OSU-Tulsa Students Get Creative
Students from Oklahoma State University-Tulsa’s Creative Marketing course are using social media to rally support in an online creativity tournament and creating videos for a second competition whose winners will be featured at a Tulsa Drillers game during opening weekend at ONEOK Field.
Dr. Tracy Suter, associate professor of marketing in OSU’s Spears School of Business, challenged his students to co-create, explore and interpret the creative experience. The short-term course concluded with the second annual -sel College Tournament and a viral video production project that was showcased in the -Tulsa Auditorium on Feb. 11.
“So often we ask students to study theories, learn facts and perform scholastic tasks. I do not want to diminish the importance of these activities, but I recognize there is rarely any room for their own creative ideas. My goal was to bring creativity back,” Suter said.
The -sel tournament began with 35 students and their examples of creativity including original, student-created ideas. The examples were placed in six categories, made up of logos and brand marks, product designs, advertising campaigns, distribution and pricing, Web sites and consumer-generated content.
Suter then pushed his students to use their imaginations to campaign for the selection with a six-word nomination speech. Through in-class voting, the nominations were narrowed down to five finalists. The entire class then started using social media and viral marketing methods to drive people to the class’ official Web site, www.tas-sel.org, to vote for a winner.
Since launching Jan. 15, the project’s Web site recorded more than 71,500 hits and 825 votes.
For the second component of the class project, students were put in teams and challenged to create an original video production for the Tulsa Drillers about their move to ONEOK Field, located just south of -Tulsa.
Suter says working with a real-world client means his students’ work is more than just a class project.
“Working with a high-profile organization, like the Tulsa Drillers, enhances their creative output and the quality of their efforts,” he adds. “It also gives the students a better sense that their work is relevant and has the potential for them to gain some valuable marketplace exposure as they pursue career advancement.”
Members of the Drillers staff were in attendance for the video showing on Feb. 11 at -Tulsa.
After the viewing, the Drillers staff selected the top videos to be showcased on the Drillers Web site at www.tulsadrillers.com. The winning team will be recognized on ONEOK Field and their video shown to the crowd during opening weekend in April.
Suter says he hopes these projects will help students develop a diverse skill set for both internal and external marketing.
“Today’s business and marketing environment is changing very rapidly,” Suter says “Video production might not be a skill we characteristically teach in a business school, but broad experiences are necessary and desirable for current college graduates.”
Updated 03-15-2010
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