Thursday, April 24, 2003

Wilmington, NC – If you teach them, they will forget. If you show them, they will remember. If you involve them, they will understand. This teaching philosophy employed by Dr. Patricia Voli, visiting assistant professor of marketing in the UNCW Cameron School of Business, is what initiated the relationship between her promotion management classes and Jay Taylor III of Jay Taylor Ter-ro Exterminating Co., Inc.

Voli and Taylor, an alumnus of the Cameron School of Business, met at last year’s annual business week when Taylor spoke on current issues and career opportunities within his industry. Voli was in search of a client to involve with her marketing classes, and after discussing objectives for the project she decided that Taylor’s company was a match.

Voli divided two of her classes into 16 advertising agencies to compete for the account of Jay Taylor Exterminating and its Sentricon Termite Elimination System. The student agencies were given the option to create a direct mailer, draft a brochure along with a distribution strategy, develop a public relations campaign or create other promotional strategies for their client.

The projects that created the most buzz included the production of a TV commercial and several brochures that could be used as a direct mailer for residential and commercial sectors.

"The results were overwhelming,” said Taylor. “Because of Dr. Voli and her students, I have a better understanding of brand loyalty and marketing concepts needed for my company. This project has inspired me to reexamine my marketing strategies for the future. I had immediate use for several of the ideas that were presented.”

Before this project, Taylor had a limited budget for television media. "Due to the ideas I received from the marketing students, I have increased my advertising budget substantially this year,” said Taylor.

The student-created TV commercial will air for the next three months on local and cable television stations. Taylor also combined the student agencies’ brochure strategies into one direct mailer that has already been printed.

Due to the high quality and innovative work demonstrated by the students, Taylor traveled to Indianapolis in January to present the projects at the national sales meeting. The TV commercial was given to other pest control operators to use, free of charge, and can now be seen in Kentucky, Texas, and Hawaii.

Alex Bryant, a senior majoring in marketing involved with the production of the TV commercial, enjoyed fine-tuning the marketing plans with Taylor and was amazed at the impact of their work. “The success of our project was a great accomplishment,” said Bryant.

According to Voli, through this business-university relationship, her students were given the opportunity to take a real-world look at advertising careers, and they ran with it. Voli explains, “Students really felt that they could make a difference by providing something useful to the client, which motivated them to put their best work forward. The fact that Jay really invested time and attention to the students and made every attempt to maximize the learning experience made all the difference in the outcome.”

Erica Smith, a student involved in an integrated marketing campaign for Jay Taylor Exterminating, said, “This project allowed us to work as a small agency and get experience that will truly aid us in our future endeavors. It brought the real-world to the classroom,” she added.

This was the first time Taylor has participated in a marketing-related project at the university level. “The purpose of this project was to work with students and give back to UNCW. I had no expectations going into the project and was simply looking forward to contributing something other than money to the university,” said Taylor.

According to Voli, when organizing this type of project, the client must treat it as a learning experience for the students and be available for input and suggestions. “From the beginning, Jay understood that the students were learning, and he did not go into this project expecting professional results. However, we were all very impressed with the work that the students presented,” said Voli.

In March, Taylor donated $1,500 to the Department of Management and Marketing and $500 to the Department of Communication Studies. Members of the Department of Communication Studies, Mr. Frank Trimble, department chair, Dr. William Bolduc, associate professor, and Jeff Horton, a communication studies alumnus, assisted the student agency with all aspects of producing the TV commercial.

“Working with the Department of Communication Studies was instrumental in the production of the TV commercial,” said Bryant. “In the future, I would like to see departments working together on more projects,” he added.

For more information contact Dr. Voli at 910/962-7202 or volip@uncw.edu or Jay Taylor at 910/6836 or jtaylor111@att.net.