Marketing and digital media students team up to pitch novel products to the “sharks”
Published: July 06, 2022
Quick, pop quiz!—What do the Ignite car starter, Frozen ZZZs sleep aid, and BackPal backpack massager have in common?
Here’s a hint: They share this same distinction with
- UnplugD phone chargers,
- Planet Fitness’s Smoothie Station,
- Raising Cane’s Saucy Condo condiments dispenser, and
- the Clima Cup temperature-controlled tumbler.
No idea? That’s okay; they’re all new products, yet to make a splash in the marketplace. This May, GU marketing and digital media students pitched them to venture capitalists for deals that could turn the students into millionaires.
Full disclosure . . .
No, the students didn’t appear on ABC’s Shark Tank, though “pitch day” in the SMART Center bore a striking resemblance to the TV show. The venture capitalists were really a panel of judges comprised of GU faculty, staff, and alums playing the part. The big-bucks prize was really play money. And the real incentive for students to pull out their persuasive best had everything to do with earning a good grade on a project that exercised a myriad of skills.
Selling "it" in just seven minutes
The learning experience—brainchild of business professor Jane Bell and digital media professor Morgan Gilmore—capped off weeks of collaboration for 41 students divided into seven teams.
Prior to pitch day, they did the research and legwork necessary to put together full advertising campaigns complete with detailed marketing plans, advertising plans, and brand style guides. They created billboard designs and produced commercials. They calculated prices, identified markets for product launch, and worked out steps they’d take to leverage known social media influencers.
The challenge? Persuading the judges in just seven minutes that their product stood head and shoulders above the others to earn those venture capital dollars.
Not just an eco-friendly phone charger . . . a lifestyle choice!
“Product” entails much more than an object with a price tag. Cosmetic magnate Charles Revson once explained: “In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope.”
Students made sure that what they really sold found a place in those precious seven minutes. They talked about their customers as folks who:
- don’t just buy an eco-friendly solar-powered phone charger; they love their lives as adventurers and treasure unplugging from life’s distractions.
- don’t just select from 50 sauce combinations for chicken tenders; they create by customizing a sauce that satisfies their discriminating tastes.
- don’t just grab any melatonin-packed sleep aid off the shelf—sugary pills and artificially flavored gummy chews; they do what’s good for them by selecting a healthy, all-natural fruit flavored popsicle.
Team Frozen ZZZ sleep aid, winners of the 2022 Shark Tank competition
Experiential learning at GU
The Shark Tank product pitch is just one of many “deep learning” experiences that benefited students enrolled in business and digital media classes this year. See GU’s 2022 Experiential Learning Impact Report to read about more.
