MBA Marketing Shines in Lincoln Challenge

PROVO, Utah – Jan 12, 2016 – If Matthew McConaughey can’t get you to buy a Lincoln, maybe Brigham Young University MBA students can.

Competing in the first-ever Lincoln MBA Challenge, four Marriott School of Management students combined their efforts to place second and claim a $4,000 prize for the school’s MBA Marketing Association.

“The team members worked incredibly hard on their submission, including countless hours spent conducting test drives, administering interviews and developing a marketing strategy,” says Glenn Christensen, associate professor of marketing. “The students’ success is a testament to both their diligent work and the level of training given at the Marriott School.”

The group of first-year MBA students was tasked with making the Lincoln brand relevant to local lawyers and law students. The challenge was divided into two parts: first, utilizing methodology provided by Lincoln to encourage law school students and lawyers to test drive Lincoln vehicles and complete surveys on the experience; and second, to develop and submit a marketing strategy plan.

“I’m confident our success was largely attributed to utilizing several of the frameworks that we learned in our marketing class last semester,” says Woodrow Arrington from Idaho Falls, Idaho. “Our professors helped us focus our analysis, strategy and final recommendations in a way that was realistic and implementable.”

Arrington and teammates Dain Berrett from Sterling, Virginia; Kavya Chandrashekhar from Mysore, India; and Alex Erickson from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, bested 13 other teams from graduate business programs at Yale, Wharton, UC Berkeley and Michigan. BYU came in second, just behind the University of Miami.

The $4,000 prize will go to the MBAMA for networking events this semester and to support other club initiatives, including building relationships among students and recruiters.

“I was happy to see our hard work pay off and contribute back to building up the MBA Marketing Association,” Arrington says. “Hopefully it will help other MBA students grow in their careers.”

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.