Marketing students providing “Benefit to Business” through scholarship gala

Students in Dr. Rhea Ingram’s Marketing class are receiving hands-on experience inside and outside of the classroom.

“We were literally given a basic idea and were expected to run with it,” said Preston Ferguson, senior Marketing major.

That basic idea has turned into the Benefit to Business Gala, a play on the marketing term which is normally “business to business,” said Ferguson.

Ingram, associate professor and head of Marketing, assigned three different groups a different task each. All of the tasks included an idea and a target market. It was up to the students to make the assignments become a reality.

Two groups were assigned on-campus activities, one a cookout and the other a smoke out. The other group, made up of nine students, was given the task to plan and execute an off-campus gala intended to raise awareness and money.

For the gala group, the first step was to create a logo for the event.

“We came up with an idea to make a logo with our building merging into downtown buildings,” said David Mendicino, senior Marketing major. “The idea is that businesses are investing in us, and in return we’re giving back to them.”

“This has given us a real world, hands-on activity,” said Ashlee Meriwether, senior Marketing major. “We’re interacting with business leaders, and we have to depend on other people.”

Students in the gala group said the most challenging part of this assignment was completing tasks on time. They had only two and a half months to prepare, send out invitations, get silent auction items and put together an event and logo they hope will become a tradition at AUM.

“The hardest part was that we didn’t have past experience, we didn’t have contacts already set up,” said Melissa Burak, senior Marketing major.

“Pricing was also difficult,” said Ingram. “We didn’t want to be too high or to low.”

Students researched different programs, including the AUM and AU Schools of Nursing fundraisers, for help on setting an appropriate price for the event.

“The benefit of having Dr. Ingram is that she takes her hands out just enough,” said Josh Hooks, senior Marketing major and Marketing Club president. “It was the perfect balance.”

Burak said another benefit of this hands-on project was that it can be put on a resume as actual experience planning and marketing an event.

Students said seeing the ad, logo and invitation come from conceptualizing to being printed somewhere like RSVP Montgomery magazine was one of the greatest rewards.

In Fall 2009, the School of Business launched a Hospitality and Tourism option in its marketing curriculum. Students who choose this option will plan and implement the new tradition of the Benefit to Business Gala each year. The event name and logo symbolize Auburn Montgomery’s many collaborations with businesses throughout the local community. The annual Benefit to Business Gala will help fund scholarships for future business leaders.

The Benefit to Business Gala is Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa, beginning with a reception including a wine tasting, silent auction and jazz band at 6 p.m., followed by a three-course Creole influenced meal accompanied by a pianist with a live presentation by Executive Chef Greg Reynolds at 7:30 p.m.

Tables of 10 can be purchased for $1,000 each, and individual tickets are $85 each.

Nov. 12, 2009