By the Students in Madonna Hanna?s Marketing Class at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington
Local business owner Ron Flemister called Bremerton High School marketing teacher Madonna Hanna because he needed assistance with developing fresh marketing ideas and a new advertising direction for his 12-year-old custom embroidery business, Unique Experience.
Hanna accepted the challenge, partly because Flemister is on the Business and Marketing Advisory Board for her program, and she has taught two of his daughters. She listened to Flemister?s concerns and then created an excellent learning opportunity that incorporates the Washington State Learning Goals and more.
It was Hanna?s task to develop a format for this unexpected but welcomed educational opportunity. She decided to build the learning project around the Distributive Education Club of America (DECA) competition advertising campaign outline, since the outline effectively addressed Flemister?s concerns. Hanna also thought that the Unique Experience project could potentially be a winning DECA entry.
She divided her marketing class into six advertising agencies. Each student received a packet of information that included the DECA advertising outline, an explanation of the project and a Unique Experience brochure.
The First Visit
The marketing students first met Flemister in November 2002. During his 45-minute presentation, he discussed his situation and his expectations as he distributed pictures of his shop, his business cards, catalogs and brochures. The students closely examined the materials that were given to them, took meticulous notes and asked very specific questions of their client.
Unique Experience Custom Embroidery Inc. is a small family-owned business located in downtown Bremerton, Wash. Unique Experience offers custom embroidery, silk screening, alterations, specialty advertising and dry cleaning services. They customize corporate wear, work wear, and sports or athletic wear. The customer base consists mainly of military personnel, local companies and surrounding school communities.
Ron and Faye Flemister have owned Unique Experience for the past 12 years and run the business with the help of their oldest daughter, Moneya. When they started their business, downtown Bremerton was a thriving community with the promise of growth. Even as business dwindled downtown, Unique Experience bucked the trend. The Flemisters started out with a single embroidery machine and now own and operate six machines. Although they are successful, they feel that they can increase their business by aggressively marketing custom caps and letter jackets to local high schools.
The Assignment
Armed with their handwritten notes, DECA advertising outline and Unique Experience promotional materials, Hanna?s students devised their individual plans to address Flemister?s marketing dilemma. First, each team selected an advertising manager, and then they developed an action plan for their client. Their DECA outlines enabled them to organize their thoughts and define their responsibilities.
The classroom actually had the feel of a bustling cosmopolitan advertising agency. They argued and they compromised. Suggestions included, "Let?s find out who his competitors are and see what they?re doing," and "Let?s call a printer to find out how much it costs to produce business cards and flyers." They leafed through phone books and school newspapers, and personally visited Flemister?s store as well as those of his competitors.
The actual projects would include a written report and an oral presentation highlighting Flemister?s wants?creating a new slogan, logo and print advertisements to run in school publications, and redesigning brochures and business cards.
The Executive Summary
This is a portion of Samantha Thompson and Deno White?s team project:
In the year 2002, Unique Experience grossed sales of approximately $200,000. We have been hired to develop fresh and appealing advertising campaigns and sales promotions for custom-designed letter jackets and caps. We plan to increase the sales of custom caps by 10 percent. Although we are targeting caps and letter jackets, our campaign covers a variety of other products and services provided by Unique Experience. We also plan to address the needs of Unique Experience by revitalizing the present promotional campaign, which includes little advertising. We will address media, budgets and schedules.
Since Unique Experience opened, the business has grossed about $200,000 per year. Although this is fairly good for a small business, the owner would like to generate a multi-million dollar gross income. To reach this goal, Unique Experience will need to expand its advertising in order to become better known throughout Washington and the rest of the United States.
Although Unique Experience has been located in Bremerton since the early 1990s, not many people know it?s there since it?s not in the heart of the city. In our opinion, the site is fairly hard to locate, and the facade of the business blends in with the few shops located in downtown Bremerton. A plus is that the busy Bremerton Transportation Terminal is located directly across the street, but most of the time people are in such a hurry that they don?t pay attention to their surroundings. Therefore, we need to attract potential customers to the store by adding large signage and eye-catching window displays.
Through our research, we realized that a number of businesses and local schools were unaware of the services and products provided by Unique Experience. We want to make sure that businesses know about the Unique Experience services that are right in their own community.
Bremerton is home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS), which employs thousands of people in the area. We will utilize the fact that PSNS is located next door to Unique Experience. We are also planning to maximize the visibility of the logo.
Presently our primary target market includes shipyard workers, 9th-12th grade students and military personnel. Our secondary market consists of former shipyard personnel and local city league teams?such as basketball, baseball and soccer?and high school students wishing to personalize their caps. Using brochures, newspapers and flyers, we can target surrounding companies.
We felt a need to re-create the business card, brochure and newspaper advertisements, because they need to project a visual appeal that?s more effective and attractive. The original slogan, "We put you in stitches," is catchy yet confusing. We also suggest brightening up the shop windows by using strands of white lights to trim each window. This effect will attract the eye during the evening hours and light the displayed merchandise.
Since our primary promotional items are custom caps and letter jackets, we think school newspapers and Navy base newspapers would be the most effective when advertising. We plan to run advertisements in the Bremerton High School paper, The Knight Times, which is published once a month. Unique Experience is able to embroider battleships? names on caps, so The Northwest Navigator will run one advertisement promoting caps once a month for the entire year.
These newspapers are free to the public, making them an inexpensive way to reach a large percentage of our target markets. Unique Experience already has a great Web site, although it does need to be updated, so we plan to incorporate the new logo and slogan without changing the important informational text. The Internet is becoming a common marketplace for society, and we want customers to have the alternative of going online and shopping at Unique Experience.
By creating a fresh new advertising campaign and placing our advertisements in Kitsap County publications, we hope to introduce our target markets to the custom caps and letter jackets of Unique Experience.
We are reaching the goals set by the Flemisters, which are to develop an effective promotion for caps and letterman jackets; revitalize Unique Experience with a new logo, slogan and advertising campaign; and expose Kitsap County to the products and services of Unique Experience.
The Flemisters want to expand and, perhaps in the future, become known globally. We have given them a blueprint for growth and expansion.
Presentation Day
In January 2003, each advertising group shared their marketing ideas with Flemister. Here are samples of their ideas.
"Our team decided not to use T.V. and radio advertising. Unique Experience has already tried this form of advertising, with limited results. We developed what we feel is a more effective way to promote his merchandise at a relatively low cost," states Manning.
"We proposed the Unique Experience Sport display and a Unique Experience Informational Packet," says Cochran.
The Unique Experience Sports Displays will be set up at BHS football, basketball, baseball and soccer games. Letterman jackets and custom-embroidered caps (with the BHS logo and the logos of opposing teams) will be displayed, along with order forms for customers wishing to purchase these items. The beauty of this idea is that it can be set up for home and away games. Another advantage is the direct contact with students, parents and alumni of the home team and opposing teams.
Informative packets containing Unique Experience?s cover letter, business card, catalog, order form and brochure will be used to promote their merchandise and to contact prospective businesses. These advertising ideas will be utilized throughout the 2003-2004 school year.
Statement of Benefits to the Client: Utilizing an actual display at sporting events with an informative packet will be beneficial to Unique Experience because it will successfully increase the number of products sold and highly publicize the Unique Experience name. These benefits will assist our client with reaching his goal of increased sales and expansion.
"Our group feels Unique Experience should concentrate their advertising focus directly to high school students through their individual school publications," says Board. "This method will effectively reach the market that would purchase letterman jackets."
Robinson adds, "We also suggest distributing fliers, bookmarks and posters to these schools. The school reader boards may be utilized on special occasions."
The 2004 sales promotions ideas include: a February promotion, "Capture a heart with a jersey of love," in which student sweethearts order personalized matching T-shirts and receive a discount on their next purchase. In April?s promotion, "Batter-Up," at the first game of the season, there will be a drawing for a free personalized cap from the K-note program. As a special yearlong promotion especially for Bremerton High School (home of the Knights), Unique Experience will donate merchandise to the monthly K-note drawing. The K-note program celebrates positive behavior demonstrated by Bremerton students. Teachers issue a special note to thank students for demonstrating good behavior, and students then deposit notes in a special box. Each month, several names are drawn to receive a special gift, and at the end of the school year, a car is given away.
Unique Experience will order a product requested by a customer, customize and deliver it upon payment, with shipping costs included in the final price.
The advertising ideas presented by our team will help to make the company even more profitable by creating a new advertising campaign. We are suggesting a new slogan, "We stitch your ideas!" and a new logo design. The new slogan tells the potential customer exactly what Unique Experience produces. The new logo reflects a stylized "U" and "E" with a threaded needle dramatizing the new slogan.
We plan to run a different promotion during each month of the school year. For example, May 2004?President?s Day Promotion: If a docked battleship is named after a U.S. president, embroidery would be free. Memorial Day Cap Campaign: Red, white and blue caps would be customized to honor historic military campaigns. Discounts will be made available to customers with military IDs and will include NJROTC classes at local high schools.
We also suggest that at the end of every sports season Mr. Flemister should mail an informative flyer to the parents of athletes, informing them of where and how to purchase a letterman jacket. Another promotion to stimulate additional sales of jackets is to offer a cap at half price with the school?s name embroidered in school colors.
Time permitting, display tables should not only be made available at school sporting events, but also at the dock when new ships arrive or leave the Bremerton naval yard?to capitalize on the excitement and celebration!
We also suggest setting up a table display during school lunches for one week of the month from October to May. This will introduce Unique Experience?s new products along with continuing to promote caps and jackets to the Bremerton student body.
Unique Experience is a very trustworthy and superb business. Due to the advertising campaign that we have created, we hope to build a new customer base that will appreciate the Flemisters? business. In the meantime, we will keep in touch with the Flemisters and track their profit growth and increased patronage.
The February Visit
During February 2003, Flemister returned with gifts. Hanna?s students were pleasantly surprised when Flemister presented them with a token of his appreciation for their months of hard work: navy-blue T-shirts featuring the new student-designed logo and slogan on the front, and on the back of the T-shirt?the six student-designed logos presented by each advertising agency.
"I was surprised," says student Asami Rivers. "Mr. Flemister didn?t leave anyone out. The T-shirt shows everyone had good ideas."
Rob Knight adds, "Everyone felt good. I was really happy with the logo I designed."
And Ian Mateikate, whose graphic design is on the front, comments, "It makes me really proud of the work and time I put into it."
"It?s an honor to have him use one of my ideas," says C.J. Tesch of the new slogan, "We stitch your ideas."
Geoff Green and James Howard, who are teammates, are also proud of their contribution to the new logo. Green says, "I feel like I accomplished something major. I know I can do something like this again and be successful."
Howard adds, "...helping Mr. Flemister is an honor because it?s a real business!"
Once the T-shirts were distributed, students got down to business. The assignment that day was to present their latest ideas concerning the business cover letter that would accompany the promotional packet suggested by Manning, Cochran and Browne?s advertising team. Students also presented redesigned brochures. They had presented brochure ideas in January, but just like in the real world, the ideas needed to go back to the drawing board to be reworked.
During their presentations, some students noted that speaking to their client was getting easier. They felt that Flemister clearly explained what he wanted, listened well and was very appreciative of their efforts. They described him as honest, open, very intelligent, kind and friendly.
Flemister collected the ideas presented to him that day, and he and his wife Faye would again make important business decisions based on ideas from Hanna?s second period marketing students.
Tying Up Loose Threads
When Flemister visited the class in June, he shared new items that had been purchased recently by clients. Students highly approved of the new BHS girls? basketball uniforms. Then an unexpected brainstorming session occurred as students engaged Flemister in a conversation about customizing caps specifically for BHS. The classroom quickly turned into a lesson in product development and design as students bombarded Flemister with quick sketches and suggestions. The product development session continued after school at Flemister?s shop as students shared ideas and thumbed through cap catalogs. He promised the students he would have something for them to look at before school was out, and he kept his promise.
The last day of school, when students entered Hanna?s second period class to take their final exams, waiting on each of their tables was the prototype of a cap with an old school "B."
As of June, Flemister has repainted his storefront display window to feature the new logo and slogan and added the white lighting trim. New business cards, brochures and cover letters have also been printed. He has pulled his old ads from local publications and introduced new print ads with the new logo and slogan.
The 2003-04 Advance Marketing class will continue the next phase of the project, which is to actually implement the students? promotional ideas. They will develop a month-by-month schedule of planned promotions, create promotional flyers, assist with tracking the sales of caps and jackets, and plan field trips to Unique Experience. Students will also continue to assist Flemister with product development.
A Winning Experience
When Brittani Erickson and Samantha Thompson decided to compete in this year?s regional DECA competition, they thought it would be best to enter the Unique Experience advertising campaign. Erickson and Thompson were originally on two different advertising groups, but they teamed up and pooled their best ideas for the DECA competition, which was held January 2003. The advertising campaign category had 15 entries competing for the nine spots available for the state competition.
The competition assignment included a 10-page executive summary, a written advertising test and a 15-minute oral presentation with five minutes of questioning from a panel of judges.
Erickson and Thompson placed second overall and headed to the state competition. Although they did not place at the state DECA competition, they still feel like big winners. And Erickson probably speaks for the whole class when she says, "We thank Mrs. Hanna and Mr. Flemister for this great learning experience."
"The Unique Experience project has connected our school and the business community," notes Thompson. "It is a great opportunity that should be done more often."
