URI team wins 2016 Acura ILX Marketing Challenge

A University of Rhode Island Social Media for Marketing class recently won first place in the 2016 Acura ILX Marketing Challenge, according to a news release.
URI beat out the University of New Mexico and Johns Hopkins University to win a $5,000 scholarship.
“We are so proud of these students and professor Christy Ashley,” Maling Ebrahimpour, dean of the College of Business Administration, said in the release. “This achievement is one more to showcase our advanced and applied teaching and learning. The students’ innovative and creative thinking, combined with their hands-on skills are so fundamental to the state and nation’s economic development. It is wonderful to have these skills applauded nationwide.”
The competition, which involved 34 undergraduates, involved research, creative design and implementation. URI’s team competed against 19 other colleges from throughout the country, and after being one of three finalists students from the team delivered a 20-minute marketing presentation at American Honda Motor Co. in California, securing its win.
“Our class’s campaign emerged with lots of positive energy and speed,” Ashley said. “The students formed their agency called Vital Innovative Promotions (V.I.P.), right away to create and execute their multi-level marketing campaign in just over nine weeks. All with finesse. They were passionate, fast, and fearless social-media marketers.”