Valdosta State University recently finished in the fourth-place category in the National American Marketing Association Collegiate Case Competition.

VSU’s chapter of the American Marketing Association was represented by Antonio Fuller, a Valdosta native who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing; Callie Jackson, a Jefferson, Georgia, native who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Business Administration in international business; Melvynique Mann, a McDonough, Georgia, native who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Business Administration in international business; Alexus Mathis, a Covington, Georgia, native who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing; Jamie Williams, a Griffin, Georgia, native who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing; Quindarius Shy, a marketing major from Covington, Georgia, who expects to graduate in Fall 2018; and Da Seul Jeong, a marketing major from South Korea who expects to graduate in Fall 2018.

This was VSU’s first time participating in the competition, which featured more than 120 chapters. The fourth-place finish offered a “great sense of accomplishment” for the VSU team, said Dr. Gary Futrell, assistant professor of marketing and VSU AMA faculty advisor.

“The team did an awesome job coming together,” he said. “They met weekly after classes and often for hours on end. As often happens in team projects, several students took the lead to make sure everyone stayed on point to finish the job.”

The sponsor of this year’s competition was cosmetics corporation Mary Kay, and students were tasked with developing a marketing strategy to reimagine the Mary Kay experience and attract more users. The VSU team worked throughout the 2017-2018 academic year to create a marketing solution that established a subset brand of Mary Kay — MK 2.0 — and focused on appealing directly to the needs and wants of millennial women.

The top 10 finalists from the National AMA Collegiate Case Competition were invited to present their marketing strategy to Mary Kay executives at the AMA International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.