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Marketing students place third in national contestApril 21, 2008 KALAMAZOO--Eight students in the Western Michigan University Department of Marketing recently placed third in the nation at the annual American Marketing Association case competition, marking the fifth time in seven years that a WMU team earned a top spot in the competitive event. WMU's chapter of the American Marketing Association was one of eight U.S. chapters that presented its marketing plan on April 3 at the AMA Collegiate Conference, which brings together more than 1,000 of the best and brightest marketing students and their faculty advisors. WMU's team was led by Marisa Archey of Stevensville, Mich. Other team members include: Dan Corbett of Grand Haven, Mich., Brittany Miller of Livonia, Mich., Melissa Demetriou of Dexter, Mich., Bryan Emmendorfer of Almont, Mich., Marvin Lee of Ypsilanti, Mich., Megan Collins of Augusta, Mich., Lauren Stawara of Livonia, Mich., and Jessica Scholti of Royal Oak, Mich. Esther Page-Wood, WMU marketing instructor and the team's advisor, says the team's commitment led to its success. "This is an extremely competitive event attracting well-known universities," Page-Wood says. "For WMU to place in the finals of this competition numerous years is a testament to the high caliber of students at the Haworth College of Business and the quality education they receive here." More than 100 teams from the United States and Canada registered for the competition, but only eight teams earned a place in the final competition. This year, WMU faced teams from Loyola University-New Orleans, Southern Connecticut State University, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Texas State University-San Marcos, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, University of Pennsylvania and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The two-part competition began during the fall semester. Teams were asked to develop a marketing plan for the McGraw-Hill Higher Education e-commerce portal. All of the cases were judged using a double-blind process and were reviewed by a team of judges from the business community. The top eight were selected in January and prepared an oral presentation to the actual client in March and April. The final oral presentations were judged by executives from McGraw-Hill at the event in New Orleans. According to Page-Wood, the AMA Case Competition "has grown increasingly competitive over the years, both in the number of entries and the caliber of the entries. This is an intensive time commitment for the students. They spend as much time, if not more, than they would on a class each semester and they don't receive any credit for doing this competition. The reward is in the experience." Media contact: Mark Schwerin, (269) 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu WMU News |
