| April 2, 2013
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ELITE Sales Day in the Field

Photo by Thomas Veneklasen.

Photo by Thomas Veneklasen.

By Jessica Haworth, Eller Pre-Business

When thinking about business ethics and integrity, a multi-million dollar tobacco company may not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, after spending the day with Altria Tobacco Group, you may want to think again. On Friday March 3rd  I was one of about a dozen students who had the opportunity to spend a day with an Altria sales representative up in Phoenix through Eller ELITE.

We started our day bright and early, departing from the steps of Eller around the same time that the sun came up. I don’t think any of us really had a clear idea of what we would be doing or what the day had in store. Once we arrived in Phoenix, we were greeted by Michael Wood and several sales representatives from the greater Phoenix area. They presented us with a few facts about the Altria Group and background information on what the career of a sales representative is really like. We were then paired off with two ELITE members per representative, and we were able to gain a day in the life of field sales. My partner Chis Herrera and our sales representative Darryl Bennett spent the day driving around Phoenix and checking in with our stores. It was here that we were able to analyze raw data, check inventory and put real problem solving skills to use. We took turns introducing ourselves in each store, and as Darryl put it “representing the face of a Fortune 500 company.” To see Darryl work with such interest in what he was doing was something really great to see. Every detail, from the ad space to stock was taken care of, and each store offered something unique. In addition to learning the business/financial side to the job, I was almost surprised to see the relationships and social aspect to field sales. Stores know who their sales reps are, and over time develop a social and working relationship.

For me, the most memorable part of the day was while we were completing one of our last stores. We had walked into a Walgreens and gone over to the cigarette case. Darryl instantly pointed out something that I had overlooked- there were children’s Easter baskets over the cigarette case. After finishing inventory, we requested a manager and asked for the baskets to be moved. As it turns out, Altria pays for the space above the cigarette cases to not have anything on top of them in order to prevent things like this happening. It was really interesting to see just how seriously all the sales representatives take their jobs and what they do in order to uphold ethics and company image. Throughout the whole day we were checking for “We Card” signs outside the doors and above the cases. Not only are these signs federal law, but the reps make sure those signs are there for ethical reasons as well.

The experience gained and the understanding of what field sales really is was well worth the early start to the day and commute to Phoenix. If anyone has the opportunity to be involved in a program like this, I would highly recommend taking it. The members of the Altria group were knowledgeable, friendly, and engaging and if given another chance, I’d gladly go back for another day as a field sales representative.

Category: Undergrad | Tags: ,
| March 26, 2013
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A Conversation with Ken Segall, Apple Ad Man

Ken Segall

Ken Segall

Bits of Wisdom from a Conversation with Ken Segall, “The Man Who Put the ‘i’ in Apple,” Eller Lecture, March 4, 2013

By Paul Tumarkin, Marketing Manager
UA External Relations 

Last night I went to hear Ken Segall speak at the Eller College of Management. Ken, an ad exec, worked closely with Steve Jobs for over 12 years, originated the iMac name, and helped develop the Think different campaign.

The audience was filled, a smattering of undergraduate and graduate students, community members, faculty and staff. Ken is a soft-spoken guy, very approachable. And wise.

After decades in the computer industry working with the greatest minds of the field, Ken’s got some wisdom. He said, “Only when I worked at other companies like Dell, Intel and IBM did I learn that there was something wrong with the rest of the world.” Cheap shot? Nope, just an observation. He saw the other guys being overly democratic in their decision-making and lacking focus. Apple, on the other hand, was doing things right in terms of setting its priorities and pursuing the company’s goals with absolute focus. They were moving ahead decisively, instead of getting bogged down in committees and watering down their vision to please too many people.

Part of all their success was due to the fact that Apple only had one person ultimately to please: Steve Jobs. But sometimes even Steve was wrong. (No way! Way.) When Apple was coming out with its  game-changing machine that would take computers from plain beige boxes into the world of designed, colorful machines, Steve called the team in and told them that they needed a name for this thing. He said that he had a name he loved, but if they could beat it, he was willing to listen. Steve’s grand idea? The “MacMan.” (Genius? Not so much.) But the team went to work and came up with “iMac.” It took a while for Steve to come around to it, but he started using it and it stuck.

And only after implementation did it grow from idea to genius status with the iBook, iPhone, iTunes, etc.

And to finish out, I love quotes. They stand alone and can house great wisdom. And they make the quoter look smart. So, to encapsulate a few of the greatest lessons of the night, here are a few gems, totally out of context.

“When you achieve simplicity, it makes people like you more.” (See examples: Apple products; McDonald’s coffee, any size for $1; the Forever postage stamp.)

“Simplicity never fails. Because it’s not a trend. It’s been around forever. It’s part of human wiring.”

“Complexity is alive and well and is always there to muck things up.”

“Being simple isn’t simple. It takes an incredible amount of work.”

“Simplicity = Brains + Common Sense”

“If you want to make a dent in this world, you have to be 10 times what it was before.” –Steve Jobs

Principles to remember:

  1. Think minimal. Minimize the hierarchy of the organization. Apple always functioned like a startup: no committees, one final decision-maker. Apple’s most powerful weapon was small groups of smart people.
  2. Minimize the product line. Dell has 42 laptop models. HP has 49 laptop models. Apple has 6.
  3. Minimize the words. Keep it simple. Shed all complexity. The iPod product tag reads, “A thousand songs in your pocket.” Leonardo Da Vinci said, “One should use common words to explain uncommon things.”

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Simplicity is the ultimate creative weapon. Because the world is complicated, simple things stand out.”

For further reading:

  • You can follow Ken Segall on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ksegall.
  • He also has a blog at www.scoopertino.com, “an imaginary news organization devoted to ferreting out the most relevant stories in the world of Apple, whether or not they actually occurred.”
Category: Events | Tags: , ,
| March 20, 2013
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Arizona Student Startup Demo Day

ASU SkySongArizona’s top student-run startup companies will compete at the first-ever Arizona Student Startup Demo Day on Friday, March 29, from noon to 5 p.m. at ASU SkySong. Twelve startups from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona will pitch their companies to a panel of judges, vying for $30K in prize money.

Each startup will be judged on:

  • Problem and proposed solution
  • Strength of team and advisors
  • Market opportunity
  • Go-to-market strategy
  • Budget and use of funds
  • Progress made toward launch

One team from each university will receive $7K, and three runners-up from any of the schools will receive $2K each. In addition, one grand-prize winner selected from the top three teams will receive the inaugural Arizona Startup Territorial Cup and an additional $3K in prize money.

The event, which is sponsored by Hool Law Group and MAC6, is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided, and a reception with live music by local band The 8-Teaze will follow.

WHAT: 2013 Arizona Student Startup Demo Day

WHO: Student-run startup companies from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona

WHEN: Friday, March 29, from noon to 5 p.m.

WHERE: ASU SkySong, 1475 N. Scottsdale Rd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85257

Category: Students | Tags: ,
| February 27, 2013
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Eller students participate in AT&T brand challenge

By Christie Marsh, Eller Marketing Junior

University of Arizona has been selected as one of six schools throughout the country to participate in the AT&T Campus Brand Challenge. Students in Marketing 425: Advertising Management have created an in-class, working marketing agency, Red Brick, responsible for researching, implementing, and evaluating an integrated marketing campaign.  The campaign is aimed at strengthening AT&T’s brand value proposition and market share among the Generation Y market.  All six schools will be competing for the chance to present their creative ideas to AT&T executives at the term’s conclusion.

Students will begin by conducting research to find out more about the target market.  After they have analyzed their research findings, they will design a campaign aimed at engaging Gen Y and increasing the demand for AT&T service for students on campus.  Red Brick will bring their campaign plans to life using a $3,000 budget provided by AT&T.  At the end of the term, students will collect post-campaign research, and then conclude with a formal presentation to their client summarizing the campaign results and successes. Student agency director Corey Malley said, “Red Brick is really looking forward to working with AT&T and EdVenture partners and creating something unique. Today, brands need to connect with their customers and do more than just provide a product or service. We want to help create those types of connects between AT&T and the students of the University of Arizona.”

Watch for more information about the AT&T Campus Brand Challenge at University of Arizona throughout the spring term.

Category: Students, Undergrad | Tags: ,
| November 8, 2012
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Dynamic, Student-Led iAm Chevrolet Event Held on UA Mall

By Alexandra Duby, Eller Marketing ’12

Advertising Management student Dots Nathan, showing what "Ignite your Spark" is all about with the funky and fun Chevrolet Spark

Advertising Management student Dots Nathan, showing what “Ignite your Spark” is all about with the funky and fun Chevrolet Spark. Photo by Kelsee Becker.

On October 25, 2012, the iAm Chevrolet event was held on the University of Arizona Mall. This event took much preparation and it had a great turnout. This event included three cars: the Chevrolet Spark (the newest of the three), the Sonic, and the Cruze. These three cars were each given their own “museum exhibit” and personalities. The Spark was represented by upbeat college life, where attendees could find candy and bubbles. The Sonic was staged with an outdoorsy lifestyle, and included such props as cornhole and a canoe. And lastly, the Cruze was demonstrated alongside a more luxurious appeal, where students and faculty could obtain a glass of sparkling cider. Visitors were encouraged to sit in and explore the cars in order to see which ones they liked.

Chevrolet Tech Expert Matt informs students on the ins and outs of the Spark

Chevrolet Tech Expert Matt informs students on the ins and outs of the Spark. Photo by Kelsee Becker.

Also at this event were surveys where participants could discover which car best suited their personality. With a DJ playing hit songs in the background and lots of colorful balloons surrounding the area, many stopped by to hang out or even win some prizes, such as Starbucks gift cards and Carraba’s discounts. Attendees were also offered pizza and coupons to many Tucson favorites, such as May’s Counter and AZ Core Nutrition. Ultimately, visitors could win an Amazon Kindle Fire with an entry of just a few pieces of information. iAm Chevrolet lasted from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and then moved over to Bear Down Friday at Main Gate Square.

Advertising Management student Ronnie Rosas keeps the party going mixing beats

Advertising Management student Ronnie Rosas keeps the party going mixing beats. Photo by Kelsee Becker.

Alongside this campaign event, MKTG 425: Advertising Management participated in a lot of work behind the scenes. This class gave students hands-on advertising experience which is not the typical curriculum for a college course. Students like me were able to take a lot away from this class due to the fact that the experience gained is invaluable. For example, in the Public Relations team, students had to track down beneficial media contacts, which would assist in getting the word out about Chevrolet to college students, as well as advertise the College Student Discount Program.

EdVenture Partners gave us the opportunity to really expand our horizons. This campaign, in particular, required students to plan, strategize, organize, and assess resources in order to effectively reach the target audience.

This class’s main objective was to increase brand awareness among the UA population, and this campaign event definitely provided a “promotion with commotion!” to quote Advertising Management lecturer Ed Ackerley.

~~~

Alexandra DubyAlexandra Duby is a Marketing major with a minor in Spanish. She will graduate in December 2012, and currently serves as the Campus Liaison for Target.

Category: Events, Students |
| October 19, 2012
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Advertising Students Gain Real-World Experience with Chevrolet

By Patrick Casey, Eller Marketing ’12

Student with Chevrolet Spark

At one point or another, most college students have uttered these nine words: “I’m never going to use this in the real world.”

But that isn’t the case for the students in Edward Ackerley’s Advertising Management class. The class is currently working with four real-world clients, the largest of which is Chevrolet. Each of these campaigns involves strategic business decisions, an actual budget, and creative freedom. While three of the campaigns are for local clients, the Chevrolet campaign is part of a national competition put on by EdVenture Partners.

Chevrolet has teamed up with EdVenture in order to give students the opportunity to work hands-on with an actual marketing campaign. Throughout the semester the students in the class are required to complete deliverables, meet with local Chevrolet partners, and plan one grand event on campus to promote Chevrolet. The company’s main goal is to increase brand awareness and improve the perception of the brand among consumers ages 18-24. While Chevrolet has a large line of commercial vehicles, there are five models they have asked to students to focus on, including the all-new Spark mini-car, Sonic, and Cruze.

The event is only weeks away, and the students have been hard at work to put on a successful campaign. On October 26, five Chevy cars will be displayed on the UA mall. While the details of the event are still in the works, the main goal is to have UA students to interact with the cars via personality surveys. Once they complete a short survey, they will be matched with one of the five cars based on their personality as indicated in their survey responses. There will also be food, games, and music.

So come support your fellow Eller students and check out some amazing cars October 26 on the UA mall. We will keep you updated with the progress of the campaign in the following weeks.

~~~

Patrick CaseyPatrick Casey is a marketing major with a minor in global business. He works with an international nonprofit organization called Young Life. Patrick will be graduating in December of 2012.

Category: Events, Faculty, Students |
| October 16, 2012
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EdVenture Partners Adding Value to the Eller Experience

By Brenda Schaub, Eller Marketing ’13

Chevrolet Sonic

Fall 2012 marks the beginning of a flood of new and eager students at the Eller College of Management. Among them, 62 students of media arts and marketing adjunct lecturer Edward Ackerley are currently enrolled in MKTG 425 Advertising Management. Here we learn to identify the needs of a market, create an effective message, and identify and utilize appropriate media channels that all aid in the management and development of competent and compelling advertising communications.

Like many semesters before, we have teamed up with EdVenture Partners, an organization that works to build strong cross-sector collaboration between nonprofit, corporate, and public sector entities. In doing so, EdVenture Partners empowers students with hands-on application of real-world learning experiences. This semester, the lucky students of MKTG 425 have been given the opportunity, through EdVenture Partners, to develop a promotional campaign for Chevrolet.

The “iAM” campaign for Chevrolet is currently underway and is geared to promote the Cruze, Sonic, and Spark automobiles in an effort to stimulate awareness throughout the campus.

We are holding an event at the UA Mall on October 26, 2012 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Immediately following 5 p.m., the event will be moved and continue at Bear Down Fridays at Main Gate Square on University Boulevard. Please be sure to come by and enjoy free food and entertainment, and of course, to see industry-education partnerships at work!

~~~

Brenda SchaubBrenda Schaub is a 27-year-old Eller marketing student. After completing high school, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where she was tasked as a pilot training instructor. In 2010, she decided to expand her skills by embarking on an academic journey. Brenda is currently a devoted mother and wife who fervently challenges her abilities when balancing personal and professional obligations. She now looks forward to branching out as a professional following graduation in May 2013 as influential Eller alum.

Category: Faculty, Students | Tags: ,
| October 8, 2012
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Eller Alum Launches Pigskin Boss

By Patrick Casey, Eller Marketing ’12

Pigskin BossWhat do you get when you combine social networking with fantasy football? You get Eller Alum Evan Singer’s newly launched website, Pigskin Boss. This site relies on the collaboration of its users to provide others with useful information regarding player stats, top draft picks, weekly game speculations, and more. Amongst thousands of fantasy football websites, Pigskin Boss is the only place that relies on a community to give fantasy football advice rather than limiting yourself to one expert opinion.

If you are looking to get advice from other users, referred to as bosses, you can easily post polls regarding week-to-week decisions like what players to start or bench, who you should trade, etc. This allows you to get timely and personal advice from potentially thousands of fantasy football minds, which gives you, the decision maker, a lot more information to make the right move come game day.

Pigskin Boss also believes that you don’t have to be an established journalist to know a lot about sports. Any user can share thoughts about existing articles or write his or her own. And while sifting through a 5+ page articles or forums can feel overwhelming, Pigskin Boss allows you to search for articles by player so you don’t have to waste time with articles that aren’t relevant to your team.

These days there is so much information available on the web, it’s tough to determine how accurate information is. Pigskin Boss solves this issue by tracking the accuracy of each user’s advice. The boss rating system finally allows you to weed out good advice givers from bad advice givers.

Pigskin Boss launched September 4, 2012 and has already begun to build a large community of bosses. So if you are struggling with making the right decisions for your fantasy football team or are just looking for a place to network with other fantasy football players and get hundreds of answers to your questions, look no further than Pigskin Boss. You can sign up today for free at pigskinboss.com.

~~~

Patrick CaseyPatrick Casey is a marketing major with a minor in global business. He works with an international nonprofit organization called Young Life. Patrick will be graduating in December of 2012.

Category: Alumni, Students |
| July 13, 2012
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Sports Management — London Study Tour Update

Ben (right) with his friend Chris at the Tower Bridge in London.

By pre-business major Ben Malisewski

I am writing from Coventry, late on Tuesday night, after our trip into London for the day today. But before I get to the events of today, I have to share a funny story:

There was a large group of people who went to the tour of Buckingham Palace on Saturday while we were still in London. Every year, the palace is only open for tours on select dates, and we were there on the last day of the tour window. Inside the palace was absolutely stunning – so rich, so lavish. It is a style we do not see in modern times. As we walked through the palace, there was a special exhibit for the Diamond Jubilee that commemorated the queens 60th year of service to her country, which the country celebrated back in June. As we were walking through the exhibit, a woman turned to me and asked me if we all went to the U of A – not “University of Arizona” – but U of A, so I knew she had some connection to the university. I said yes, and explained that we were part of a study abroad/internship program in the UK (although the internship is not looking to promising – another story for another post). She asked where I was originally from, to which I said Tucson and she chuckled. She was from Tucson, and had a son at Catalina Foothills and a daughter about to enter Salpointe! Remind you, I am 5000 miles away from home, and yet I still run into someone that is sending her daughter to the high school that I graduated from….what a small world we live in!

So, to bring you up to speed, we returned to Coventry Sunday afternoon, and had class on Monday, and a group dinner at the hotel restaurant Monday night. We had a similar day planned for Tuesday, but the professors called an audible and decided that we were going to go into London for the day, and have class at Coventry’s City Centre campus, as well as visit Wembley Stadium and Emirates Stadium. For those of you who do not know, I am a HUGE fan of European football, so to get to see these two stadiums in one day was fine by me :)

We started at Wembley Stadium, which is the home for the English national team, as well as many other sporting event. No other stadium in Europe has more covered seats than they do – roughly 90,000. With the amount of rain that has fallen here in the past 2 weeks, I can see why that is something to brag about. Our tour began overlooking the “pitch” as they like to say, as we all marveled at the beauty of the stadium. The acoustics in the stadium are meant to keep noise in, and our guide had us all shout the phrase “Hello, Wembley” so we could hear the vibrations. (Side note – “Hello, Wembley” are the first words uttered from almost every band that plays at the stadium when they come on. It has become a tradition). It seemed pretty loud with 46 of us, so I can only imagine what 90,000 passionate fans would be like. We then wandered down to the media room, and all got to sit at the table where the managers and players address the media after matches. Unfortunately, nobody was dressed funky enough or had big enough fake glasses to pull of the NBA post-game look.

The tour continued and we got to see the home and away locker rooms, walk out the tunnel that leads to the pitch as both teams do before the match, and lastly take a picture with the FA cup, the oldest cup in English football if I am not mistaken, and is the culmination of a tournament that features both professional and non professional clubs pitted against each other.

After the tour, we grabbed some lunch and had class, and then took the train to Arsenal, and got to see Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club. Our tour was similar to that of Wembley Stadium, in that we started by overlooking the pitch, made our way down and out the tunnel, and were able to see the locker rooms for the home and away teams. Both of these stadiums were absolutely magnificent, and only increased my desire to see a football game in person in England. One day!

The best part of the day was when we concluded our Emirates Stadium tour with a guest lecture presentation from Tom Fox, an chief executive for Arsenal, originally from Chicago. He talked to us about the his experience with Arsenal, and the focus of his talk was how the English Premier League and Arsenal differ from American sports leagues and their teams. The biggest difference is that Arsenal owns the rights to market their club, not the English Premier League, as opposed to American leagues, where, for example, the Miami Heat can market their own arena and everything in a 70 mile radius of it, but they cannot sell their brand abroad, because they have to go through the NBA to do so. Much easier to brand yourself internationally if you are an EPL team.

He also made it clear the difference between a team and a club. He had one quote that put it perfectly, and the exact wording of it is escaping me, but it was something to the effect that fans interact with a team, but belong to a club. Football is a part of people’s lives in England, and for many it is the most important thing they have in their opinion. Heck, he told stories of people selling their houses and flats in order to pay for their season tickets. English football truly is an immense aspect of people’s lives, and effects their day to day life. Working with a fan base like that creates challenges, but seems to be extremely rewarding when success comes. It was a really interesting presentation, and made me want to work for a club in England. I don’t know if I could move here and actually do it , but he sold our group on how he loves working for this club, and that it is a great place to be.

The schedule for tomorrow calls for class as well as a cricket match! That will be a first for me, so you can expect to hear from me about that one. I am off to bed, I need some sleep!

Category: Students, Undergrad | Tags: , , , , ,
| June 1, 2012
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Google Online Marketing Challenge

Volunteer Southern Arizona’s Youth Volunteer Corps Summer of Service program.

By Team Information Builders: Ramana Ramkumar, Sneha Jadhav, Ryan Kolofer, Saloni Porwal, Ramesh Raman, Snehal Shirole

The Google Online Marketing Campaign is an annual event where Google allocates $250 to teams working with professors to gain real world experience with online marketing and Google Adwords. Teams use different strategies and techniques to try to maximize the results for their selected client using the allocated budget. The Eller College of Management hosts a competition that has a total of 12 teams with different clients to display their results and lessons learned.

Our client for the Google Online Marketing Challenge was Volunteer Southern Arizona. When we were first asked to select a client for this challenge, we could not think of a better business to promote than a non-profit organization that helps the community in many ways. We contacted Volunteer Southern Arizona via email and they were prompt to respond.

Regular meetings with our client were conducted to better understand the business, the planned events and causes they were interested in promoting. Simultaneously, we were taught the concepts, tricks and strategies to run an online marketing campaign through Google Ads through our coursework. We were shown how to use relevant tools like Google Analytics, keyword optimizer and others in class.

We identified that proper budget allocation and ROI were the two most important factors, among many others, that mainly helped us achieve this victory. We utilized the entire amount of $250 over the 4 weeks span and were able to get 25 conversions i.e. 25 new downloads of fliers for their upcoming event. Online marketing also proved cheaper for Volunteer southern Arizona hence giving them a higher ROI.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Sudha Ram, Eller College of Management, Volunteer Southern Arizona and Google to provide us with this platform to show off our online marketing skills. It was definitely a great learning experience and would have been certainly not possible without Dr. Ram’s guidance in BI class.

Category: Students | Tags: , , , ,
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