St. Ambrose University (Davenport,
IA)
Marketing
for the Mississippi Valley Growers Association
Summary
The Department of Managerial Studies of the College of Business, through
student conducted community-based research linked to marketing and consumer
research courses, independent internships, and service-learning credit
arrangements, sustains a partnership with the Mississippi Valley Grower’s
Association (MVGA) to provide research and technical assistance for marketing
the growers commodities and services in rural Iowa.
The Practice
Growing out of relationships established by the St. Ambrose University
Agricultural Recovery Center in the early 90s, when floods threatened
the survival of family farm businesses, a new initiative emerged in 1999
when the cooperative association (MVGA) requested marketing assistance
with their farmers market in Davenport, Iowa. Three distinct components
emerged to respond.
A. Stage One: Consumer Research
The first joint project was undertaken as part of an undergraduate Consumer
Behavior class. The 22 undergraduates were primarily juniors majoring
in marketing or public relations. The project was student driven. After
a class visit from the MVGA president, the class visited the Farmers’
Market and identified areas to explore. In small teams, they designed
a survey instrument, conducted a survey of consumer perceptions at the
market, analyzed the results, researched solutions to reported consumer
problems, prepared a report which was presented at the MVGA Annual meeting.
B. Stage Two: Marketing Research for Members of the Cooperative
The second project involved Marketing Research undergraduates. Sixteen
undergraduates, both traditional-aged and adult learners, assisted a soap-maker
business and a grower who also organized Halloween on-farm pumpkin sales
and entertainment. Student teams interviewed the business owners who described
their business problems. Students researched the problems, then designed
interview guides for focus groups. Students recruited and conducted the
focus groups, using the University’s focus group facility. One group
also followed up with a survey. The students reported their results to
the business owners and gave them a videotape of the focus group to understand
consumer reactions to their products.
C. Individual Student Engagements
Following the successful association with the MVGA over a two year period,
several students were interested in continuing to work with them. Through
an internship for credit, one senior student in public relations and marketing
communication joined the MVGA Marketing Committee. Following up on findings
from the consumer survey, the MVGA sought his help in designing a publicity
packet. He researched media contacts and deadline dates and constructed
a packet that the Growers could use to improve attendance at their special
events throughout the year. Along with his faculty sponsor he researched
the feasibility of offering a coupon book. The MVGA produced the books
and used them to publicize the market the following year.
A second student, a sophomore marketing major just beginning her coursework
in Principles of Marketing, chose to use the University’s service-learning
project credit for an additional hour of credit. She selected a MVGA project
from a list of approved projects, and worked with the course instructor
and the MVGA Marketing Committee. She wrote ad copy, identified good poster
sites, and most significantly, put together a marketing calendar that
the changing MVGA leadership used to meet media deadlines and properly
promote the seasonal events.
Effectiveness
The MVGA implemented a number of the changes recommended by students and
has improved their marketing practices. They won first place in 2002 in
the Iowa Farm Market Improvement competition. They are using the consumer
survey results to support a grant they are seeking to build a permanent
farmers market in the community. The Department of Managerial Studies
continues to work with MVGA and recently affirmed the importance of increased
student-learning opportunities with civic and social entities beyond the
campus. Recently, campus tenure policy has added the category of “participation
in civic affairs and public service” as a criterion for tenure.
No student-learning assessments have formally been conducted.
Resources
For Tenure policy, see section 3.6.2.3 of the Faculty
Handbook. To visit the Mississippi Valley Growers Association website,
click
here.
Contact Information
Dr. Bonnie Leonhardt
Chair, Managerial Studies
Phone: 563-333-6426
LeonhardtBonnieJ@sau.edu
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Effective
Practices Exchange
