Integrating the Washington Media Scholars Case Study Competition into a Capstone Course

Abstract

Integrating the WMSF Case Study competition into a capstone course will create a whole new dynamic for students. The case studies provided by WMSF are valuable for students because they demonstrate that strategically selecting a target and creating a media mix that will communicate to the chosen target sometimes requires a flexible, human brain processing the information into the best possible choices. The case studies are more than media choices. They are actual problems or opportunities based in the domain of nonpartisan political communication that require students to delve into the organizations or individuals involved and utilize media to communicate messages. Many students want to just look at the given budget and divide it up equally, but I encourage the students to read the case study over several times to catch the nuances in the case.

Keywords

student-centered learning competitions faculty teaching business students

When I began teaching at Brigham Young University-Idaho, I noticed that the faculty and administration had an educational philosophy that everything the students needed was readily available on campus: potential faculty are interviewed by at least eight administrators and put through a thorough vetting process, our library is well stocked with current industry and technical reading materials and databases, and our community is very supportive of the university and its students. But I felt that the students needed a broader, more immersive educational experience to gain valuable experience in media and advertising. I set out to find “outside” organizations that could help augment my teaching and challenge the students to reach experiential learning.

The Washington Media Scholars Case Study Competition

I found the Washington Media Scholars Foundation (WMSF), and its annual Case Study competition, through another national organization I utilize to mentor students. I was impressed with the number and quality of organizations listed as sponsors, including the Washington Post, Nielsen, and Cox Media, among others.

The foundation was created by political media planner Robin Roberts, a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s advertising program. He built a political media buying company, National Media, and in 2009 established the nonpartisan, nonprofit Washington Media Scholars Foundation. The goal of the Media Scholars program is to connect undergraduate students with opportunities in the political advertising business.

The Case Study competition introduces undergraduate students to political media planning. The competition is open to undergraduate students in any year, any program, and is conducted in three rounds. Students typically work in pairs, although solo entries are permitted.

The initial qualifying round is an assignment to split a fixed budget among a handful of media types, using cost per thousand and impressions. The students fill in an Excel spreadsheet provided with the assignment, and submit a two-page explanation of their choices. The qualifying round assignment can be completed in a few hours.

From the several hundred qualifying round submissions, WMSF chooses 24 semifinalist teams. The teams receive a more complex political media planning case. The 2019 case focused on generating public support for the construction of a baseball stadium in a large but fictional city. The same spreadsheet accompanies the case, with students submitting a plans book.

For the final round, six teams are chosen to present their plans in Washington during the WMSF’s “Media Scholars Week.” Judging is done by a panel of media professionals, including ad sales and marketing. The presentations are done on the final day of a week of visits to media companies such as Google and Washington Post, agencies, and consulting firms.

A key factor of the competition is that there are no fees required to compete and no cost for the finalist teams to attend Media Scholars Week. Students sign up for the competition and are given access to the case study and possible media choices.

The case studies provided by WMSF are valuable for students because they demonstrate that strategically selecting a target and creating a media mix that will communicate to the chosen target sometimes requires a nonlinear, human brain processing the information into the best possible choices. The case studies are more than media choices. They are actual problems or opportunities based in the domain of nonpartisan political communication that require students to delve into the organizations or individuals involved and utilize media to communicate messages. Many students want to just look at the given budget and divide it up equally, but I encourage the students to read the case study over several times to catch the nuances in the case.

The Case Study as a Classroom Assignment

The qualifying case study is released in November which is right in the middle of our fall semester. As soon as I know who will be in my winter semester capstone class, I send them a notice that the case is accessible and they should be looking to complete the qualifying round as soon as they get into my class in January. My capstone integrated marketing communication course requires the students to enter at least three competitions. If the students complete the qualifying round and the Media Plan Case Competition semifinal round, I count it as two competitions.

The students receive a grade on their entries based on how they place in the competitions. If they are chosen to continue with the Media Plan Case Competition semifinal round, their qualifying round is given full points for one competition. If they do not make it to the semifinal round, they must present their entry to judges I bring in to give them a grade and to also give them feedback on what they could have improved or changed with their media choices, strategy, or even written analysis. Sometimes the finalists aren’t announced until our winter semester is over so the students who have entered must be judged by my “outside” judges as well. If they do happen to make it to the finals and my outside judges did not recognize or align with the WMSF’s judges, I go back and change their grade for that competition.

It is interesting to see how competitive the students get just in my class. When they were assigned local campaigns, students would get apathetic and work toward just completing the task, not looking for best solutions. The WMSF case studies have raised their level of effort because they want to have better results than their peers. It has created a whole new mindset amongst the students.

I have the students go over their final write-up and spreadsheets with me before they submit so that I can help them find inconsistencies or grammatical errors. Once they have submitted their write-up, I have the teams present to the rest of the class. This has worked well because the students are then teaching each other.

I have had at least one team, and twice had two teams, make it through the preliminary round, move to the case study round, and finally to the top six for the past 5 years. The WMSF then pays for the students to fly to Washington, DC, where they visit various companies. This is where the students have their eyes opened to the possibilities outside of our small community. Robin Roberts and his WMSF team have created a network of professionals who are generous with their time and financial support. The students come back amazed at the opportunities they have been given to meet such top-level experts.

One of my teams took second place in 2015. Team member, Alexandra Sorensen, wrote to me after her week in DC:

Thank you so much - this was truly a life-changing opportunity. Every event was an opportunity to network and we heard more often than not that these companies wanted to see our resumes and hear from us in the future. Most of the professionals gave us their personal emails and phone numbers and genuinely want to help us out with our start in the media industry. I cannot stress enough how pivotal this week has been and will be in my life. I have networked with people that are quite literally famous (in fact, I woke up this morning and turned on the news to see the CEO and VP of Politico, whom we met with, on the news today) and have very high-profile lives. I have learned more in this week than I thought possible and although it was literally like drinking from a fire hose, every single moment was amazing. Again, this has changed my life and I would have never thought to get involved if you hadn’t encouraged us.

When one of my teams made it to the finals, I convinced my university to send me to watch my team compete and to attend the awards ceremony. I made it a point to visit with the other student teams and asked them how they heard about the competition. I was impressed at how many had entered without having it mandated or required by their professors. One student was an engineering student at Cornell. I asked him why an engineering student would enter a media competition and he told me that his university encourages students to enter competitions such as WMSF as a way to get their name out and network with other professionals in fields other than their chosen area of emphasis.

We educators tend to stick with the familiar. It is nice to just change the dates on our course outlines and not really change our assignments or curriculum. I keep thinking that the WMSF competition is the best-kept secret I have found. This organization creates new and challenging case studies each year. Educators, think of the competition and WMSF as making your teaching more current and relevant. Isn’t that what we are all looking to do anyway?

Conclusion

As a soon-to-be retired college professor, I will always look back on my career and be proud of many things I did for students. WMSF will be one of those opportunities I encouraged my students to take that will be amongst my better choices. It challenges students to think strategically and work with a partner to create a media plan that isn’t completely based in social media (which most of my students want to choose), and it is one of the greatest networking organizations in the industry. From my experience, there really aren’t any negatives for the students or teacher, only positives.