Babcock Graduate School of Management - Marketing Summit

Marketing Summit

Each year, the Babcock School hosts a Marketing Summit which includes an MBA case competition, undergraduate case competition and a marketing forum.

For the MBA case competition, major corporations submit marketing challenges in a business case format. For example, in 2008, the event was sponsored by PepsiCo and students were challenged to develop new business opportunities for its True North snack food brand. In 2007, Motorola challenged students to create a marketing plan for its new Q product for small and mid-size U.S. companies. MBA student teams have 36 hours to create a marketing solution that is presented to a panel of judges and the sponsor's representatives. Past sponsors have included Motorola, Yahoo!, Coca-Cola, Lowe's Home Improvement Store, Apple Computer, Sara Lee, GlaxoSmithKline, Heineken, Microsoft, DISH Network / Echostar Communications and R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The first-place team receives $5,000; second place, $3,000; and third place $2,000. In addition to prize money, participating students get great exposure to some of the world's best companies. Resumes of participating team members are published in a book that is distributed to the sponsor, panelists, judges and distinguished guests attending the Summit. Moreover, communications to senior marketing executives and recruiters at the country's 1,000 largest corporations highlight the competition and encourage executives to review participants' resumes. Past participants in the MBA case competition include teams from the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Michigan State University, Indiana University, Hong Kong University, Dartmouth College, University of California-Berkeley, and the Babcock School.

In the undergraduate case competition competing teams participate in a three-phase challenge over the course of two months in which they deal with pressing issues facing the event’s corporate sponsor. The three highest-scoring teams are invited to attend the Marketing Summit and present their solutions before a panel of MBA faculty, CEOs, CMOs and representatives from the sponsor. The winners are announced at the closing awards dinner and receive their cash prize. Past participants have included teams from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Florida and Boston College, among others.

The Marketing Forum features marketing leaders executives from companies from around the world arranged for a panel discussion with the general public. Panelists discuss issues facing their companies and offer unique insights into current marketing trends.