Campus Connection

Students among top 10 finalists in American Marketing Association Collegiate Case Competition

For the first time, a group of UW-La Crosse marketing students are among the top 10 finalists nationally in the American Marketing Association Collegiate Case Competition. As finalists, UWL’s team will present to members of the boards of The Wall Street Journal and the national American Marketing Association during the AMA 41st Annual International Collegiate Conference, April 11-13, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

To earn a spot as a finalist in the 2018-2019 Case Competition, UWL’s team, along with other top marketing students across the nation, competed in developing a comprehensive marketing plan for The Wall Street Journal. The goal was to help the news source overcome certain perceptions among Generation Z, while also increasing memberships and relevance for college students.

UWL’s team created a 40-page comprehensive marketing plan that included primary and secondary research, digital and traditional advertising campaigns, updating the Wall Street Journal’s digital presence, and focusing on how to appeal to a target market of 18-24 year-old college students, explains UWL marketing student Ellen Fallon, the case director for UWL’s team.

Fallon led five other students — all members of UWL’s AMA chapter — who served as project managers. They were in charge of different sections of the case study. Students Bennett Williams and Brett Gluth led integrated marketing communication; Jasmine Bogart-Falbo led strategy; Nick Janco was in charge of finance; and Erika Ward headed research. All six received MKT415 credit for the competition project.

Fallon says the team had a collective drive, was transparent about goals and developed a genuine friendship as they worked on the project.

“We wanted to put the best possible case together, and from the first day we met, we were immediately throwing ideas back and forth and brainstorming tag-lines and features that would appeal to our target market of 18-24-year-olds,” she says. “We wanted every idea we moved forward with to be fully-formed and well-thought-out.”

UWL Marketing Professor Steve Brokaw served as the group’s advisor, meeting with Fallon and the project managers throughout the semester to share ideas and check on progress.

“He fully understood our goal and supported us as a team,” says Fallon.

Also, 17 additional UWL underclassman contributed. Split between the project manager teams, they assisted with research and other tasks, providing a learning experience if they take on a leadership role in the competition next year. 

The Case Competition is open to undergraduate teams at schools that have an affiliated AMA Collegiate Chapter. UWL’s AMA chapter advisor is Marketing Professor Gwen Achenreiner.

If selected as the winner, UWL’s team would present in front of thousands at the international conference.