Five Bellevue University students won an international competition on Friday in San Diego, landing them an all-expenses paid trip to the Kingdom of Morocco.

The team competed against four others who made it to the finals after beating out more than 50 other colleges and universities in North America that participated in the competition.

The winning students - Nanci Borg, Kelly Carpenter, Cory Kusleika, Aretha Prodjinotho and Jodi Tripp - are enrolled in BU's Marketing Management accelerated bachelor's degree completion program.

Their instructor, Heather Nelson, was invited to enter the marketing competition, sponsored by the Moroccan American Trade and Investment Council, because of her previous involvement with similar projects.

The competition asked college students to develop a strategic, integrated marketing campaign that encourages investment in Morocco and the purchase of Moroccan products.

The schools had to choose one of five sectors on which to focus their campaign, based on Moroccan industry. The BU students chose design materials.

The class was divided into four teams of five and began working on the project in September, after spending some time researching the Kingdom of Morocco.

Judges within BU and the community chose the team that would go on to compete internationally.

On Monday, Nelson expressed the excitement she and her students felt after receiving first place.

They knew they had some tough competition, but they were prepared.

"I truly think we had a well-executed strategy," she said. "It was very well integrated."

The students had prepared communication pieces to fit each part of their campaign.

"The first thing out of the judge's mouth was that we had excellent visuals and superior creatives," Nelson said.
Last Wednesday night, just 12 hours before boarding the plane for California, the team met in the auditorium at BU to do the first run-through of their presentation.

Professors, relatives and others attended the practice session to see what these accomplished students had been doing for months.

After the 25-minute presentation, the audience was invited to ask questions and offer advice for some last-minute tweaking.

Nelson said they had only about a week to put together their PowerPoint presentation. But it was obvious the team had spent countless hours researching, planning and creating their campaign.

The students had to do the majority of their work outside of class, too.

They still had regular assignments, Carpenter said, but they e-mailed each other multiple times a day for their project.

"It was a constant addition to our regular coursework," she said.

Nelson said she didn't require the team to meet at a certain time, but they did on their own. They met every Saturday from 9 to noon.

It was clear they set out to win.

And why not? Besides all the time and effort put into the competition, the winning team would get to travel to Morocco in the spring and present their campaign to Moroccan trade and tourism officials.

The top three teams would also get a cash prize for their school - the BU team brought back $3,000.

Just being asked to compete was exciting for the students. Florida State University and New York University are just two of the big names that entered the competition.

"Bellevue University has hit the map on this one," Nelson said.

Whether first place or fifth, making it to San Diego was quite an achievement.

"Nine master's programs we competed against," Nelson said.
In San Diego, the five teams that made it to the finals represented each of the five sectors of Moroccan industry.

The goal of the marketing campaign was to help Morocco become a viable trade partner. To do this, the country would have to build relationships with the United States.
But first, the students said they would have to increase awareness about Morocco, because it is not a well-known country.

The U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement was approved in 2004 and went into effect last January. Not much has been done, however, to promote the agreement - until now.

The BU team learned Morocco is known for high-quality marble, as well as leather, wood and stone, thus they wanted to create an interest or demand in Moroccan design materials.

Their presentation covered everything from target markets to steps they would take to connect Morocco to the United States.

The slogan the team came up with was "Morocco: Connecting the Global Market." They also created a positioning theme: Old Friends, New Opportunities.

Throughout their presentation, three of the students took turns describing how they would promote Morocco to lead to trade with the United States.

They would start with kingdom exhibits at museums and trade shows. The team picked three museums in the United States and said they would have the first exhibit at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. The trade shows would be used to display Moroccan design materials. They would also schedule events such as symposia and breakfasts with executives.

The team even created and registered a Web site and put together a press kit.

They also had to plan all their events to fit a $1 million budget for the first year.

The BU students will present their campaign to the minister of trade and other Moroccan officials in May.
Besides putting Bellevue on the map, this project could put Morocco on the map for the United States.

Winning the competition will also help the students "to truly jump-start their careers," Nelson said.