MONDAY, MAY 10, 1999

Marketing students hone real-life skills

By Ken Hanson

On-Line Forty-Niner

Cal State Long Beach students have been getting first-hand knowledge of the advertising world for the past four months by participating in an exciting internship.

The General Motors Marketing Internship, created by Ed Venture Partners, pairs CSULB students with local General Motors dealers. The students then create their own advertising agency, come up with an ad campaign, and presents it to the client.

This year, Long Beach's Harbor Chevrolet was the appointed client.

The student agency, Precision Marketing, was also responsible for conducting market research, budgeting and following through with the campaign.

"I loved it," internship participant Charity Wabuke said. "It was great because we got to see the whole project come to life, from beginning to end."

Wabuke was assigned to the research portion of the activity with three other students. As part of the assignment, the students were supposed to create a questionnaire to help determine a target market, what it wants from a car dealer, and where to place advertisements that reach the widest section of the target audience.

"The most challenging part of the internship was coming up with the survey," Wabuke said. "Harbor Chevrolet had certain questions they wanted on it, and we had to decide what was the best way to get the most relevant information."

Precision Marketing had to choose two student coordinators. Crystal Reid and Kristi Kennedy were elected to oversee all departments of the agency. They worked closely with Venture Partners' Brian Katell to get each department on track and make sure all deadlines were met.

"Brian was our go-between [with the client]," Wabuke said. "He also helped keep all 28 of us on track."

Precision Marketing found, through its marketing research, that Harbor Chevrolet's customers were interested in food, entertainment and free giveaways, Wabuke said.

And because Harbor Chevrolet stipulated that the promotion had to take place at an off-campus event, the agency decided to promote the dealership at an upcoming festival in Long Beach called Beach Fest, which showcases various bands.

"Beach Fest was the best place, because we knew that we could reach the widest segment of our target market," Wabuke said.

The group plans to play games and give away free balloons with the Harbor Chevrolet logo as well as a Chevrolet Malibu, Wabuke said.

The agency was given a budget of $2,500 to complete the semester-long project.

Wabuke said $200 of the budget was earmarked for all overhead costs. The rest of the budget went to placing all necessary ads and securing all the promotional items for Beach Fest.