CREATIVE TACTICS

ECU students compete in national marketing challenge

Two teams of East Carolina University students creating marketing campaigns for Honda and a social search engine start-up company are entering the final weeks of a nationwide competition.

ECU students are in the final weeks of a national marketing campaign competition. Pictured above, ECU student Haley Holt participates March 15 in a logo contest as part of a marketing campaign for a 2012 Honda Civic Coupe. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

Sponsored by marketing education consultancy firm EdVentures, 58 participating ECU seniors are tasked with designing a strategy to reach college students aged 18-25. Each team is awarded $3,000 to spend on the project. Thirty-three ECU students are competing in the startUP Productions Marketing Challenge to craft a campaign for zaahah.com. Another 25 students are working together in the 2012 Honda Civic Coupe project.

Students from both groups will be available for interviews at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Bate Building, located on Founder’s Drive. The event will extend outside Bate to include a graffiti-style art installation and a freeze mob – examples of the creative tactics the students employing (are employing) to build interest in their campaigns.

This is the first time ECU has participated in the challenge said Christy Ashley, an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the ECU College of Business.

“The program offers students a unique opportunity to put their marketing knowledge to the test with a real budget, real decisions and real results to measure,” Ashley said. “The opportunity to participate in the program…will help ensure ECU continues to produce marketing graduates who are prepared to help the companies that hire them from day one.”

Universities competing against ECU in the EdVenture Partners challenges include Johns Hopkins University, University of Southern California and Virginia Tech. ECU is the only university in North Carolina participating in these projects, Ashley said.

Winning campaigns will be announced in May and implemented by the participating companies. The student groups could win up to $5,000 from placing first with Honda, and $3,000 for a top zaahah.com finish. EdVenture Partners will award $1,000 to ECU regardless of the outcome.

For more information about ECU’s Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, visit http://www.ecu.edu/cs-bus/marketing.cfm.

For more information about EdVenture Partners, visit www.edventurepartners.com.