DMAW Educational Foundation

Maryland’s Salisbury University has been a stalwart entrant in the DMAW Educational Foundation’s Collegiate MAXI awards competition. Salisbury won Gold and Silver in the Fall 2015 competition and took Gold again in the Spring 2016 event.

Here, we interview Salisbury students who took honors in the Fall 2015 and the Spring 2016 Collegiate MAXI competitions.

INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS

Advisor

Professor Paula Morris of the Management and Marketing Department in SU’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business serves as advisor to teams competing in the DMAW/EF’s Collegiate MAXI award competition

TEAM MEMBERS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE

Eliot Tarash of Columbia, MD, worked with teammates Ben Bouma of Mersville, MD, Justin Lee of Frederick, MD, and Megan Zurkowski to take Gold in the 2015 Fall Collegiate MAXIs. The team mounted a fundraising campaign for the Central Park Conservancy, which relies on grants and donations for its annual budget to maintain the New York park. Their three-pronged plan projected a campaign income of over $1 million. “Leaf It to Us to Grow Your Roots” called for a Vine online video campaign to attract Millennials, stay in touch with active donors via text-to-donate opportunities and Meetup groups, and strengthen member relations via email.

Dana Seman from Centreville, MD, and Bryan Wolf from Brookeville, MD, were Silver winners in the Fall 2015 Collegiate MAXIs. They competed with teammate Haylie Parks of St. Mary’s City, MD. This team proposed a “Box to the Rescue” plan targeting Millennial mothers (roughly ages 24-34). Initiated via a Facebook campaign, the effort offered a subscription to a neonatal care box, which would be mailed at regular intervals. A portion of the proceeds would go towards the hospital, and the donors would receive their box in return. The plan was designed to attract new as well as repeat donors. By using social media and text message/emailing systems, the effort hoped to keep donors interested and aware of how important contributions are.

Genevieve Kurtz, Destiny Jones, and Sierra Little, comprised the winning team from the Spring 2016 Collegiate MAXIs. Choosing to tackle a challenge from the Environmental Defense Fund [EDF], the Salisbury team proposed a nationwide contest to raise awareness and funds. Based on the hashtag #PlantPostPrize, the effort sought to gain national interest in EDF’s activities using integrated social media, direct mail, telemarketing, and email channels.

 

1. As a winning team in the 2015 Collegiate MAXI awards competition, describe how your team was recruited and assembled.
2. Eliot Tarash. “Prof. Morris held an interest meeting for those competing in a competitive marketing competition. From this meeting the students were able to talk and build their team. Megan and Ben who both held positions on the Marketing Excellence board built my team. They recruited me. Justin was added to the group when he met us at the interest meeting.”

1. What attributes, strengths, skills, etc. were sought for team members and why?
2. Bryan Wolf. “When initially putting teams together, those of us in the interest meeting based our team choices on our peers’ performance in previous classes. Some traits we looked for in students to add to our teams included:

• Dedicated/Hard Working: Those students who were known to put extra time into their class work and participated frequently in class.
• Creative: Students who were known (in class) for creating/sharing ideas.
• Flexible: Students who did not have too many prior obligations. The time required to execute the MAXI competition properly is equivalent to adding an additional class to your schedule.
  • Marketing and computer experience: Teammates who had previously competed in marketing competitions and students who exceled with computers (Photoshop, Excel, Prezi, etc.) were highly sought after as well.”

1. How did the Collegiate MAXI experience contribute to understanding of integrated marketing?
2. Bryan Wolf. “The collegiate MAXI experience allowed the students to take the information we were learning in class and truly apply it to a real world situation. All the marketing vocabulary (awareness, acquisition, retention, ROI, etc.) were just terms we learned to pass a test in class. The competition gave these words life and allowed us to fully understand how they contribute to a successful marketing campaign.”

1. If the Salisbury team could deliver one message to the DMAW Educational Foundation, what would it be? 
2. Dana Seman. “Our message to the DMAW Educational Foundation would be, “thank you!” Our university is so lucky to have such a wonderful relationship with the DMAW Educational Foundation, because of hard work on both ends. We truly appreciate the opportunities that have been presented to our students and it has been such a wonderful experience, personally. Continue to encourage students to push their limits and get involved. Thank you again DMAW/EF!”

Part II

Part I  introduced readers to the students who took Gold and Silver awards in the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 Collegiate MAXI competition. This month we continue our interviews with students from the winning teams.

1. Each team had three challenges from which to choose. How and why did the your team select the challenge they decided to pursue?
2. Destiny Jones. “We chose the Environmental Defense Fund case competition because we thought that the topic was interesting. The nonprofit organization aimed to improve environmental issues and worldly conditions. The instructions for the challenge were clearly defined and specifically stated. Therefore the project, in our minds, was better to work with compared to the other options.”

 

 

1. How and at what point in the process was work split among the various team members?
2. Eliot Tarash. “A lot of our research was split so we could divide and conquer and then come back together and share our findings with the group. Aside from research we split work based upon interest and skillset. Even though work was split we almost always worked together in the same setting (typically all together in a campus study room). Additionally, we did not work exclusively. We were always asking each other for suggestions and talking amongst the group for ideas. All in all it was more a cohesive group effort working all together to keep our campaign on the same page.”

1. How were responsibilities for the slide presentation assigned and by whom?
2. Bryan Wolf: “While putting the presentation together, it was apparent who understood a particular portion of the presentation better than the others. For example, while one teammate mastered the ROI and budget, another had a firm grasp on the persona. Therefore, we had each team member present the information they were most comfortable with.”

1. In preparing the slide presentation pitch, what did the participants learn?
2. Dana Seman. “Our team learned to be confident in our findings, to take our time, and to be enthusiastic about our idea! After being critiqued by our classmates and teachers just days before the competition, we had to decide how to turn their feedback into a great presentation. If I could give any advice to future student participants, it would be to welcome their critique (even the harsh critique) and use that to your advantage in the competition!”

1. What was the most difficult task the team faced in putting their pitch together and what was learned from that experience?
2. Destiny Jones. “The most difficult task was bringing the different components together to convey the overall message. There was a lot of information and research that went into organizing every section of the challenge. Ensuring that the message was precise and easy to follow was very difficult. To resolve the problem our approach was to constantly remind our viewers, throughout the presentation, what the objective was in each section and how it tied into the main idea. Through this approach we learned important presentation skills.”

1. What was the most enjoyable part of the Collegiate MAXI experience?
2. Genevieve Kurtz. “My group spent a lot of time trying to get our ideas organized in a way that flowed logically, and we worried that we would not have everything in order for the day of the competition. Seeing our final presentation come together and earning positive feedback from the professors who helped us along the way was extremely rewarding.

In addition, my team and I maintained a competitive mindset throughout the entire process. Despite obstacles thrown in our way, we stayed true to our one main objective—to blow the judges away with our presentation and win! When the judges finally announced the winners, we were overjoyed and felt accomplished with all the time and work we had put into it.”

1. From the students’ point of view, how can the Collegiate MAXI experience be improved and/or made more effective?
2. Genevieve Kurtz . “One thing my team wished we could have done is watch the other teams present. We had the option of watching the other teams or spending that time preparing for our own presentation. We chose to spend that time practicing for our presentation, but afterwards had wished we could have seen the ideas the other teams brought to the table. One thing we considered was the possibility of videotaping the competition in future years, so the students can view other team’s presentations — in case they missed it. This could also allow students to watch their own presentations and take note of any improvements they could have made, to better their public speaking skills.”

 

Nancy Rathbun Scott, a member of the DMAW/EF Board of Directors and the former editor of DMAW Marketing AdVents, wrote this article.