A team of Brigham Young University students want you to scream for ice cream, especially on game day.
A three-minute video and presentation about a potential Ben & Jerry’s brand won three BYU students, coined the Scoop Squad, first place and $7,000 in the 2016 Unilever Unigame competition.
The top three teams in the marketing strategy case competition — BYU, UNC-Charlotte and Ohio State — were chosen to visit the Unilever headquarters in Englewood, N.J., to meet the U.S. company president and present in-depth analyses of their proposals to company executives and other management. Aiming to penetrate the millennial market, the Scoop Squad developed a proposal involving ice cream and college sports rivalries. With an intent to ride the hype of game day, the campaign invited college students to go head-to-head not only in sports, but also in university-based competitions to decide new Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors.
The team of senior strategy majors Justin Molinaro from Atlanta and Ether Tam from Laie, Hawaii, along with senior animation major Dallin Cheung from Mesa, Ariz., took home the big win after impressing the company panel with the execution, soundness, implementation and practicality of their proposal.
“We were confident going in that we would be a contender,” Tam says. “We know that because the frameworks we’ve learned at BYU through the strategy program and other classes are top notch, we were able to compete even with the top schools.”
In April, the BYU team will travel to London to represent the U.S. in Unilever’s international competition, vying for a win against 30 other teams representing their respective countries. While they develop a presentation based on a new Unilever-based case, the team will be mentored by a company vice president. The preparation for the competition has required more than just a few all-nighters, the team says.
“We can’t cram for the competition at this point,” Molinaro says. “But we’ve been developing our skills throughout our academic careers, and we’re ready to compete in London.”
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
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Writer: Kasee Bailey