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Co-Winners Share $3,000 in Target Case Competition

Two teams of undergraduate students from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business Administration were named co-winners of the Target Case Competition held April 22. Each team received $1,500. The money was split between the teams’ respective student organizations: the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the Multicultural Business Student Association (MBSA).
 
During the competition, students researched how Target’s Threshold brand could improve sales and customer visibility. The teams then presented their findings to Target representatives.
 
Lindstrand (left) and Ostronic make their case
Lindstrand (left) and Ostronic make their case
The students said examining and focusing on a specific brand brought a unique perspective to the case study. Kasey Ostronic, a senior marketing major from Omaha, Nebraska, worked with several team members from AMA to develop their case.
 
“Our team created and distributed a survey to find out how well-known the brand is, how we can improve the brand’s visibility among customers and what brand awareness message to send out,” Ostronic said. “We were amazed at the results. We had about 75 people complete the survey and found that many people were unsure if they had purchased the brand or not. This gave us the opportunity to focus on brand visibility and showcasing the quality of the Threshold products within the Target stores.”
 
The teams gave short-term and long-term recommendations to raise brand awareness, which ranged from revamping social media to adding in-store touch screens, having in-store showroom displays and creating an app or website page on which customers can upload a photo of the room they want to decorate, add Threshold décor to the room and get expert help to create the best design to fit their needs.
 
Target judges with some of winning competitors
Target judges with some of winning competitors
“This case competition was fun because it allowed us to work with a well-known company and we were given the creative freedom to take our research and develop solutions that appealed to us and to the Target customers,” said Aakriti Agrawal, a senior actuarial science and finance major from Pune, India.
 
Kevin Oswald, a store team leader and recruiting captain at Target, has been recruiting at UNL for more than 10 years. This marked the fourth year Target has sponsored the case competition. The CBA Department of Marketing has already secured Target to sponsor the case competition for next year.
 
“It was interesting to see how the groups approached the case. We thought both winning teams had a unique perspective to bring to the table and it was impressive to see that some of their recommendations like the in-store showroom displays are being implemented in our Target stores as we speak,” Oswald said. “Every year we do this, we see excellent student presentations. We continue to sponsor this case competition because we gain great insights from hearing what the students find and recommend, as well as getting to know the students and possibly recruiting them for the company.”
  
Co-Winning teams members were:
American Marketing Association
Sarah Lindstrand – junior marketing major from Lakeville, Minnesota
Kasey Ostronic – senior marketing major from Omaha, Nebraska
 
Multicultural Business Students Association
Aakriti Agrawal – senior actuarial science and finance major from Pune, India
Cori Bolte – sophomore business administration major from York, Nebraska
Kanani Eisenhauer – junior marketing and management major from Lincoln, Nebraska
Brianna Ridenour – sophomore management major from Alliance, Nebraska
Simon Wang – junior supply chain management major from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
Published: May 2, 2016