Whether he’s selling ski gear, recruiting companies to run case competitions, or helping nonprofits refine their marketing strategies, senior Cameron Fry uses the skills that he has learned in the BYU Marriott marketing program to impact the world around him.
Fry was sure that he would one day become a dentist when he started at BYU, but attending a marketing association informational meeting with a friend opened his eyes to new possibilities. “After hearing about the program during the information session, I got out my phone, went to the registration web page, and became a marketing association member right there,” says Fry. Not only has he been a member since that first information session, but Fry has also served in the BYU Marriott marketing association’s leadership group. “I want to help other people in the same way that the leadership teams in the past gave me advice and mentored me,” he says.
Fry’s work in the marketing association has mainly focused on helping create case competitions for students to gain experience solving real-world problems. “Our case-competition group reaches out to companies to invite them to come to BYU Marriott with a problem that they're currently facing, and students will try to solve the problem in a case-competition format,” says Fry. Case competitions typically last one evening, and marketing association students compete against each other for prizes while learning insights that they can apply to their future careers.
For example, one past case competition challenged students to design marketing strategies to generate business for new shops and restaurants at the Shops at Riverwoods, a center for shopping and dining in Provo, Utah. Fry says that as students tackle case competitions such as this one, they gain experience solving business problems and learn what areas of marketing most interest them.
The lessons that Fry has learned from his participation in events such as these competitions has helped him succeed in an environment vastly different from the Tanner Building. When not in classes, Fry worked part-time at a ski shop in Park City, Utah, during the 2018–19 and 2019–20 ski seasons. The shop where Fry worked offered skiers all the gear they would need to tackle the nearby slopes, including skis, boots, clothing, and other equipment.
When Vail Resorts, the company that owned the ski shop where Fry worked, challenged employees to join the 100K Club by earning $100,000 of revenue during the 2019–20 ski season, Fry was ready to apply the lessons that he’d learned from the marketing program to reach that goal. “I tried to implement some of the consumer-behavior knowledge that I’d been learning in class and the sales skills that I’d learned through marketing association master classes as I helped my manager with new merchandise and sales-floor design. By applying those principles, I was able to make it into the 100K Club as a part-time employee a couple of weeks before the deadline,” says Fry.
Beyond financial success, the lessons that Fry has learned in the marketing program have helped him give back to the community. He’s worked with the nonprofit Catchafire to share marketing insights with organizations that could not afford the fees associated with such services.
“Companies and nonprofits will post on the Catchafire website that they need help transcribing interviews or refining their marketing strategies, and they don’t have time to do that work,” he says. “I’ve done marketing strategy calls, Spanish translation, transcription for videos, and online market research.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fry has used some of his free time to reach out and make a difference in organizations through Catchafire.
As he looks to continue making a difference during his senior year at BYU Marriott and after his graduation in December 2020, Fry knows that the lessons that he’s learning in the marketing program will help him on his journey. “One of the things I've learned in the marketing program is how to engage in learning for my own benefit,” he says. “What I’ve been learning has made me a better, smarter person. Rather than just taking a test or getting a grade, these classes are preparing me to be successful in my life.”
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Writer: Kenna Pierce
