Business Students' Ad Campaign Wins National Contest For New H

A team of University of Pittsburgh students won the Honda Fit Marketing Challenge, beating 17 other schools in preparing an advertising campaign for Honda's new compact car, team members said yesterday.

Pros in Motion, a student organization within the College of Business Administration, developed a marketing campaign aimed at buyers like themselves. Honda supplied students at each of the schools an operating budget of $2,500 for their campaigns for the Fit, which is now a virtual sellout at dealerships with a price tag of around $14,500.

The 22-member Pitt team may divide up the $5,000 first prize after expenses have been paid, said Erin Conlon, a newly minted Pitt graduate with a degree in marketing. Some elements of the winning campaign may be used in Honda's advertising. Meanwhile, advertisements developed by the Pitt team already have been used locally.

The top three teams were flown all-expenses-paid to Honda headquarters in Torrance, Calif., earlier this week to present their campaigns to executives from Honda and RPA, the company's advertising agency.

Finalists were selected on the basis of both quantitative factors -- such as the number of hits on Web sites, results from surveys and other items -- and qualitative factors.

"It was something of a surprise that we won -- and somewhat of a relief because we worked so hard," Ms. Conlon, a member of the presentation team, said. Before the presentation, "your heart's pumping and you're all nervous, but as soon as you get your first sentence out, you're thinking, 'I'll be OK,' " she added. "In our practices we were so nervous, so to have the flawless presentation was very good for us. I just kept thinking, 'I don't want to be the one who messes up." "

The Pitt presentation before 50 to 60 Honda executives and advertising agency officials got off to a rousing start, Ms. Conlon said.

"We actually danced into the room with a loud song -- the whole theme of which was going for a ride in your new Fit. That got everybody all fired up. Then we played a video from our big event and took turns making the presentation. It was straightforward and simple from there." The reaction from the executives was immediate -- and positive, Ms. Conlon said.

"They laughed the entire time throughout the presentation. The smiles on their faces were reassuring and they were very clearly very impressed. They congratulated us right after the presentation. Everybody came up to us and said we did a good job, that we took an idea and ran with it, and that we had a strong package."

Copyright 2006, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette