Students in a class in the Eller College of Management are running an advertising campaign for Chevrolet as part of a competition between more than 20 large universities nationwide.
The advertising campaign is for the Marketing 425 class, which is focused on advertising management. Students have worked on smaller campaigns for U-Swirl and May’s Counter, two local businesses, as well as promoting an astronomy textbook.
The culmination of the students’ efforts for the competition will be an event on the UA Mall on Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event will feature several Chevrolet models for students to look at, as well as a DJ, food and games.
The tagline for the advertising campaign is called “iAm,” with the goal of getting students to identify with a particular car based on their personality.
iPads will be set up at the event with a “personality survey.” Once students take the survey, they’re matched up with a vehicle which is supposed to fit the students’ personalities.
The class, which has about 50 students total, has been broken up into different departments, like a real-world advertising agency. One group of students handles the creative aspects of the campaign, another does the finance and a third is in charge of public relations, for example.
The class is given a budget of $3,000 to run the campaign.
Patrick Casey, a marketing senior and member of the public relations group, said the event is “geared at directly interacting with students, and not just showing them the cars.”
“I think, personally, it’s a really exciting project because we are getting to work hands on with a real-world advertising campaign,” he said, “And I think there’s a lot of value in that.”
Alexandra Duby, a marketing senior and another member of the public relations team, said the class is far from most on campus, focusing less on tests and more on making an ad campaign. She added that the class’s value lies in the real-world aspect.
“It’s like a real job, and I think I’m going to take away some really great experience,” she said.
