College students try hand at marketing to college students

The students were ready.

The challenge: to produce a 30-second video for an electronic smart pen targeted at college students.

Time limit to finish the task: three hours.

The assignment was the last hurdle for 85 college students from 16 schools participating in this year's Accelerator program at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. The four-week summer program, which costs $8,500 for college seniors and recent graduates, ended Thursday.

At stake was winning the electronic pulse pen, produced by Oakland, Calif.-based Livescribe, and perhaps attracting the eye of a corporate recruiter impressed by a particular student's marketing know-how.

An extra bonus was the chance to see the best commercial posted on the company's Web site.

"Who can be more hip than college students creating commercials for college students?" asked Andy Van Schaack,the company's senior science adviser and a senior lecturer at Vanderbilt.

"It's tough to sell into college students in an authentic way. If you try to be hi, and you blow it, they are not going to be forgiving."

That's where the experience offered by Accelerator's pressure-cooker atmosphere comes into play.

The high-priced program organizes students, some business majors as well as students from other fields, into eight competing teams to solve real-world problems for companies that ranged from American Airlines to fast-food company Yum Brands to Livescribe this year.

Corporate executives try to pick winners after each task, and the winning teams are usually rewarded with a coveted prize. Some bright students even land internships or full-time jobs as a result of impressive Accelerator performances.

Livescribe's pulse pen, which retails starting at $149, works as a regular writing tool, but it also records audio and short video clips as a student takes notes on a special notepad.

The notepad can be uploaded onto a computer, allowing students to share the information with others.

The product is designed to get students more engaged with classroom lectures, the company says.

A.J. Axelrod, the 21-year-old leader of "Team 3," brainstormed with his teammates about how best to create a 30-second commercial, using the pen itself as the camera.

Team sifts through ideas

The 11-member team came up with several ideas, from students daydreaming in class about the best "pick-up" lines to attract the opposite sex to writing a "to-do" list.

"This is actually my life in the to-do list," said teammate Coco Chalfant, an incoming senior at Vanderbilt University, who is a biomedical engineering major with a minor in engineering management.

Accelerator officials said participating companies get a boost from the program because students come up with fresh ideas.

Corporate executives often see their products in a new light as the workshops progress, and students learn new skills while getting a feel for the job market.

"We kind of like to think of this as a free shot at failure," said Team 3's coach Patrick Long, a second-year MBA student at Vanderbilt.

"If they learn the lesson the hard way, it doesn't cost them their job."

Catie Burleson, an accounting major from Harding University in Searcy, Ark., said she gained more self-confidence through the program.

Accelerator put her in the role of team leader for one task, and her team was victorious, Burleson said.

"Your weaknesses are pointed out, and you are given an opportunity to improve upon it," Burleson said.

Pen commercial fizzles

Soon, it was time for a sixth "take" for Team 3's pulse pen commercial as the clock moved closer to a 4:30 p.m. deadline.

The team was confident it had a great commercial, with at least one member calling the process a "cakewalk."

The commercial focused on a student writing classic pick-up lines with the pulse pen during class.

The idea was a flop.

To Livescribe, it was too flippant and missed the mark badly. Corporate executives decided against giving anyone top honors in the challenge.

Van Schaack, Livescribe's science adviser, had planned to make the winning presentation at an Accelerator dinner, but the award was scrapped.

"Nobody earned it," Van Schaack said.

"We're not pulling any punches."

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