Marian University Marketing Students Place Third at American Marketing Association Competition

Marian University students placed third in the American Marketing Association (AMA) case competition sponsored by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Marian was selected as one of ten finalists from over 100 university teams which was hosted in New Orleans, Louisiana from March 30-April 1, 2023. The competition is AMA’s premier conference event, with finalists pitching live to the sponsor company. Byrum students presented their marketing strategy with a $12M budget to WSJ marketing leaders.

“The competition begins in the fall,” says marketing junior Jenny Rodriguez, Marian’s AMA chapter President. “The team must gather research about the client’s challenges and create a marketing and positioning strategy to overcome the problem.”

Trey Gibson, a junior marketing major, was excited to present to Wall Street Journal executives. “They gave us a real challenge, asking for a strategy that would encourage college students to regularly engage and new graduates to subscribe. We knew that small changes would not be enough to make this happen in today’s world of free news through social media. We wanted to bring big ideas to the table and we did that with tactics like immersive journalism and leveraging students’ growing experimentation with investing apps.” “Our tactics aligned with the Wall Street Journal’s strength as a trusted source of information, while positioning them to be more relevant to students,” noted Marian senior Joe Barrett, another member of the presentation team.

In addition to Rodriguez, Gibson, and Barrett, seniors Samuel Stage and Drew Thornton rounded out the Byrum team.

Byrum students also received a special surprise on the conference’s final night by being named one of the Top Five Small AMA Chapters of the Year. According to professor of marketing and sales and AMA faculty advisor Lori Rumreich, there are more than 330 student chapters in North America and 242 of them are considered to be in the small category. “This is the first year we entered in the chapter awards so it was thrilling for the students to be recognized for their work. It is always a privilege to work with these talented future leaders,” said Dr. Rumreich.

Other competitions included an elevator pitch where Marian Senior Samuel Stage competed with over 300 students and was named one of only 54 finalists. Rodriguez and Barrett competed in a 30 minute “speed challenge” where they had to create a marketing strategy for a client.

Marian University’s Byrum School of Business was named a Top 10 Undergraduate B-School to Watch by Poets&Quants for Undergrads (2023).