At the annual Paul College Palooza last Friday, April 15, over 100 senior marketing majors showed off their semester-long team projects, which had them working with local companies and organizations. The event took place on the Scott Hall Lawn, also known as “the fishbowl” around campus. The festivities included giveaways, free food and music.
The projects presented were for a class called “Marketing Workshop,” required for all marketing majors as a hands-on senior capstone. Teams of 8 to 11 students were created, and aimed to behave like marketing companies on behalf of local organizations. The 10 organizations this year included 180 Blue Restaurant, Autoworks, Campus Recreation, Fantastic Fortune Cookies, Key Auto Group, Lamprey Health Care, Prevention Innovations Research Center, the Sexual Harassment & Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP), UNH Police Department and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Peter Masucci is a senior lecturer in marketing and has been the instructor for this course since 2005. Based on the amount of food served, he estimated that over 500 people came to the event. Masucci believes his class is important so the students can apply their learned skills outside of the classroom.
“As they approach graduation, they’re asking themselves how they can apply these skills they’ve learned to find a job,” Masucci said. “This project gives them real experience in the field.”
The teams work to bring awareness for the companies and to improve their marketing strategies. Julia Hopkins worked for Fantastic Fortune Cookies in Dover. One of the many tasks her team accomplished, according to Hopkins, was setting up social media platforms for the business.
“It’s exciting because we’re starting to see the real impact we’ve had on the company,” Hopkins said.
Mark Lyscars, a team leader for his project, worked to raise awareness for the phone app called “USafeNH.” The app helps with reporting sexual assaults on campuses across the state. While the app is already established, the team worked to raise awareness for it and launch a new logo. Students who visited this table were able to vote on which logo they preferred.
“It’s rewarding to see a group of people come together and to be able to provide research for a real company,” Lyscars said.
Jillian Mcdonough’s team worked for the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP). According to Mcdonough, they are still in the midst of conducting interviews and analyzing survey data for SHARPP.
“We’re finding that a lot of students don’t know about SHARPP and all of the services they offer,” Mcdonough said. “We’re hopeful that our recommendations to them will help resolve that issue.”
People who attended the event were able to see the culmination of the hard work done by these students. Hospitality major Lexie Larabee came to the event because of the “lively atmosphere” and to support her roommate’s team.
“I’m really impressed with all the variety of the companies they worked for,” Larabee said. “It’s a fun event and you get to support your classmates.”
Each team will be represented at the Undergraduate Research Conference (URC), running from April 11 to April 23 at both the Durham and Manchester campuses. The teams will also present their research and recommendations to their organizations on May 10 in the Huddleston Ballroom; this event will be open to the public as well.
