Past Student Projects

Orange County Health Dept Logo

Orange County Health Department

Students in MMS 358—Markets and Marketing, developed public relations campaigns for the Orange County Health Department of North Carolina. Teams worked on constructing one of two marketing campaigns: either a campaign for “Men’s Health” or one for “Child Poverty.” The objective of the assignment were to raise awareness of the issue and to move citizens to use Orange County Health Department resources. Students conducted marketing research, made suggestions for changes in the website, produced video materials, and developed social media campaigns.

21C Museum Hotel exterior

21C Museum Hotels

Students in MMS—Markets and Marketing, spent the semester developing marketing materials for this original concept, boutique hotel in Durham, North Carolina. The hotel combines a first class restaurant, hotel, and museum in one location. The students held weekly conference calls with all areas of the business (operations, sales, design teams, public relations and marketing) to understand the company and its marketing objectives. Eight different teams developed a marketing campaign, including print, social media, and video, and presented their ideas and visuals to the client.

Duke Lemur Center

Students with Lemur Week mascot

The Duke Marketing Club partnered with the Duke Lemur Center to help market Lemur Week, a week-long scavenger hunt around Durham culminating in the premier of the IMAX film, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar. The goal of Lemur Week was to promote the Duke Lemur Center and educate Durham citizens about this highly endangered mammal. The Duke Marketing Club’s role was to increase the visibility of the Duke Lemur Center on campus because many students are unaware of the center and its mission.

The group designed and distributed infographics that explained the point system behind the scavenger hunt. Magazine covers were designed featuring individual lemurs, in order to help students form a personal connection with the center. The group’s efforts were documented on Instagram, providing more buzz to the campaign.

Dognition logo

Dognition

Five teams conducted research and created marketing materials for this innovative company. Dognition provides science-based games for dogs that help measure a dog’s personality (empathy, communication skills, cunning, memory and reasoning). The company gives dog owners and dog trainers the chance to learn more about their dogs and strengthen the bond they have with them.  Each team conducted research on a different demographic and provided insights about how to reach that demographic. At the end of the semester, teams presented their ideas to Dognition executives.

Lenovo

Students in Capstone course

Students in an MMS Capstone course completed a project for Lenovo Corporation, located in Research Triangle Park. Student teams analyzed the higher education market for Lenovo computers by conducting interviews at North Carolina State, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke, and North Carolina Central to find out how Lenovo is perceived by students, book store and IT personnel in universities, and by faculty. Because Lenovo recently purchased the IBM PC division, the company particularly wanted to find out how the Lenovo thinkpad brand is viewed by educators, since it dropped the IBM name. In addition to brand perceptions, students investigated how Lenovo could better develop relationships with the educational user. The results of the student work were presented to Mark McNeilly, the head of branding at Lenovo.

Entex Technologies

Students gathered

Students in both Markets and Marketing and in a Capstone course worked on two projects for Entex Technologies, a Chapel Hill engineering firm specializing in waste water treatment, primarily for municipalities. The marketing course students did consumer research and reviewed all of the company's existing marketing literature. The research involved gaining the perspectives of consulting engineers who work with city officials and recommend waste water treatment facilities, waste water treatment municipalities, and Entex employees. Groups presented their creative ideas to the Entex board of directors. New ideas for a logo, website, and brochure design were developed.

Students in the Capstone course investigated future markets for Entex's products. Because many businesses have a great need for clean water in the processing of their products, Entex has potential to build their business beyond city municipal water systems. Different student groups investigated the oil and gas market, the pharmaceutical market, and the food and beverage markets. Detailed written reports were presented along with power point presentations.