My 188体育app_188体育在线-平台官网 Competing at an International Marketing Competition
Do you want to know what it’s like to be part of a student-run organization at UNH?
Meet Zoe Kahle ’26, a marketing student at the UNH Peter. T Paul College of Business and Economics, who is a member of UNH’s chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA), In AMA, students earn credit while gaining multiple real-word experiences, including competing in competitions.
Zoe recently attended the International Collegiate Competition (ICC) in Chicago, where she competed in three competitions. Read more about Zoe’s experience competing at ICC.
Setting the Stage
ICC is the highlight of AMA, and this year our team placed in the “Top 5 Small Chapters” category, in addition to numerous other awards, out of the almost 300 small chapters competing at ICC. Our team is less than 25 students, making us a small but mighty force.
The conference gave me confidence that I can realistically have a career in marketing. Before this competition, I had never worked with a real client or been to a business event this large. By the end of my four-day endeavor, I held a new light that fired the path to finding my post-college position.
The Digital Marketing Challenge
My assignment was to create digital marketing assets within a two-hour timeframe for the brand, MinusT33, a wool-based clothing company.
This challenge really played into my strengths of digital design. I used to be a studio art major, so any chance to make art that intertwines my love for business and creation is a plus.
I produced a graphic on Canva, working with one of my fellow AMA members, that represented the ideal campaign to drive sales for the provided target demographic. Which, in my case, was a middle-aged man in love with luxurious fabrics and hiking.
The Design Lab Competition
This challenge was a little out of my comfort zone.
My team of four had only two hours to produce a marketing campaign that would eventually be implemented within the chosen university for the company, Polymarket, a prediction platform for real-world events. The slide deck had to utilize their brand kit, which none of us had directly transferred into our chosen platform before — let’s just say this caused some on-our-feet resourceful thinking!
My team came up with an innovative plan to use Polymarket at UNH Hockey games, allowing students to bet on game outcomes for incentives such as dining dollars and tickets to future games. We hoped that this plan would engage students to use prediction analytics, as measured by Polymarket, in a familiar environment, which would then give them the understanding to take on the full capabilities of the platform within their own interests.
The Pitch Perfect Presentation
Presenters, aka the students, were given 90 seconds to show their worth by providing evidence of experience and skillset in an “elevator pitch” style interaction in front of sales development professionals.
This competition terrified me. Even after winning the elevator pitch competition in my class, I felt that I had to conform my talents into a sales role to succeed, which felt foreign from my actual dream. But, after I got over the fact that this was a competition, not a real interview for the position, the stress seemed to fade away. Through this pitch, I gained the confidence to take on public speaking for my future career. By incorporating sales tactics and specific keywords within the initial job listing into my personal selling campaign, I was able to keep the audience engaged and attentive; strategies that I will use for a lifetime.
Final Thoughts
Your experience here at UNH is what you make of it — just dive in head-first.
The impact ICC has had on my confidence is the biggest change I have seen in myself since attending. I will forever be thankful for AMA and the group of peers that have supported me since day one.