Feb. 25, 2008

Albuquerque Journal

UNM Team Wins Subaru Challenge
Journal Staff Report

The undergraduate students in marketing professor John Benavidez's class at the University of New Mexico's Anderson School of Management recently earned first place honors in the Project Acceleration: Subaru Impreza Collegiate Challenge.
   
The Subaru executives who served as judges for the challenge said a main factor that led to the win was the fact that the students did a superior job of quantifying the impact of results they attained after planning and executing a consistent integrated marketing plan.
   
Benavidez's classes have a history of coming out on top when competing with other schools.
   
"This victory adds to the previous successes our MBA teams have had in the Cadillac challenges," said Benavidez. "It also demonstrates that Anderson marketing students— both undergraduate and graduate— can design, execute and present results to top marketing executives in a fashion that is superior to their competition, which includes some of the best schools in the nation."
   
Anderson was one of eight schools selected for the Subaru Challenge. The program gives students the opportunity to gain real-world marketing experience while still in school. The focus of the project was for the students to promote the Subaru Impreza product line to their peers: Generation Y.
   
At the end of the challenge, Anderson was one of the two top schools invited to Subaru of America Inc. headquarters in Cherry Hill, N.J., to present their campaign. It was in this final phase that Anderson students won over Drexel University for first place honors.
   
This is the fourth consecutive school year a team from UNM has advanced to the final round in this type of marketing competition.