CNU Business Students Win Top Direct Marketing Award in National Competition
News Release - November 08, 2007
Media Contact:
Emily L. Lucier
Press Secretary and Media Manager
emily.lucier@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) - A team of business students from the Joseph W. Luter, III School of Business at Christopher Newport University has earned first place in a national direct marketing competition.
A panel of judges comprised of experienced direct and interactive marketing professionals, including senior marketing officers from the contest sponsor, and members of the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation's Board of Trustees selected CNU's marketing campaign, “Charge forward with Litle & Co.” as the top pick of undergraduate submissions from colleges and universities across the country for the 2007 Leonard J. Raymond Collegiate Gold ECHO. The judges noted; “Every aspect of this entry was judged as very strong; the team received special kudos for their marketing strategy 
and their customer segmentation, as well as Honorable Mention for Smartest Budgeting Approach.”
The Collegiate ECHO competition is an opportunity for students to turn theory into practice by developing an actual direct marketing campaign for a real corporate sponsor. The corporate sponsor of this year's competition was Litle & Company, a payment processing company in Lowell, Massachusetts.
“We decided to sponsor this year's competition because we think it's the best way to support higher education in direct/interactive marketing” said Litle & Co. Chief Marketing Officer Chris Long. “The creative solutions offered by these students far exceeded our expectations, providing outstanding, insightful, and creative approaches that we will definitely implement in our upcoming campaigns.”
Earlier in the year, the same team was awarded first place in the 2007 Collegiate Marketing Award for Excellence and Innovation (MAXI) competition, a regional contest sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington Educational Foundation (DMAW-EF).
CNU team members and Spiller were recognized and awarded their trophy on October 16, at the Direct Marketing Association International ECHO Awards ceremony at Union Station in Chicago, IL . Their prize included transportation, accommodations, and attendance to the DMA 90 th Annual Conference & Exhibition, in addition to other prizes including a cash award. Students also will receive scholarships from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism if they decide to enter the graduate program in Integrated Marketing Communications.
More about the contest
For marketing professionals, the ECHO is a highly coveted award, much like the Oscar is for actors and the Grammy for musicians.
This year's contest focused on building brand awareness of Litle & Co. with a public relations and advertising campaign, followed by a lead generation program using targeted direct mail. A print advertising campaign was created to generate brand awareness and drive traffic to the company's Web site. Segmented database analysis and database marketing activities fueled the campaign which aimed to maximize customer, prospect and partner relationships.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Luter School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.