Welcome back to Campus Chronicles! This week we’ll venture to Ithaca, New York and peruse The Cornell Business to learn about the events occurring this fall at the Johnson School at Cornell University:
Earlier last month, the Johnson Marketing Association hosted the “Battle of the Brands,” the first annual Johnson Marketing Challenge. Johnson students worked in teams for two weeks to create and execute marketing plans for real products. Scot Safon, an ’84 Johnson alum, current executive vice president at HLN and former chief marketing officer at CNN Worldwide, opened the competition with a speech about marketing in the digital age. Students then broke into teams and identified a target group within the Johnson school, created a positioning strategy, and developed a marketing plan. The second week was reserved for executing this plan by using a $250 budget to promote their product at the Johnson school. This week culminated with sales being made to students and professors at the Sage Social. Finally, the teams were evaluated by marketing coaches, who judged them based on their marketing concepts, creativity, amount of sales, profits, and presentation. Team $UPERMARKETers won for their efforts marketing the Axe Detailer and took home the $1,000 prize.
Another new activity open to MBA students was the recent Johnson Energy Connection, through which alumni working in the energy field came back to campus to speak with professors and students about their experiences and future vision for the industry. In the morning, alumni from companies such as Chevron Energy Solutions, GE, and EnerNOC spoke in three sessions: Sector Perspectives, the Supply Side, and the Demand Side, each of which was followed by a Q&A session. Students then had the opportunity to speak further with alumni and professors during a lunch session and scheduled office hours.
Finally, the 31 students returning from the Sustainable Global Enterprise (SGE) trek were inspired to share their experiences and insights with the Johnson community. The participants had the opportunity to visit Lincoln Electric, where they witnessed a 360 degree virtual reality welding simulation, which reduces waste and eliminates fumes, and learned about the future installment of a wind turbine that will provide 10% of the factory’s energy. The Cleveland Clinic team, on the other hand, hosts a weekly farmers market where they implement electric robots for delivery to save on energy and transport costs. After these and other visits, the participating students headed to the 2010 Net Impact Conference.
Read the full article: Campus Chronicles: The Cornell Business