MBAs Win Case Cup

Sure, the sports marketing world moves fast—but not too fast for Oregon MBA students from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. In just twenty-four hours, a team of four MBA students put together a marketing campaign powerful enough to secure the University of Oregon's first-ever top-place win in the National Sports Forum's prestigious Case Cup Competition. Team members Matt Van Wyen, Gary Wang, Jennifer Swaim, and Christina Early created a proposal to help Chobani—the Greek-style yogurt company that was an official sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2012—expand its market to teens and men. Key elements of the campaign were a motto—"Chobani: Good Makes Great"—and a digital sales strategy that introduced the brand to consumers via an Olympic skiing and snowboarding game for mobile phones and tablet devices. In an interview with media at the forum, Van Wyen said that the sports marketing concentration offered by the Warsaw Center teaches students to "flesh out ideas that can be implemented right away" and always "stay true to the brand." And because the Oregon MBA offers plentiful experience working in teams, group dynamics were no obstacle. “We're hard on each other in our group—not in a mean way. But we want to present the best ideas we can," Van Wyen said. "That was the hardest challenge," he added, "just figuring out what were the best ideas and what fit with Chobani." View an interview with Van Wyen in the above video.