Smeal Students Work on Marketing College, Pro Athletic Events
As the fall 2009 semester comes to a close, undergraduates in a Sports Marketing course at Penn State's Smeal College of Business are still busy working on two class projects with Penn State Athletics and the Philadelphia 76ers.
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (December 11, 2009) – As the fall 2009 semester comes to a close, undergraduates in a Sports Marketing course at Penn State's Smeal College of Business are still busy working on two class projects with Penn State Athletics and the Philadelphia 76ers.
One group of students is working with Penn State Athletics to help market an affinity night for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Penn State men's basketball game on Dec. 12 at the Bryce Jordan Center. The other group is marketing Penn State Night at the Philadelphia 76ers game versus the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 8.
According to Andrew Bergstein, associate director of Smeal's Center for Sports Business & Research, the projects give the students the opportunity to gain valuable experience in several aspects of sports marketing.
"The hands-on nature of these projects really puts the students at the center of the sales, marketing, and promotional aspects of two high-profile athletic events. This takes the learning out of the classroom and give the students the chance to experience firsthand all of the meticulously coordinated work that goes into pulling off a successful event on the marketing side," says Bergstein, who leads the Sports Marketing class with Instructor in Marketing John Powell.
The students are working directly with marketers of both organizations to maximize ticket sales, develop promotional products, and garner publicity. They're also helping to cross-market both events to different groups of fans.
For the Penn State game, the students are working to attract Pittsburgh Pirates fans as well as fans of the State College Spikes, the Pirates' local minor league affiliate. The Pirate Parrot will be in attendance at the game, as will Pirates pitcher Ross Ohlendorf, who will deliver a talk at the Bryce Jordan Center prior to the game.
In Philadelphia, the students are marketing the Penn State Night festivities to the thousands of Penn State alumni who live in the area as well as to students at Penn State's campuses in the Philadelphia region. They're also using personal, community, and University connections to sell tickets to the game. There are four student teams working to sell tickets, and, as an added incentive, the team that sells the most tickets will have access to a suite for the Jan. 8 game.
Throughout the semester, both groups of students have met several times with the marketing executives from both teams. In class, they had to develop detailed business plans and give a presentation to explain all of the specifics of their integrated marketing campaigns.
In addition to gaining some hands-on experience in sports marketing, Bergstein says his students have really enjoyed working on this project. "Having a world-class athletics organization right on campus, as well as Penn State connections at the Pirates and 76ers, gives the students a fabulous opportunity to work directly with leaders in the industry they're looking to enter when they graduate," he adds.
