MSU
Forty MSU students are creating and producing a marketing campaign for American Honda Motor Co. Inc. this semester.
MSU is one of 18 universities nationwide — and one of two in the Big Ten — that are participating in this spring's Honda Fit Marketing Challenge.
The other Big Ten university is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The challenge allows students from each university to develop an advertising campaign featuring American Honda's new subcompact car, the Fit.
Each university received $2,500 to produce their campaigns during a 12-week period.
"It's just a really great way to actually gain real-world experience," said advertising and English senior Brianna Bartemeyer, who also is in charge of public relations for MSU's campaign.
"We're able to put everything that we've been able to learn through our years here and implement it into this campaign."
It's possible that some of the students' campaigns could be used by American Honda in their actual advertisements, said Ariel de la Merced, a senior analyst with American Honda.
"We're confident that the end result of this project would be very positive, and we would like to use some of the material for our own marketing strategies," de la Merced said.
MSU's students are enrolled in the Advertising Campaigns class under visiting lecturer Jim Gilmore, who sets up the classroom as a full-service advertising agency that includes various departments, from research to accounting.
"We were really set up for the way that (American Honda) wanted this done," Gilmore said.
The class is in the creativity stage of the campaign and is preparing for an on-campus promotional event for the Fit on April 7, he said.
"They're trying to get ideas from young people on how to reach young people," Gilmore said.
MSU also is doing something differently than the other schools by offering national advertising through TV and radio commercials and print and Internet advertising, he said.
American Honda chose to feature the Fit for this program, since it is aimed at college students, de la Merced said.
"It's a perfect fit to have students involved with the marketing (and) advertising for this," he said.
"We're using the true experts in that field, and hopefully from this program they can come up with ideas that we would probably use."
The Fit was introduced in January at the Detroit Auto Show but isn't available to auto dealers until April, de la Merced said.
American Honda did a similar program to feature the Element about three years ago, he added.
EdVenture Partners, a California-based education and marketing consultant, selected the universities for the program and serves as a facilitator between MSU and American Honda.
"We provide the day-to-day management of the program and are essentially the project managers between students, educators and the clients," founder and CEO Tony Sgro said.
"We link college students with real clients … (and) we bring education to life."
He added that MSU was selected for the program based on the university's reputation and connection to the demographic that the client is looking for.
When the program ends in June, five students and a faculty member from the top three campaigns will travel to Los Angeles and meet with 50-75 American Honda executives.
The students will present their campaigns in a 25-minute PowerPoint presentation, followed by five to 10 minutes of questions and answers with the executives, Sgro said.
The winning teams receive anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000, which goes back to the university's advertising department, Sgro said.
