**** 2005 Retain The Brains Winners' Update ****
Congratulations to the team from Roberts Wesleyan College, winners of the 2005 Retain The Brains Marketing Plan Contest! Team members Cherilyn Whitney, Brad Farrow, Stacie Brownhill and Justin Niebel wowed the judging panel with their "ROC on the Inner Loop" theme and excellent tactics! Click here to see their PowerPoint presentation. Media coverage included a TV story on RNews, and a story in the Democrat and Chronicle.
The Second Annual "Retain the Brains" Marketing Plan Competition
This is a marketing plan competition by undergraduate college students… for undergraduate college students! As a college student in Rochester, you'll be competing to write the marketing plan that will help keep you, your friends and your peers here in Rochester after graduation and as you enter the workforce. You're competing to have the best plan to present Rochester's best to people just like you.
The "product" to be marketed is the Greater Rochester Area and the target market is 18-28 year old men and women-- the rest is up to you. The goal of the competition is to help Greater Rochester stop the "brain drain" by letting our area's college students highlight the most interesting aspects of Rochester for people in their twenties.
Of course, the competition will have two tiers - the individual college level, followed by the regional finals. Every college in the Greater Rochester area is eligible to have an unlimited number of qualified teams compete, and every student is invited to form a team of up to five people to compete! This means YOU!
From a community-planning perspective, the facts show that Rochester needs to do something significant to retain our college graduates...
- The RUMP group has revealed the hard facts: 47% of 18-21 year olds and 36% of 22-30 year olds plan to leave our area.
- The Democrat and Chronicle recently reported that New York State attracts more students that any other state, yet we lose the most too.
- A Milken study states that where companies used to attract intellectual capital, now intellectual capital attracts corporations.
Current efforts to market Rochester are doing a nice job promoting family and quality-of-life themes, but often that message is lost on the 18-28 year old segment of our community's population-- people starting careers and looking for dynamic social connections and interesting, exciting activities.
What message would best resonate with this age group? Let's ask directly! And that is how this competition was born. The end result is a Marketing Plan and set of key messages by 18-28 year old men and women - that will retain and attract 18-28 year old men and women in our community.
Eligible contestants are 18-28 year-old full- or part-time undergraduate students from Rochester's local colleges-- students who call Rochester home but attend school elsewhere may also compete. If you are a student attending another college but can't find a team, we will help place you on a team.
Read a great recent article on this topic.
Students - Learn how it works and how to participate!
Universities - Tell your students about the competition!
Companies - Get in on the fun and sponsor us! |
