Marketing classes pitch Honda to students

By Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

tudents in two Marketing classes formed an ad agency this semester to market a car to UMass students. The courses, taught by associate professor of Marketing Kathleen Debevec Witz, have 29 enrollees who were given $2,500 by the Honda Element College Program, an educational and marketing effort by American Honda, to plan and implement a marketing event.

      The agency, using Bay State slang, named itself Wicked Good Marketing and staged a 6-hour program, "Brave the Elements in your Element," on the lawn south of the Student Union April 24 that was attended by more than 400 people. Students did their own public relations, event organizing, design work and fund raising.

      Four Honda Elements, each at a station representing one of the elements - fire, air, earth and water - were on display. Students planned activities at each site, including a basketball shoot through the sun roof at the "air" station, a water balloon toss through the car's windows at the "water" station, and a timed event involving loading camping gear into an Element at the "earth" station. A local band, Echohead, played cover tunes and five members of the Skydiving Club jumped from a plane as part of the attraction.

      The interactive stops around the lawn were designed to create awareness of the car's special features, according to Kelly Auperin, a junior from East Lyme, Conn., who worked in the public relations arm of Wicked Good Marketing. Except for the console, the entire interior of the Element is waterproof, and therefore washable, Auperin said. Having a water balloon toss where people frequently missed the target and doused the car showed off that feature, she said.

      The efforts of Debevec Witz's class were being judged as part of a national competition. Students who received similar funding at 28 other schools, including UConn, also were competing, Auperin said. The winning school will receive the Honda Element Scholastic Achievement Award along with $5,000. Students from the top two schools will be flown to Torrance, Calif., to make a presentation to Honda executives.

      "College students are often in a Catch-22 when entering the job market because of their lack of work experience," Auperin said. "The Honda program bridges the gap between industry and education, offering students a solution to a common roadblock in today's competitive job market."