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Marketing students create campaign for Subaru
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Eighty-four percent of 540 University of North Texas undergraduates surveyed about Subaru did not know that the automaker had introduced a restyled Impreza model line for 2006. Eight graduate marketing students at UNT are hoping to change that April 6 (Thursday), when fellow UNT students will receive freebies just for sitting in the driver's seat of a Subaru vehicle. The graduate students, all enrolled in Marketing 5250, Information for Strategic Marketing Decisions, are participating in Project Acceleration: The Subaru Impreza Collegiate Challenge through EdVenture Partners, a marketing company in Berkeley, Calif., that develops partnerships between colleges and universities and businesses and industries. Through EdVenture Partners, students form their own agencies and create actual marketing campaigns for clients, using money provided by the clients. The Marketing 5250 students, who are all earning master of business administration degrees, call their agency UNiTed Consulting, Inc. They received $2,500 from Subaru to create a campaign aimed at 18- to 25-year-olds to enhance brand equity of all Subaru vehicles, with an emphasis on the Subaru Impreza. UNiTed Consulting, Inc. was asked by Subaru executives to target 250,000 people through advertisements and fliers on campus. "If you are studying business and are never exposed to what happens in the real world, your education is not complete," said Dr. Audhesh Paswan, UNT associate professor of marketing and logistics and instructor of Marketing 5250. Paswan's classes have previously created campaigns for General Motors through EdVenture Partners. "In these projects, students have very tangible objectives that the companies would give to marketing or advertising agencies," Paswan said. "The students have to develop a strategy to meet the objectives, and that requires the ability to understand how people are going to behave in the future." As part of the campaign, the marketing students are working with local Subaru dealers to bring the 2.5i, Outback Sport, and WRX models to the lawn between the Business Administration Building and the University Union April 6 (Thursday). All of the Impreza vehicles have a signature new front-end design with boldly styled headlights with smoke-tinted lenses and three-section mesh grills inspired by the company's aircraft heritage. From 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., UNT students will receive information about the vehicles and be able to sit in them. They will punch cards after sitting in them and receive free pizza and other prizes in return. Paul Claus, a student in Marketing 5250 who manages the budget for UNiTed Consulting, says the idea behind the event is to have students notice the cars first, then give them information . "This generation is a fairly skeptical audience. They would rather see something that is targeted to another audience and adopt it as their own than be directly targeted," he said. "Also, past research has indicated that listening to music is the number one activity of UNT students, so we will have music at the event." UNiTed Consulting began its campaign by surveying more than 500 UNT students about the vehicles they currently own; the types of vehicles they prefer and what make and model they are likely to purchase next; how important safety, fuel efficiency, reliability and other attributes of vehicles are to them; and their awareness and impressions of Subarus. "Safety, price and fuel efficiency do seem to be the biggest concerns of UNT students," said Marketing 5250 student Veena Shekhar, who is in charge of research for UNiTed Consulting. "Subaru is also associated with all-wheel drive, so it's not promoted as much in Texas because most Texans don't invest in all-wheel drive vehicles because of lack of icy roads. " Shekhar said UNiTed Consulting is trying to get UNT students to view Subarus in a different light -- as vehicles that are great investments for outdoor activities. UNiTed Consulting plans to enter its campaign in EdVenture's national competition. They will compete against students from 12 other universities, including Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas at Austin, who are also creating campaigns for Subaru. The campaign will be judged after the students' presentation to Subaru officials on May 4. The Subaru campaign will also count for a large percentage of the students' grades. "It is nice to participate in the contest, but my first and foremost goal is to do well in class, and to learn the value of research," said Marketing 5250 student Jenni Pryor. "Even if we don't win, I'll still be able to point to the data and say, ‘This is why we made this decision.'"
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Nancy Kolsti (940) 565-3509
Email: nkolsti@unt.edu
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