Laura Grimm
grimmla@mnstate.edu
For one MSUM team, a class project on marketing cranberry beverages offered a way to bring students together.
MSUM’s advertising campaigns team placed third out of nine teams at the District 8 National Student Advertising Contest, which took place April 7 at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
The competition is an opportunity for students to gain real-world experience in the field of marketing and apply the skills they have learned at MSUM.
“This advertising competition is an assignment that we undertake in our senior advertising campaigns class,” Kaleen Krueger, a member of the team, said. “The entire project capstones all of the information that we have learned while being in the Art, Media, and Communications College to showcase our skills.”
The presenting members were Krueger, Alexandra Kizima, Scott Cramer and Jessica McNutt. Dr. C.T. Hanson is the team’s advisor.
Every year, a corporate sponsor provides the topic for the competition. This year, the objective was marketing Ocean Spray. The MSUM team developed a proposal to market the cranberry company to millennials aged 24-34. They focused on newer drinks, such as mocktails and organic juices. They chose “Upgrade Your Day with Ocean Spray” as their slogan.
“After looking at all of the evaluations from the judges, our presentation and creativity pulled our team to third place,” Krueger said. “The judges loved our advertisements and believed that our team chemistry was strong.”
The judges indeed believed the team worked well together, awarding them “Best Team Chemistry.”
“I lucked out with a good team because we didn’t let each other fail,” Kizima said. “Some other teams had their parts so memorized, they froze when they forgot, and their team wouldn’t help them out. There were two stumbles in our presentation, but we each reminded another of the parts we forgot.”
That being said, any group working together on a high-stress project experiences some disagreements. However, the team did not let that get in the way.
“One of our weaknesses was that a lot of us were stubborn as heck, so things got heated at points,” Kizima said. “Luckily, we were able to put those disagreements to the side.”
Although this class and competition mark the end of the students’ journey at MSUM, the opportunity created memories and connections that will last after graduation.
“My favorite part of the competition was being able to build so many friendships through this process,” Krueger said. “Putting in the time to complete a project like this takes dedication, and seeing everything come together was so rewarding.”