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USM Marketing Students Win Top Prize in Regional Competition

May 27, 2005

A team of 18 University of Southern Maine marketing students won the $3,000 top prize in the Ford Focus College Marketing Program after squaring off against a team from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the finals of the regional competition on Thursday, May 26.

The competition was part of a program, sponsored by the New England Ford Dealers, advertising agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT), and marketing education consulting firm EdVenture Partners, designed to provide students with hands-on training in the fundamentals of marketing, including market research, campaign design, advertising, and public relations.

The USM team was one of six student-led teams from New England universities charged with increasing consideration and awareness of the Ford Focus among college-aged consumers by creating and implementing a comprehensive marketing strategy. Other universities participating in this unique "industry-education" program were: Castleton State College, Providence College, University of Connecticut, and the University of New Hampshire.

Throughout the Spring Semester, the USM students created a temporary advertising agency, Maine Focus Marketing, to research, implement, and evaluate an integrated marketing campaign for their client, the New England Ford Dealers. After organizing their agency and researching their target market, the students spent the first part of the semester formulating their marketing strategy and campaign ideas. In March, they presented their concept to executives from the New England Ford Dealers and JWT, the advertising agency of record for Ford, before executing their campaign. The USM team held several well-attended events on USM's Portland and Gorham campuses, as well as hosted an "ugly car contest."

In early May, the six New England teams then made formal, agency-style presentations before executives, when USM and UMass-Amherst were named finalists. On Thursday, May 26, awards were presented shortly after the USM and UMass-Amherst teams made their final 30-minute presentations followed by 20 minutes of Q & A, said Jeanne Munger, a USM associate professor of marketing who guided the USM team. The UMass-Amherst team received the $1,000 second prize.

The five USM students who made the final presentation were: Rob Waterman, Rob Gould, Patrick Nott, Stephanie Gavett, and Amy Strout. Waterman also earned a $500 individual student achievement award and a job as an account executive for JWT in the Boston area.

Munger says the Ford Focus College Marketing Program, a pilot program for possible implementation across the country, is the first program in which EdVenture Partners has worked with a Maine school. The USM team's win gives the University some visibility that could encourage EdVenture to bring other projects to Maine, she said.

"This was the most high-powered project I have ever worked on," said Munger of the executive-level participation by JWT, Ford, and EdVenture. In addition to the competition win, Munger noted that the USM team's campaign slogan, "Adjust Your Focus," also received praise from a high-ranking JWT executive.

Munger said she realized through this project that there is a lot to be taught and discussed about team dynamics, which the USM students experienced first-hand. "Those types of issues arise in business everywhere, and you need to know how to keep a team together and to keep them motivated. In a normal classroom, that experience is minimized," she said.

The project also gave auto industry and advertising executives insight into how to more effectively market products to college-age students, said Munger. She noted that college students tend to be more skeptical about information they receive in brochures or in television spots than older populations and, more important, are far less likely to see messages on television or other more traditional mediums. "Students are on the Internet, they are instant messaging, text messaging, and they are getting messages in movies," said Munger. "[The companies involved in this project] really want to learn how to get their messages to college students."

Editor's Note: More information about the USM marketing students' temporary advertising agency Maine Focus Marketing, please visit www.usm.maine.edu/sb/adjustyourfocus/MFMinfo.htm.

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