Recently I posted some frugal youth marketing tips, which I think will be an ongoing theme here at Ypulse for awhile as we all tighten our belts and try to do more with less. As longtime readers know, I'm not a fan of marketing to youth at school, but I am a fan of youth learning about marketing and how it works. Scion seems to straddle that fine line between getting their brand in front of youth while integrating some sort of educational component (think: their virtual "clam" repayment plan in Whyville). The Media Post (reg. required) reported on a recent effort to engage students through a "high school marketing competition" where the winning team gets $5K to spend on supplies (a lot for many cash strapped schools). From the article:

Competing teams have to create proposals outlining ideas they think will appeal to young customers in their local areas.

The program is open to high school marketing and business classes and business/marketing clubs in Sioux Falls, S.D.; Wichita, Kan.; Omaha, Neb.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Frankfort, Ky.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Spokane, Wash., and Bend, Ore.

The competition will be carried out in a bracket-style format with both Scion and marketing executives judging each presentation….

While I wouldn't suggest turning your marketing strategy over completely to high school students (and Scion says they're just looking for ideas), this type of engagement seems like a win-win for everyone involved. Scion gets relatively inexpensive ideas from their target audience (and more exposure to their brand) while these students learn to think like marketers, building media literacy skills around how marketing campaigns are created and interacting with executives/gaining exposure to an industry they may want to work in some day. The icing on the cake is that Scion is giving a school badly needed supplies…

Categorized under: Education, Youth Marketing

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