Students in Marc Adler's Marketing for Entrepreneurs class might not hear the words, "You're fired!" but in a class with no textbooks, homework or tests, their grades depend on beating the competition.
Based on the reality TV show "The Apprentice," Adler's class teaches students to work on the fly while running a realistic marketing campaign. The class existed prior to Donald Trump's hit show, but Adler said he thought the class material needed a shakeup.
The idea to put a spin on the three-credit class came from watching Trump himself speak at UB last semester, said Adler, an adjunct instructor at UB and vice president for client services at local marketing firm Flynn and Friends.
Now the class, although non-traditional, is more "realistic" and has more "content meaning," Adler said. "The students have more flexibility in the class, which provides a better learning experience."
Enrolled students said they have found the class to be entertaining as well as educational.
"The class is challenging, but good," said Kristin Johnson, a senior business major whose team won the first project by distributing the most tickets to the UB women's basketball game against Western Michigan.
For that project, Johnson said the key to her team's success was developing a marketing technique to get local school sport teams and clubs to come to the basketball game.
Erin Hagner, senior business major and project manager for the winning team during the first project, said creating and running campaigns makes up for the lack of traditional work.
"There is a lot of effort in doing stuff (making phone calls, setting up activities) as a substitute for studying for a test," Hagner said. "But it is more fulfilling, and it is my first real marketing experience."
In total, there are three different projects during the semester. The class meets once every week to tackle the projects at hand by breaking them down into planning, execution and results and review, Adler said.
The class has now moved onto their second project where new groups of three teams will have to market the new Diet Pepsi bottle around campus and in Tops supermarkets.
Johnson said the winning team would be determined by the amount of pictures they are able to take of students and faculty holding the new Diet Pepsi bottle.
"I thought it was a great idea," said Allison Reis, a senior communication major who had her picture taken with the new bottle. "I was able to get a close up look at the new product and the class is doing a great job of keeping awareness of their product high."
Students can also expect to see the three teams around campus for their third and final project, which will be selling chocolate bars for a local candy maker, Fowler's.
The teams will be responsible for pricing the chocolate and whichever team makes the most money wins, according to class members. The money that they raise will all go to charity.
Without tests or homework, some students who are not in the class question the competitive class's grading format.
"How do you know if what you are working so hard to do is "A" material?" said Evan Bronchick, a senior exercise science major.
"I think the competition of grades would be detrimental to the mindset of the students in the class and this would cause animosity between them," said Eric Breslow, a senior psychology major.
Class members said the competition is there, but nothing reaches the levels of reality TV. Plus, the class is split into groups right away, "so you don't have a lot of interaction with the other teams," Johnson said.
According to Adler, when it comes to grades, "a student might work real hard and keep on losing," but 40 percent of the grade is based on class participation, and he does reserve some right to change a grade if he sees it fit.
Marketing for entrepreneurs will be taught again next spring semester, and according to Adler, students who take his class can look forward to a whole new set of projects they will have to market.
"I think that the concept is a great idea for teaching students real life experiences," said Evan Nemeroff, freshman communication major. "As a communication major, I would consider taking it in the future."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
