Capital Region Chapter Of The American Marketing Association Announces Student Scholarship Winners

ALBANY, NY (04/16/2008)(readMedia)-- The New York Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association is pleased to announce the 2008 winners of the AMA Student Scholarship. The winners were Jennifer Brown, Oiza Garba, Scott DeMarco and Cathie Wright, all students at the University at Albany. The students were presented their awards at the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Luncheon on April 10, 2008 at Wolferts Root Country Club in Albany.

The AMA Student Scholarship recognizes and rewards talented student marketers and their faculty mentors for their marketing talent. Students attending accredited colleges and universities in the Capital Region are eligible for the scholarship competition. To enter, students develop a marketing plan and submit it, along with a recommendation by a faculty member. These materials are judged by a panel of local marketers who scores the plans on the basis of complexity, clarity, definition, creativity, and significance.

Prizes awarded were as follows:

GRAND PRIZE: $2,500 Scholarship and “Student Marketers of the Year” Award

Jack’s Neighborhood Pizzeria LLC

Jennifer Brown and Oiza Garba, University at Albany, School of Business

Advised by Professor Paul Schurr

Established for several years in Albany, Jack’s Neighborhood Pizzeria is pursuing a growth strategy, strategically realigning and positioning itself by enhancing segmentation, location, tangible product offering, intangible product offering, and convenience.

Accomplishing Jack’s marketing goals requires Jack’s awareness of itself, depicted in its Unique Value Proposition (UVP), which states the business’ intention to provide customers with satisfaction through delivery of value in its products. Jack’s UVP aims at meeting and exceeding its customers’ needs by differentiating itself from competitors through enhancing its restaurant ambiance, providing an upscale yet personable environment, deepening its relationship with its customers, and ensuring the originality and uniqueness of its meal offerings.

Jack’s four target markets include downtown Albany business professionals, Times Union Center and other downtown Albany event attendees, long-standing customers from prior establishment/location, and other incidental pedestrian customers on Pearl Street:

Based on Jack’s UVP, its pricing strategy will be predicated upon “Product Quality Leadership,” which sets prices based on perceived value of the business and charges premiums for the added benefits provided.

FIRST PRIZE: $1,000 Scholarship

TeamTexting.com

Scott DeMarco, University at Albany, School of Business

Advised by Professor Scott R. Davidson

TeamTexting.com integrates e-mail and text messaging communications for sports teams. With TeamTexting.com, a coach can send an e-mail to the TeamTexting.com server, and e-mails and text messages will be delivered to each team member, parent, and/or fan. Unobtrusive advertisements are placed at the end of each message, which taps the rapidly growing mobile advertising market.

TeamTexting.com capitalizes on three powerful trends: (1) the increasingly diverse communication methods (i.e., e-mail, Internet phones, SMS), (2) the tremendous growth in text messaging among the youth, and (3) the expected spending of billions of dollars on mobile advertising.

TeamTexting.com was developed by HyperMedia, LLC, a New York State limited liability company founded in 2007. HyperMedia provides the ongoing maintenance, development, and promotion of the TeamTexting.com infrastructure and also serves as the investment vehicle to expand operations and the user base.

Please go to www.TeamTexting.com and create an account to experience the dynamics of the system.

SECOND PRIZE: $500 Scholarship

SuperPower, Inc.

Cathie Wright, University at Albany, School of Business

Advised by Professor Paul Schurr

SuperPower, Inc. is the only company in the world capable of commercially manufacturing second generation high temperature superconducting wire (2G HTS Wire) used in a variety of applications. SuperPower is paving the way to market entry for a disruptive technology in the electric power industry and must gain buy-in from those who manufacture the cables that transmit power from the grid to the general public. SuperPower must focus on moving from R&D to commercial manufacturer, increasing its marketing effort, increasing its sales effort, and new applications/markets for wire.

Due to the disruptive nature of 2G HTS technology, SuperPower cannot use conventional strategies typically employed, but will have to use a customized plan including: product strategy, value-based pricing, and their Unique Value Proposition. To differentiate themselves from the competition, the company must focus on an integrated marketing communication plan and branding.

About American Marketing Association American Marketing Association (AMA) is the world's largest and most comprehensive professional society of marketers, consisting of nearly 50,000 worldwide members in 72 chapters throughout North America. Since 1992, the New York Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association has been committed to recognizing and encouraging the best practices in the field of marketing and helping to elevate the profession. The chapter provides an opportunity to learn from and network with more than 400 marketing professionals in the Capital Region.

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Posted Wednesday April 16, 2008 at 09:52 am by New York Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association