May 3, 2005

Students develop winning plan to take little piggy product to market

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A team of Purdue University agricultural economics students won first place in this year's National Agri-Marketing Association marketing competition, which took place April 20-22 in Phoenix.

The team's winning plan promotes a type of heating pad designed to keep piglets warm – invented, it turns out, by Purdue graduate Dick Ward, who majored in agricultural economics in 1943.

Teams participating in the national competition select a new agricultural product and develop a plan to successfully bring the product or service to the marketplace.

"We began looking last year for an agricultural product that wasn't very widely known," said Christine Wilson, assistant professor of agricultural economics and faculty adviser for the student team. "The warming pads were a perfect fit for the competition."

The students spent most of the academic year developing their plan to successfully bring the pig pads to the marketplace, Wilson said.

In developing a marketing plan, students followed the same practices and principles used by marketing professionals, said Jay Akridge, professor of agricultural economics and a co-adviser to the team.

"This experience represents reality in every sense for the students," Akridge said. "They do research to become familiar with a product, put together a plan to market it and defend that plan in front of a professional audience. It's a much different experience than any we could create in a classroom setting."

Wilson said, "The experience brings together what the students learned in all the courses they've had in their major – marketing, strategy, finance. They're really asked to apply their understanding."

Teams submit a written plan summary prior to the competition and then make a formal presentation of their marketing plan to a panel of judges at the competition. The judging panel consists of marketing and agribusiness professionals from organizations such as John Deere and Elanco.

While there is no cash prize for the winning teams, the experience itself offers intangible awards, Akridge said.

"There's no question that participating in this competition is a huge benefit to our students," he said. "Some companies attend the conference specifically to find new talent, and some even look to participation in this event as a first cut when considering resumes."

Jennifer Govan, a junior agricultural economics major from Fort Wayne, Ind., said the competition provided valuable experience in learning how to market a real agricultural product.

"I don't come from a farm background, so this was a great learning experience for me," she said. "It gave me exposure to an industry I didn't even know existed before."

Seven undergraduate students majoring in agricultural economics participated in this year's project, and this is the first time in more than 25 years of competition that Purdue has won first place.

The team members are Govan; Jesse Beck, of Anderson, Ind.; Doug Bergman of Shelbyville, Ind.; Tanya Hadley, of Woodburn, Ind.; Toby Hollinger, of Richmond, Ind.; Stacie Warner, of South Whitley, Ind.; and Courtney Warren, of Crown Point, Ind.

Overall, 30 student National Agri-Marketing Association chapters participated in the 2005 marketing competition. The event is part of the National Agri-Marketing Association's annual conference and trade show. More than 350 student members attended the conference.

Writer: Jennifer Cutraro, (765) 496-2050, jcutraro@purdue.edu

Sources: Christine Wilson, (765) 494-4299, wilson1@purdue.edu

Jay Akridge, (765)494-4327, akridge@purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722; Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page

Purdue Department of Agricultural Economics

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