Creative solution for Target lands Fordham team $2,000

Undergraduate | Jan 17, 2014 | Nicole Gesualdo

Do fashion runways and furniture have anything in common?

Five Gabelli School students recently proved to Target judges that there certainly is a connection.

In doing so, they gave the company valuable ideas to promote its new line of furniture and home décor — and won first prize in Target’s second Fordham campus contest.

Congratulations to Connie Cacace (GSB ’15), Andrea Diano (GSB ’14), Marie Georgantzas (GSB ’14), Faye Juabsamai (GSB ’15) and Brennan Simpkins (GSB ’15), whose ideas for the new Threshold brand garnered them victory in the Target Company Campus Grants Competition.

The team’s strategy was inspired by the musings of the Sex and the City character Carrie Bradshaw, who, in one episode, declared, “I’m cheating on fashion with furniture.” With that idea in mind, the team mapped out an integrated communications program aimed at Target customers who consider themselves aspiring home stylists.

Their plan would kick off with a fashion show for the line during New York City Fashion Week. After that, a special truck outfitted as a “portable fitting room” would tour the city, displaying various Threshold pieces and allowing people to check out the pieces in a physical space. For those who want to design and style their space from anywhere, there would be a mobile app.

This team of five was one of many vying for Target’s attention. Forty students from Linda Luca’s Integrated Marketing Communications course participated, grounding their proposals in information gleaned on a private tour of a Target store earlier in the semester.

In this course, Professor Luca teaches students to look beyond basic advertising and to incorporate public relations, social media and sales promotion into one unified core message. The winning team’s “furniture as fashion” concept accomplished that by carrying the idea through all relevant media channels.

Connie, Marie, Andrea, Faye and Brennan will share a prize of $2,000 for wowing the judges, one of whom was recent alumna Anna Samiotes, who works in human resources for Target. The hands-on experience will likely end up being even more valuable.

Photograph of competition winners and Target judges courtesy of Linda Luca.