Student checklist idea helps students win Target competition

Success Stories | Jan 20, 2016 | Gabelli School of Business

The winning team in the Third Annual Target Marketing Competition.

By Bailey Link

Five Fordham students won $2,500 during the Third Annual Target Marketing Competition for their idea to create a 15-point checklist to help college students with their back-to-school shopping.

The list – put together by students Crystal Gonzalez, Lauren Lopez, Stephanie Rice, Mitchell Shumway and Joseph Tienzo – was chosen by a group of Target executives from among other plans, presented by 38 students, broken into seven teams. The competition was run through the integrated marketing communications course taught by Linda Luca. This year’s case objective was to develop an integrated communications platform to create a college shopping brand image and bring this to life across relevant communication channels.

Other ideas included a student membership, a phone app, a college portal, partnerships, and other ways to make college shopping less stressful.

Each of the 38 students had shopped at Target before, but all gained a new perspective through the marketing course. To prepare for the competition, the teams had to visit stores, survey other millennials like them, research trends, and work as a team to develop compelling ideas. The goal was to center their idea around Target’s existing message and platform: “Expect More. Pay Less.”

The teams were judged in December.