Some of Dr. Marlene Jensen’s students involved in marketing the Lock Haven University basketball program pause for a photo before giving final presentations. Pictured, from left, are: back row – Dr. Marlene Jensen, Raymond Dipierro, Joshua Grim, Andrew Zysset, Julie Riley, Megan Fee, Krista Blew, and Kara Hunt; kneeling – Kim Eskildsen and Brian Britcher.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Lock Haven University students in Dr. Marlene Jensen’s Intro to Marketing class were given the opportunity to show their moves when it comes to basketball.

The exercise wasn’t to demonstrate how well they could play the game, but it was focused on how well they could use their marketing skills to promote community attendance at LHU men’s basketball home games.

The opportunity came about when head LHU men’s basketball coach John Wilson asked Jensen if her students might be interested in marketing basketball games.

“The goal was to increase attendance from non-students,” Jensen said.

Jensen sought volunteers from her Intro to Marketing class who would be interested in the project as it required some additional work.

“Part of the course requirement is to create a very in-depth marketing plan for some new product or service,” Jensen said. “I solicited volunteers who wanted to create their marketing plan for the men's basketball team -- and who were willing to do the added work necessary to actually implement those plans.”

A total of 11 students volunteered and were split into three teams, she said. The three teams were given three different nights to promote the games. Teams competed to have the overall best marketing plan, but also worked competitively to deliver the most paid customers and to provide the best service to the clients – namely, the men’s basketball team.

Winners in the Best Targeted Marketing Plan category were: Megan Fee, Kara Hunt, Julie Riley and Andrew Zysset. Winners in the Most Paid Customers Delivered category were: Brian Britcher, Raymond Dipierro, Kim Eskildsen and Joshua Grim. Winners in the Best Client Management category were: Krista Blew, Allison Fleming and Joe Hildebrand.

“The feedback from the students was they were delighted to apply marketing knowledge to a real world scenario,” Jensen said. “I was impressed by the amount of work done by each team as well as the creativity of their ideas. I've told the athletic department we'd be happy to do something similar again in the future.”

Wilson was pleased with the work of the students and said he noticed an increase in attendance at the games.

“In fact, I am sure that some of the people who attended would not have known about the game if not for the efforts of the marketing class,” Wilson said. “I think the students did an outstanding job. They actually did the work, and followed through on the ideas they originated. It is my hope that this will create an opportunity for the marketing classes to get involved with other sports as well as men’s basketball.”

Jensen was appreciative to the local media for supporting the students in their marketing efforts.

“I want to thank the local newspaper and radio stations for their above-and-beyond help to the students,” Jensen said. “The Express gave each team a huge, four-color ad in the paper for free, and the local radio stations gave extensive promotional air time. They were a major factor in the students gaining the experience they did.”