BEVERAGEWORLD

November 13, 2007

Students to Head FUZE Ad Campaign

The MSU team used the online community MySpace to guide the campaign's form and function. The students pitched the campaign via teleconferencing capabilities in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. Reed served as team leader and designed the campaign book. Her teammates contributed to the ads, research and other material needed for the proposal book.

"This team was successful in combining new media with traditional media to form its campaign. We treated the campaigns exactly like they were plans pitched by professional firms, and many of them were of that caliber," says Meissner.

The winning team was chosen from more than 65 submissions from approximately 250 students, says the company. Each student from MSU received an $8,000 scholarship and a trip to New York City last month where they presented their pitch to Fuze executives.

"Kids are smarter than ever and they are savvy enough to know when they're being marketed to even if it's under the radar," notes Meissner. "Our approach is to engage them to interact among themselves about branding, advertising and design, keeping the conversation much more organic and authentic."

And that is exactly what the MSU team did.

Fuze, MSU, ad campaignFUZE Beverage Co., maker of New Age, fortified drinks, tapped into the brains of seniors, college seniors that is, from 11 of the country's most prestigious design schools, to help it formulate its next national campaign.

The contest, which began in January, involved multiple teams from each of the following schools: The Art Institute of New York, Michigan State University, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Academy of Art University, Cal State Fullerton, University of Oregon, University of Texas at Austin, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Portfolio Center, Creative Circus and Savannah College of Art and Design.

Each school was given a start-up kit via a live demonstration download and students were equipped with a brand brief, product and graphical assets to begin with their campaign, relays the company. The goal: to come up with a viral marketing campaign that best creatively captures the Fuze brand through an innovative use of multi-media.

According to Bill Meissner, CMO of Fuze Beverages, the campaign accomplishes two things: a platform for trend-setting college kids to tell the company how they view the brand and a catalyst for conversation among kids on the unique nature of Fuze relative to older alternative or New Age beverage brands.

The team that best captured Fuze was a group of advertising seniors from Michigan State University—Jessica Boyer, Jeffrey Farmer, Karen Reed, Molly Schulz and Lindsay Young.

"The winning campaign captured the essence of brand Fuze," says Meissner. "The students were able to separate Fuze from the other so-called healthy juice drinks and teas on the market."

"The reason why the campaign works is that people like to relate to other people," says Reed, a team member. "Our ad designs featured a woman named London, who is an inspiring singer on MySpace. We included a profile of things she likes in the ads, including Fuze. We contacted her and asked her to get involved in the campaign and to send us a photo of her drinking Fuze, and she did."