Forty-eight senior marketing students from Penn State Behrend worked for 4 months in teams of 4 or 5 students to draft marketing plans for ECHS. Their goal was to offer recommendations to attract a younger audience to the ECHS.
The plans involved primary and secondary research, including focus groups, interviews and surveys as director by Professor Dr. Mary Beth Pinto.
Each group submitted a written report and gave an oral presentation on their findings to a committee of Behrend professors, staff and ECHS’s Advancement Director Geri Cicchetti. The committee chose the top 3 groups to make oral presentations during Finals Week to Executive Director George Deutsch and Board Members Kelly Montefiori, Mark Murphy and Mark Steg.
Recommendations from the top 3 groups included marketing the name Hagen History Center rather than ECHS, changing the ECHS logo to be more colorful, using a slogan of “Make History with Us,” having interactive exhibits, and developing new events.
All the reports had very creative ideas, and many of the recommendations will be reviewed further for implementation. We wish to thank Dr. Pinto and the Behrend students for their insights.