East Marion Native Wins Third Place in National Marketing Competition

2013 Oct 22

East Marion native Sarah Parker placed third in the Marketing EDGE Collegiate ECHO Challenge, a national marketing competition for college students. Along with three classmates, Parker created a marketing campaign for Delia's women's clothing line and competed against more than 150 teams to win a $500 cash prize. She also won $1,000 for the Department of Strategic Communication at Ithaca College, where she studies integrated marketing communications.

Led by Roy H. Park School of Communications professor Adam Peruta, the students entered the competition as part of their advertising, copywriting and art direction class. Parker was given a theoretical budget and real data from Delia's to create a complete integrated marketing campaign.

“Winning after putting so much hard work in was amazing,” said Parker. “I never thought of it as a contest because it was also part of our class. We never thought we would place so it was a big surprise.”

Students in the integrated marketing communications major at Ithaca College study the converging fields of advertising, public relations, sales promotion and interactive marketing. The major blends coursework in the Roy H. Park School of Communications with classes in the School of Business. Students take such classes as brand design and communication, consumer behavior and writing for public relations, and students can finish off their senior year with Ad Lab, a capstone course that simulates an advertising agency.

Marketing EDGE is a national nonprofit designed to educate, develop, grow and employ marketing students. The Marketing EDGE Collegiate ECHO Challenge has been challenging students to come up with creative solutions to marketing problems since 1986. A new client is featured each year, and students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and invited to compete.

For more information on the integrated marketing communications major at Ithaca College, visit http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/programs/imc/.

For more on the Marketing EDGE Collegeiate ECHO Challenge, visit http://www.marketingedge.org/marketing-programs/collegiate-echo.