take a really simple idea and bring it to life in a compelling way. They did a phenomenal job of representing the marketing department and the UA."

Five students from Ackerley's MKTG 425 Advertising Management class – marketing seniors Todd Lane, Shiloh Miller, Chelsea Robinson, Brandon Schempp and Evan Singer – traveled to Los Angeles to present the results of their promotional campaign, which they developed and executed over the fall semester with a $2,500 budget.

"The class takes a case study approach to help students understand how advertising works in the marketing mix," Ackerley said.

Through an arrangement with EdVenture Partners, the students were assigned to a project, in this case, to promote the Honda Insight to university students between 18 and 24 years of age. The class formed an ad agency with a director and divisions including operations, public relations, creative, marketing and finance. "It's completely self-directed," Ackerley explained. "I started each class with a brief lecture and then turned it over to Evan Singer, the agency's director, so that he could manage the ongoing project."

This was the first year that the UA participated in an EdVenture project that concluded with a national competition. In previous years, the UA's participation ended with a presentation to EdVenture representatives.

This year's UA team – Four 2 Five Advertising – focused its on-campus promotional efforts around UA Homecoming weekend. "Each school was given a new 2010 Honda Insight for the designated event date," says Singer. "However, we want to do the extraordinary, the unexpected. So we negotiated with Dobbs Honda and Chapman Honda and received two more new Honda Insights for our event." They used the cars to create what Ackerley called a "promotion with commotion," which included the UA mascot, Wilbur, the UA marching band, games, giveaways and more.

The team also developed a Facebook contest in which students were challenged to come up with a phrase using movie titles and no more than 140 characters to explain why the Insight is "cool." The winner was awarded $100. In all, Ackerley said, the students wrung an estimated $28,000 in value out of their $2,500 budget.

"This program allows students to work on a project with real clients, real goals, real budgets and real outcomes," Ackerley said. "Evan really summed it up best at the competition when he told the judges that the experience is one that the students will never forget."

The win also included a $5,000 prize from American Honda that will go toward student activities in the UA marketing department.

The Four 2 Five team also is the latest in a series of Eller student teams to place in national and international case competitions. In November, Eller students placed first in the Altria Sales Competition in Las Vegas and third in the Ohio State Biz Quiz. In October, an Eller team was the only U.S. university in the finals of the Dalhouise University business ethics competition.