When American Express went looking for a tech-savvy city to serve as the nation's sole test market for their new financial service product Serve, they chose Eugene. (You may have seen their table at the Saturday Market in April and May.) When they went looking for innovative ways to get the word out about Serve to the elusive eighteen-to-thirty-year-old demographic, they partnered up with the UO Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) to host a social media marketing case competition. "College students are seen as experts in social media, so AmEx was excited to work with us," said UO AMA president Tim West. Late last month, seven teams of UO students competed for a grand prize of $1,500 in cash, plus--if American Express decides to use the winning strategy--a trip to New York to meet with executives at company headquarters. UPDATE: the winning team members were business students Julie Grimstad and Trevor Haynes, and advertising major (and business minor) Kaila Bittinger. Check out their three-part social media strategy.