T h e P e n n s y l v a n i a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5

LET’S GET

D I G I T A L

P E N N S T A T E M A R K E T I N G A S S O C I A T I O N

Executive Summary

Professional Development

Community and Social Impact

Fundraising

Membership

Internal and External Communications

Chapter Operations

Financial Statement

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E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y 0 1

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Realigned PSMA with AMA by incorporating AMA’s mission and goals into our chapter operations, methodology and logo

Raised awareness about the rising trend of Digital Marketing, its attributes and potential career paths

Utilized PSMA’s and the Smeal College of Business’ alumni networks for members professional and personal development Utilized our marketing expertise to contribute to the community at large through community service and social engagement projects Raised a total of $ $44,297.06 in revenue

K e y A c h i e v e m e n t s :

L e t t e r f r o m t h e P r e s i d e n t :

PSMA Executive Board 2014-2015

Stakeholders and Colleagues,

The Penn State Marketing Association’s 2014-2015 results demonstrated again the strength of our business model and commitment to performance excellence in our consulting services, operations and membership engagement. We are celebrating another incredible year as a collegiate chapter of the American Marketing Association. Last spring, we mapped out a plan to become better marketers, better mentors and better citizens, over the course of the year worked tirelessly to implement that plan as an executive board and our results have far exceeded expectations.

The mission of the Penn State Marketing Association is to provide its student members with real-world business experience; not just limited to the fundamentals of marketing, but also exploring all professional and rudimentary skills of business. Through personal and professional development, networking and leadership, PSMA offers its members the vital prerequisites needed for any undergraduate to make a comfortable transition to the workforce.

This year, we reinforced our vision of being at the forefront of the marketing revolution by adapting the theme ‘Let’s Get Digital’ based on extensive industry research. We tried to incorporate this theme in most of our relevant operations in addition to our major Digital Marketing based events namely the AMA Digital Marketing Week, ‘Ride the Digital Wave in Marketing’ Regional Conference and numerous workshops and seminars on that topic.We were also dedicated to emboying AMA’s mission and vision by implementing the following strategies: Provide members with innovative professional development opportunities, helping to shape the academic landscape of marketing at the Smeal College of Business as well as keep abreast of the changing global marketplace to help our members excel in their careers.Develop into responsible global leaders by utilizing our marketing expertise to contribute to the community at large.

PSMA is committed to establishing collaborative relationships with stakeholders including American Marketing Association chapters, Alumni, Smeal College of Business entities, other Student Organizations, Corporate Partners, Faculty members and the State College community. Our accomplishments would be impossible without the excellent set of leaders that represent PSMA. The chapter’s accomplishments are driven by the membership’s continued passion and innovation. These qualities have enabled PSMA to establish itself as one of the most unique student business organizations.

On behalf of the members of PSMA, I am grateful to the American Marketing Association and our academic institution, the Smeal College of Business. Thank you for investing in and supporting PSMA’s mission and values and continuing to hone us into tomorrow’s marketing leaders.

For the Glory, Sanjana Roy President, Penn State Marketing Association 2014-2015

E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y 0 2

M a j o r P r o g r a m s : N e w a n d E x t e n d e d

E v a l u a t i o n m e t r i c s C o m p l e t e d G o a l s

New Programs

PSMA Dinner Series PSMA Alumni Panel PSMA Alumni Advisory BoardTHON Fashion Show Leadership Feedback Market Research PSMA Formal Strategic Planning Initiative

Extended Programs

PSMA Career Fairs AMA Regional Conference Leadership Development Program Sponsored by Altria Mr. and Mrs. Smeal Pageant AMA Awards, Internships and Competitions Ethics Week PSMA Sales Competition

Throughout the report, you will see a grade for each project, evaluating our performance and ability to meet the specified goals. This allowed us to measure progress and determine which projects should be repeated in the future. The criteria are listed below:

The project met all goals, engaged the majority of members, followed the specified budget and added value to members

The project met most goals, engaged multiple members, followed the specified budget and added value

The project met some goals, engaged some members and did not greatly exceed budget

The project did not meet its goals, had little member engagement and went over budget

No score. This project is still in its planning phase or could not be completed due to external factors.

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Complement the Smeal College of Business’ marketing curriculum to facilitate the placement of members in their ideal careers.- Provide PSMA members with more career opportunities than their peers - Hosted fifteen industry specific professional development opportunities - Developed and implemented the PSMA Dinner Series Program with five total events

Improve strategic alignment with the American Marketing Association’s overall mission. - Participated in 90% of AMA competitions, internships and awards available tous- Attend three AMA Regional Conferences - Established a relationship with the AMA Philadelphia Professional Chapter and invited them to attend Digital Marketing Week at Penn State- Raised awareness about AMA and its opportunities among our members and business students at Penn State

Increase PSMA member involvement in both PSMA and AMA events.- Organized two social activities every month to facilitate relationships among members- Hosted workshops of upwards of thirty members to facilitate completion of AMA sponsored certificates - Utilized scavenger hunts, social media challenges, etc. to create a more engaging atmosphere in PSMA- Hosted a PSMA Formal and Annual Banquet to celebrate members and their achievements

Improve strategic alignment with the Smeal College of Business’ mission, vision and values.- Created strategic partnerships with four other Smeal student organizations for major events - Developed the Ethics Week initiative in tandem with the Smeal College of Business’ Corporate Connections and Ethics departments, Faculty and Penn State’s Net Impact chapter to promote the importance of ethics in the workplace. Leverage PSMA’s and Smeal’s extensive alumni networks.- Created a PSMA Alumni Advisory Board with eight PSMA alumni- Hosted two Alumni Panel to connect members to PSMA and Smeal alumni

P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 3

To prepare PSMA members for their future careers and advance their professional skills by providing networking events, workshops and marketing conferences.

M i s s i o n

A M A E v e n t s

October 11, 2014

Goal: Have at least 50 participants and welcome two regional chapters to our interactive Digital Marketing Conference – ‘Riding the Digital Wave. The goal was to attract previous PSMA speakers or Smeal alumni to present based on the theme of the conference.

A n n u a l A M A P S M A R e g i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e : ‘ R i d e t h e D i g i t a l Wa v e i n M a r k e t i n g ’

Result: PSMA's regional conference was held on October 11, 2014 in the state of the arc Forest Resources Building. We had an attendance of 60 students including 20 attendees from two other AMA chapters, Pitt and Shippensburg. The theme was "Ride the Digital Wave in Marketing," which we tailored our speakers presentations to as well as the prizes. We had three speakers come in to talk about their current positions with companies such as Coke, Macy's, Revlon and tech startups and how their positions were tied into the rise of digital marketing. The three speakers brought prizes and company promotional materials for the students. PSMA sponsored food for the event and gave out over $500 in prizes for attendees including a Google Nexus as the first place prize. Shell sponsored $500 for the conference. Overall the result was a huge success and the other AMA chapters were happy to attend and they complimented the venue and the speakers. 

A M A C o m p e t i t i o n s

Coca-Cola Global Intern Goal: To compete in the Coca-Cola Global Intern selection process by submitting a member of PSMA. Through an intensive screening process, we aimed to screen and select the candidate best suited to represent PSMA in the selection process.Result: PSMA fulfilled the goal laid out in our chapter plan, submitting a member of our chapter who we felt would strongly represent us, as candidates are selected by Coca-Cola. After putting out an advertisement for the position, we received a number of worthy applicants and held interviews afterwards to determine who amongst them would prove to be the best candidates for the position. Ultimately, we felt that Timothy Pecora who has shown to be exemplary marketing skills both inside and outside the classroom, and would do a fine job representing PSMA in the internship selection process.

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P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 4Student Marketer of the YearGoal: To compete in AMA’s Student Marketer of the Year competition, by selecting a member of our chapter. Once again, we planned to employ a screening process in order to discern who amongst our members would be most deserving to represent PSMA.Result: PSMA was able to complete our goal, submitting Nicole Czarnecki as our Student Marketer of the Year candidate. Through the strategy laid out in our chapter plan, we employed a similar screening process as the Coca-Cola Global Internship Competition, accepting applications and then interviewing the candidates one by one. PSMA felt in the end that Nicole, our chapter’s executive vice president, who has proven time and time again to be an invaluable asset, both to PSMA and the Smeal College of Business as a whole, would be as an ideal a candidate for this award as we could ever hope for.

Goal: To send a select group of PSMA members to attend the AMA International Conference and compete in small groups in the competitions being held there. These include the AMA Website Competition, the Northwestern Mutual and DHL Sales Competition, the Chapter Exhibit Competition, the Marketing Strategy Competition, and the T-Shirt Competition.Result: As of now, PSMA has fulfilled its goal of taking part in these competitions, through finalizing the 22 chapter members who will be attending the Conference in New Orleans, and registering for all of the aforementioned events, and completing work on those projects which needed to be completed beforehand. For the Website Competition and the T-Shirt Competition, PSMA has worked with commissioned professionals in the fields of website and graphic design respectively, so that we might put forth the best entry possible. For the Sales Competition, Chapter Exhibit, and Marketing Strategy Competition, we have divided up the chapter members going to New Orleans based off of their coursework and extracurricular experience, so that we might be able to field the most effective teams in each competition. We are both excited and confident in our ability to excel in these competitions, and believe that PSMA will be well represented in all of them.

IBM Market Development and Insights InternshipGoal: To take part in IBM’s Market Development and Insights Internship by submitting a candidate for consideration from PSMA. Similarly to the above two competitions, we screened candidates in order to determine who would prove to be the best fit to represent PSMA in this potential position. Results: PSMA was able to succeed in our goal, opting to submit Kevin Cloonan for the position. As with the aforementioned process, candidates were screened and interviewed in order to reveal who amongst them possessed the skillset and experiences most relevant to the position. We chose to submit, Kevin Cloonan, PSMA’s Member Relations Chair, who has proven in this role and outside of it, to possess the leadership, analytic, and communication skills necessary to succeed in this internship.

A M A I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e C o m p e t i t i o n s

PSMA at Pitt AMA’s Conference

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P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 5Attend other chapters ’ AMA Reg ional Conferences

PSMA at UPenn’s AMA Conference

Goal: To foster and develop relations with other AMA collegiate chapters across the country through establishing networks with them and attending their regional conferences. The goal going into the 2014-2015 academic year was to send PSMA students to two other AMA regional conferences at other schools.Result: PSMA exceeded our goal in terms of attending other collegiate regional conferences, attending not two, but three over the 2014-2015 school year. In the fall semester PSMA sent students to University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh, and will be sending students to Carnegie Mellon University at the end of February. Through these conferences, our members have not only gained valuable professional development and contacts through the visiting companies, but have built networks with AMA members from other campuses as well. Through our attendance at these conferences, we have developed relationships that will last well beyond our years in school, as well as having received confirmation that all three of the aforementioned schools will be attending our regional conference in the 2015-2016 academic year. Furthermore, four PSMA members participated the Deloitte Case Competition and two in the Unilever Brand Challenge offered by the Smeal College of Business.

AMA Col leg iate Case Compet i t ion : V i tamin Water

New A M A R el a t i ons h i p s : P r o f es s i on al an d C ol l eg i a t e ch a p t er s

Goal: Place in the top 10 and qualify to present our case at the AMA International Conference

Result: Unfortunately our team did not make it to the finals, but however earned a commendable mention. We have since evaluated our strengths and weaknesses in the submission and have developed a strategy to improve performance significantly next year.

Goal: Forge relationships with a professional chapter and two collegiate chapters, one of which we will mentor

Result: We are proud to have exceeded our expectations by developing and nurturing a relationship with the AMA Philadelphia Professional Chapter that are scheduled to attend our Digital Marketing Week as well as four collegiate chapters namely University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburg, Temple University and Carnegie Mellon.

A M A Cer t i f i ca t e P r o gr am sGoal: Have 5 members complete the certificate programs offered and sponsored by AMA

Result: For the third year, we are proud to promote the AMA Career Development and Market Research certificates to our members as well as the new Introduction to Sales Career and Selling Process Certificate. 32 members are in the process of completing all three programs. Group sessions will be led by our Consulting Directors in order to get more members to take advantage of the program at once.

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P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 6

Goal: Plan a week of professional development events in varied styles to engage marketing students to explore the digital marketing landscape and learn more about the career opportunities availableResult: Due to scheduling and weather issues in the Fall, this event was pushed to the spring and is now scheduled for April 6-10th. We are working closely with the Smeal College of Business' Faculty and Marketing departments to develop a program in digital marketing to be introduced in the Fall. This event is targeted

Goal: Have 5 people speak on each panel about their experiences in retail marketing related internships, for the fall, or full-time careers, for the spring. Provide insight to students as to the various career paths that one can take by doing marketing in a retail setting.Result: We had 5 current PSMA members with experience in retail marketing internships speak about their specific companies, thoughts, and answer any questions. The internship panel took place during a division meeting, and attendance was around 40 members. The companies represented included Urban Outfitters, Ross Stores, TJX Companies, Michael Kors, and Kohl’s Department Store. For the spring semester, on March 4th after a General Body Meeting, we will be hosting a non-division-specific career panel featuring past PSMA alumni, representing companies like IBM, JP Morgan, NASA, and TEKsystems. We expect attendance to be around 80 members since it will be right after our cross-divisional meeting.

1. “Tweet for Tat” – Our digital marketing week team will hand out free coffee and donuts outside the business building to people that participate in our social media challenge to raise awareness about AMA and Digital Marketing 2. A representative from the AMA Philadelphia Chapter will present to 20 PSMA members about AMA’s attributes and opportunities

Google’s Global Product Expert on Youtube Channels and Google+ will run a seminar on digital advertising.

A M A D i g i t a l M a r k e t i n g We e k

P S M A E v e n t sMONDAY

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AMA Awareness Day

Google Digital Marketing Seminar

Personal Digital Branding One-on-one sessions Patrick Ryan, past PSMA President and Founder of two digital media companies will host 15 minute one-on-one sessions on personal branding with eight top selected PSMA members.

This two part workshop will be run by Brittania Gasper, past PSMA President and Digital Recruiter at TEKSystems and Sam Underwood, Penn State Alum and National Video Activation Associate at Carat USA

Digital Marketing in the Corporate World

Digital Advertising Agency Office Tour 5 top PSMA members will be selected to participate in a one day office tour and shadow program at Impressions WHQ, a digital marketing agency in State College

Retail internships/Career Panel

Sercy Store Partnersh ipGoal: Reach 1500 "likes" across social media platforms by the end of the year, track social media performance and reach of the store across the various sites, host in-store private shopping events with various student orgs at least once per month. Allow for engagement of students with hands-on experience in marketing in their community.Result: We were able to reach 500 page or account “likes” across all of Sercy’s social media platforms in the fall semester. We also hosted a large in-store private shopping event with several different student organizations, bringing in 100 new customers to the store and generating over $1000 in sales. The social media strategy that we put in place for the store has now been placed in the hands of their regular employees and continues to drive traffic to their online and brick and mortar stores. For the spring semester, we decided to expand the project to another store, Dwellings, where we will be performing the same deliverables of social media management as well as hosting in-store events and advertising the store around campus and downtown.

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P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 7

Goal: Increase site visitation and Facebook page “likes” by 5% each month, in order to expand and enhance PSMA’s presence on campus and in the local community, as well as expand project members’ interaction with monitoring social media pages.   Additionally, we may look into adding Google AdSense to the blog to actually be able to bring in some revenue.Result: We increased social media visitation by 225% and 125% for the fall semester, as well as Facebook page “likes by 200% and 150%. Google AdSense will be implemented from February 23 until the end of the spring semester, with estimated revenues of $50. We increased the total number of contributors by 20% from last years’ total, allowing for more regular postings and more opportunity for exposure on social media.

T r e n d S t a t e

Goal: Increase social media “likes” as well as increase population to the total event by marketing throughout the year.Result: We have developed different marketing campaigns to implement throughout campus. We are holding a four day event to market the concerts 40th anniversary. We are beginning to help promote the “Battle of the Bands” event that they hold. We are going to make posters and promotions for the event. We are helping to recruit the bands that want to participate.

M o v i n ’ O n

Goal: To partner with Altria to provide an annual career and leadership development program for sophomores and juniors. Result: Our 15 top-performing sophomores and juniors engaged in seven workshops throughout the year, learning about networking, personal branding, and much more alongside 4 other business organizations. Altria renewed their $3,000 annual PSMA sponsorship and we assisted them in promoting Altria's other information sessions on campus.

PSMA Leadership Development Program sponsored by Altria

Goal: Recruit 4 male and 4 female students to compete for the title of Mr. & Mrs. Smeal, increasing the audience attendance from last year. Show Smeal students different skills a business student must possess to be successful in the future. Result: Emails were sent out to all Smeal Organizations in order to recruit contestants. We also set up tables in the Business building to recruit more contestants. We advertised all around campus through social media, word or mouth and flyers in order to get audience members to come. The event is scheduled to take place on April 1st and we are estimated to have a higher attendance of 100 than last year (75 attendees).

Mr and Mrs Smeal Pageant

Goal: To increase student and overall attendance to the Women’s THON Game and PINK Game through giveaways and promotional effortsResult: Penn State Women’s Hockey had the 9th-best overall attendance in the nation with astronomical increases in attendance numbers this past year. Both of our events were extremely successful; increasing attendance by 72%. Events include the THON Game - December 13th and PINK Game - January 31st with attendance of 1,257 and 1,042 students respectively.

Women’s Ice Hockey Consulting Project

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Goal: The dinner series events held by PSMA are monthly events in which we bring in companies that are interested in talking to students about internship opportunity or simply just an information session on the companies. We aim to have at least 15 students attend the series. We also plan to host a company a month. We give members professional development points for attending. We ask that the companies that attend sponsor dinner for the event. The series event usually last an hour. Result: We have had a total of 5 dinner series events with Capital One, AT&T, ToysRus, TEKSystems and TJX. Each brought in about 20 students with excellent recruiter feedback. They are hosted during the fall and spring career fair weeks so students were able to network with the recruiters before the career fair later that week.

P S M A Di n ner S er i es

Goal: The PSMA Career Fair is an annual event that typically brings in 25 companies to interact with Smeal Marketing students for full-time jobs and internships. Since the event is already well established with an average attendance of 260-300 students each semester, the main goal for both the Fall and Spring Career Fairs was to better sell this event to promote the PSMA brand. A second goal is to bring was bring in at least two companies that do not typically recruit at Smeal. We aimed to have 300 students attend. Attendees do not have to be PSMA members in efforts to recruit more members to join PSMA and satisfy the recruiter’s attendance expectations. Result: The PSMA Annual Career Fair brought in about 250 students. The career fair was held on February 12th from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. We had 20 companies in attendance including 6 corporate associates of Smeal and 1 start up company. Recruiters liked the timing of the fair and enjoyed having the opportunity to be in the business building with marketing majors. Before the fair PSMA held a ‘Corporate Speed Dating’ networking event with the top 10 members and the executive board so that the recruiters had a chance to connect with top candidates for their internship and full time opportunities.

P S M A F al l an d S p r i ng M ar ke t i ng Car eer F a i r s

P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 8A

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P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t 0 9

Goal: Provide 50 members with a real sales scenario, where they will present a functional pitch to a potential client and gain presentation feedback.Result: Our sales competition will take place on Saturday, April 4, 2014. 33 students are currently enrolled in the 6-week SYSTEMA sales seminar. Each participant will receive one academic credit for the training class. PSMA has secured sponsorship funds from TEK Systems, Altria and PLS Logistics for the event and invited sales executives from those corporate partners to judge the event. We are also inviting other AMA Collegiate Chapters to strengthen our new relationships and continue to build our network.

P S M A S a l e s C o m p e t i t i o n N

To inspire future business leaders to utilize their marketing expertise to bring tangible change in the community as well as uphold the utmost honor and integrity while growing professionally.

M i s s i o n

C o m m u n i t y a n d S o c i a l I m p a c t 1 0

Goal: Collect at least 50 items in a drive for the Women’s shelter in downtown State College according to the needs of items that are most urgent at that time. Engage students with a serious and important cause in our community that otherwise doesn’t receive much recognition.Result: We will be hosting the item drive for the CCWRC for the duration of one week in March. After being in contact with the Center, we have their permission to use their logo as well as their name in the advertising for the event, which we will be promoting across all departments in the Smeal College of Business. We estimate that we will be able to get more than 100 donations across all Smeal organizations, with at least 40 coming from PSMA alone. The event will be advertised through social media as well as on listservs and Smeal weekly newsflashes..

C e n t e r C o u n t y Wo m e n ’ s R e s o u r c e S h e l t e r

Goal: Pink Zone is an organization on campus that attends sporting events, specifically women’s basketball, to raise awareness for breast cancer and empowers survivors with yearly efforts to raise funds to support breast cancer charities, organizations, and facilities. Our objective for the project was to conduct market research that would provide us with answers as to how we can increase member retention, student involvement at games and student awarenessResult: To meet these objectives, we handed out approximately 120 surveys and held 5 focus groups with about 5 people in each. We got positive responses from a majority of students saying they would attend Pink Zone. We raised awareness through tradition and social media platforms

P i n k Z o n eGoal: Nittany Co-op is a local nonprofit whose main function is to provide a bill consolidation service for Penn State fraternities. PSMA’s goal as the marketing consultancy was to design and promote and sell their new Loyalty card to students with discounts to downtown businesses. Result: We surveyed students and the State College community at large with a short paper version at populated areas on campus and a longer version online, receiving 110 responses to the paper surveys, using candy as incentive, and 178 responses to the online surveys, using PSMA Points as incentive. Upon approval of our deliverables, Nittany Co-op extended our contract to plan an event for Penn State Greek Week, an annual event for Penn State Greek life (April 6-10) in which the fraternities and sororities compete in a variety of activities throughout the week to earn “spirit points.”

N i t t a n y C o - o p

Goal: 1.) Market the future of campus-community relations by working with key members of the Penn State and State College communities to implement a campaign designed to deter, prevent, and combat crime 2.) Market the future of the student/resident integration program by working with Penn State University and the State College borough to bring awareness to and help integrate the transient student body members with the community of State College’s permanent residentsResult: The VP of Philanthropy and his team worked with the State College borough to identify target and sub target markets, and then based upon market research, designed advertisements to deter individuals from committing crimes common to their demographics (college students). However communication with the borough started becoming rather challenging towards the end of the fall due to conflicting schedules and the project did not carry over to the spring. We intend on reinstating this project again in the Fall to complete set goals.

S t a t e C o l l e g e B o r o u g h

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The Penn State IFC/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON)

Goal: To create fundraising opportunities to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a fund that helps veterans return to their normal lives. Result: Hosted a bake sale on December 11, 2014 that raised $150 in 5 hours with an attendance of a 109 students. We are currently planning two more fundraisers in the spring.

Tough Mudder benefitting the Wounded Warrior project

C o m m u n i t y a n d S o c i a l I m p a c t 1 1

Goal: Host a week-long event to bring awareness to the importance of social responsibility as a student to market your own future in the eyes of employers. Result: PSMA partnered with the Smeal College of Business, Career and Corporate Connections, and Penn State’s Net Impact chapter to plan a week full of events that will highlight the importance of social and ethical responsibility now as a student, and how it will translate to the workforce. The week will culminate several small events mainly surrounding our major event - the first Smeal Corporate Citizenship Conference. With the potential to Smeal’s biggest event this year, this one-night conference will connect, educate, and create opportunities for companies, professionals, and students regarding the growing and essential business aspects of sustainability, corporate responsibility, and ethics. The conference will feature Lord Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE, the Global Head of Citizenship, KPMG. He represents KPMG International on the Global Corporate Citizenship International Committee of the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. Through the week, we will also have members of the Penn State Marketing Association understand, and sign the PSMA Honor Code. This event is scheduled to take place March 23-27th.

E t h i c s We e k

THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world with over 15,000 student volunteers. THON donates 96% of every dollar raised for The Four Diamonds, and as a result The Four Diamonds is able to pick up where insurance lets off, and ensures that a family battling pediatric cancer never has to see a medical bill. THON has helped make great strides in the field of pediatric oncology possible through funding for critical research, which has resulted in a decline of pediatric cancer mortality rates. - For more information about THON please visit THON.org.

In addition to fundraising PSMA supports THON by volunteering to be responsible for marketing futures of two families affected by pediatric cancer, the Krushinski and Austin Wagner Families (for more information about our THON families, please visit www.giveto.psu.edu/THON-PennStateMarketingAssociation). PSMA’s support helps the families regain a sense of normality after such an impactful event in the lives of these young children. This year PSMA FTK (For The Kids) reinforced its commitment to raising money for the battle against pediatric cancer by raising $6,029.12, during canning weekends, $2,170 in online and cash donations, $580 in corporate donations and $1563.57 through various fundraising events such as the THON Fashion Show and Varsity Date Auction. Our total for the year is $10,342.69. We had 4 THON projects, one in each operational division and two members representing PSMA as dancers in the 46-hour, no sleeping and no sitting dance marathon. THON raised a total of 13.345 million dollars last year for the Four Diamonds Fund and is estimated to exceed that amount this year at the end of THON weekend on February 20-22nd.

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C o m m u n i t y a n d S o c i a l I m p a c t 1 2

Goal: To raise money for THON by organizing a date auction involving athletes at Penn State - goal of at least $500Result: Successfully hosted the event on February 4th and raised about $571.85 for THON. In previous years we have had more athletes participate, but due to the NCAA enforcing policies restricting athletes from participating in auctions, we had a limited pool of eligible athletes. Besides the lack of athletes, the event turned out very successful in terms of member engagement and fundraising efforts.

Athlete Date AuctionGoal: Partner with another Smeal College of Business organization to co-host a fashion show showcasing THON-related merchandise from vendors from the State College area that sell apparel for THON weekend. Raise $600 in revenues from ticket sales for the event.Result: We partnered with the Professional Management Association, splitting the event costs in half, as well as half of the revenues going to THON. We received a $1000 donation from Kohl’s to have THON-related items raffled off during the event, partnered with 3 State College clothing stores, and involved 5 Penn State special interest organizations to model during the show. In terms of PSMA member turnout, more than 40 members attended, not including the other 40+ non-PSMA attendees. In total, we raised $500 for both org’s THON efforts, specifically $254.50 for PSMA. While the event itself was extremely successful, we did not meet our ticket sales fundraising goal. We planned a fundraiser of ‘Happy Quarter’s to offset that which raised $76.

THON Fashion show

Goal: Raise $200 from the partnership with a store downtown, where a percentage of sales goes to PSMA’s THON efforts. Build member’s skills in contract negotiation, advertising, and hosting promotional events.Result: We partnered with Connection’s Clothing, a downtown fashion retailer, for a two day fundraiser, where 15% of all of their sales from those two days were donated to PSMA’s THON efforts. We raised more than $284, exceeding our goal by around 42 percent, and the event was advertised primarily through social media and word of mouth marketing.

THON Retail Partnership

Goal: Raise $150 for THON by charging the community a small fee to come and make their own pizza.Result: Had over 30 people attend the event where we raised $152 contributed THON. We received donations of pizza ingredients from students in order to offset the expenses. The event brought together members of the community while raising awareness for THON and pediatric cancer.

“Make your own pizza night” Benefitt ing THON

Goal: This event has grown into the largest 5k in Central Pennsylvania with more than 7,000 registrants last year. The day includes a Kids Fun Run, timed competitive run, family speaker, music, food and more. Students and Pennsylvania residents join the THON community at the Bryce Jordan Center to partake in the 3.2 mile or 5K run For The Kids. Our goal was for 4 PSMA members to participate and raise $50 in participation feesResult: PSMA’s performance in this event was fantastic with 7 PSMA members participating in the marathon raising a total of $105.

T H O N 5 K

Goal: 100 Days ‘til THON is a university- wide celebration that encourages student involvement and generates excitement for THON Weekend. It is an all-day celebration event marking the 100 days till THON weekend. Our goal was to sell at least 5 t-shirts raising $70. Result: PSMA exceeded its goal by selling 8 t-shirts raising a total of $112, while representing PSMA during the day’s events.

‘100 Days till THON’ Celebration

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Goal: Raise awareness about PSMA and AroundCampusGroup by distributing planners to potential members and current business students.8,000 Result: PSMA successfully distributed all 8,000 planners at recruiting events, career fairs, and Smeal business events. This created a "buzz" from the students in Smeal and in other schools wanting free organizers. 

Student Planner Init iative

Goal: To obtain $5,000 in funding from the university for the upcoming AMA International Collegiate ConferenceResult: PSMA worked with UPAC and the Marketing Department at the Smeal College of business and was able to obtain $5,500 for the AMA International Collegiate Conference.

University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) Funding

Goal: Develop an extensive corporate sponsor packet sent out to recruiters and alumni through the Smeal College of Business’ database. Generate $1,000 in sponsorship by the end of the year.Result: We are proud to have exceeded our fundraising goals by $2000 by securing sponsorships from Shell, Dow Chemical, Fluent and Get Fit.

Corporate Partner Program

Goal: Design and sell items corresponding to the wants of the organization as a whole, as well as a t-shirt specifically for PSMA's THON efforts. Raise a minimum of $325 from the sales of items throughout the year. Teach members about efficient product development and sales techniques.Result: We raised $264 from the sale of PSMA apparel in the fall semester, meeting 80% of our goal for the year in sales in the fall alone. We also decided to sell 45 PSMA resume portfolios as the merchandise aspect of the project, from which we will earn $360. We also designed and sold tank tops specifically for PSMA’s THON efforts, raising $285 from their sales. In the spring semester we will also do a second round of sales of apparel, raising an additional estimated $200. Lastly, we had a t-shirt design competition amongst the project members to create PSMA’s t-shirt for the AMA New Orleans conference. Our profit for the year from all of PSMA’s merchandise and apparel sales, not including THON or New Orleans apparel, totaled $824, more than doubling our original goal of $325.

Apparel and Merchandise Design Sales

To provide members with tangible experience working with clients by combining efforts of the Retail, Sports, Consulting and Retail divisions. To generate revenue through these marketing consulting services and corporate donations to fund operations through the academic year.

M i s s i o n

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Goal: Provide members with experience in social media marketing, content marketing, direct marketing and sales while increasing new student awareness and customer loyalty for Order Up. Raise $500 for all deliverables to the client. Result: The project met the fundraising requirements by raising a total of $500 during the year. PSMA has also successfully created several promotions, such as Eat Cheap Week, Welcome Back Week and even a Thanksgiving event executed completely by PSMA members. Further events are aligned for PSMA and OrderUp, with the relationship continuing into the 2015 year.

Order Up

Goal: Developed a marketing campaign to spread awareness of the brand at PSU through creative digital and traditional marketing channels. Raise $350 for all deliverables to the client. Result: PSMA was able to partner with StudySoup during the Fall 2014 semester. Our members handled all promotional efforts and events. Members utilized targeted marketing at freshman dorms by handing out StudySoup promotional materials and raise awareness. In addition, over 200 fliers were distributed strategically around campus to classes of over 100 students and high traffic areas.

Study Soup

Goal: To develop and execute multiple promotional campaigns to improve brand awareness of Cold Stone at Penn State. 50% increase on Twitter and Instagram. Raise $500 for all deliverables. Result: Our fundraising goals of $500 were met, however our biggest success was in raising awareness about ColdStone’s items through creative promotional campaigns. Our most popular was a holiday promotion in which free candy canes were given out to shed light on the social media accounts and provide students with a discount to incentivize coming in to the store. Approximately 200 candy canes were given out with positive feedback from students. As a result, twitter followership increased by about 5% over the course of this semester.

Cold Stone

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PSMA currently has 152 members (not including new members in the Spring). 46 members are considered active, with 14 are Junior Associates, 5 are Senior Associates and 1 is a Senior Executive Associates. We more than doubled last year’s membership activity through our improved member development, communication and incentive programs.

M i s s i o n

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Goal: To encourage members to increase participation in the organizationResult: The four levels require activity in three different sections, general points, professional development points, and philanthropy points. General points can be attained by attending division meetings, general body meetings, and other non-specific events. Professional development points can be attained by going to company speakers, career fairs, recruitment events, and information sessions. Philanthropy points can be attained by volunteering at our service events such as anything pertaining to THON or other community service. To keep track of the points we used ANGEL which is the same websites our professors use to keep track of students grades.

M e m b e r s h i p L e v e l s

Goal: To provide incentives to reach higher levels of PSMA. Result: In the spring of 2015 we implemented various rewards for the members who reached the higher levels of PSMA. The active members were entered into a raffle for free membership, could put PSMA on their resume, were included in our resume book sent to companies, and could participate in our mentorship program. Junior associates could receive a resume review from two successful PSMA alumni along with two tickets into a raffle for free membership. Senior associates were eligible to interview for exec positions, received a letter of recommendation from any executive board member, a free PSMA portfolio, and were entered into a raffle for a free tablet at the last general body meeting. The Senior executive associates were first invited to participate in case competitions, received the highest recognition amongst college recruiters, and were given a free PSMA quarter zip.

Membership Incentives

Goal: Create two teams to recruit potential members for PSMA using targeted marketingResult: ITwo teams of five recruited over 200 potential members. One team was focused on recruiting freshman through promoting the social aspects of PSMA while the other team was focused on recruiting upperclassmen through the professional opportunities presented in PSMA. They presented to classrooms of varying sizes and successfully communicated the value propositions offered by PSMA.

Recru i tment str ateg ies

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Goal: Hold a formal for all division members to celebrate their hard work through the year. We plan on having at least 50 members attend the eventResult: The PSMA formal is scheduled to take place on April 9th, 2015. We are in the process of raising money for this event and we are hoping to lower the price of the ticket to incentivize tickets. We have been hosting mini fundraisers like bake sales to offset the costs. The event will be held at Levels (a local social club downtown) where a DJ and food will be provided. The cost of attendance is $20.00 per person and we are hoping to bring that down to $10.00. Our formal will theme based with contests and prizes make it a fun-filled event!

P S M A F o r m a l

Goal: To bring all 4 divisions together by having each division be a team and verse the other divisions in fun games such as dodgeball.Result: We are in the process of getting a gym and it looks like it will be confirmed. We are hoping to have the actual color wars even this semester and have atleast 30 members come to attend this event.

C o l o r Wa r s

Goal: Hold an event in the business atrium where smeal orgs battle against each other in a Family Feud style event, however with business related questions. We hope to have at least 4 Smeal orgs battle. Result: We have not had the event yet, however we have been recruiting for Smeal Orgs to participate. We are also surveying Smeal students with the business related questions so that we can have our questions for the event. Estimated attendance: 40 students

Smeal Family Feud

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Goal: Revise PSMA’s vision, identify new growth opportunities & improve the organizational structure to ensure success Result: This 10-page plan includes a snapshot of where we are currently, where we are going as an organization, and a strategy for how we will get there. - Created a new organizational structure based on industry research and alumni mentorship to improve overall efficiency- Created a SWOT analysis to better understand our strengths and needs for improvement. - Compiled a manual with best practices in every department, division and project Set five clear goals and strategies to meet by May 2020

Strategic Plan In it iat ive

To foster involvement, engagement and communication within the Penn State Marketing Association by utilizing social events, social media and incentive-based promotions. We strive to recruit, involve and retain active members throughout the year.

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Goal: To increase member involvement and to improve communication and bonds between members and the executive board.Result: Our communications team has worked tirelessly to achieve these goals throughout the year, and we’re proud to say that member communication and involvement have increased over past years. Below is a detailed summary on how we have accomplished these goals thus far.

Weekly Division meetings and Executive meetings

Goal: To increase member engagement and awareness of projects across all divisions.Result: Our General Body Meetings have seen a strong increase in attendance over the past few months, with sign-in lines often stretching around the room. Here, we inform our members of upcoming PSMA events in more depth and foster positive relationships between our members and the executive board with various icebreakers and marketing related activities. Offering prizes and other incentives for students to attend such as restaurant gift cards, portfolios, and tablets has undoubtedly had an effect on attendance as well.

M o n t h l y G e n e r a l B o d y M e e t i n g s

Internal Communications

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Goal: To be at the forefront of the digital marketing revolution by creating a new, refreshed look for our website and maintain weekly communication with our members.Result: We created a sleek and informative website benefitting members, corporate sponsors, faculty and other AMA chapters. We tried to create a user-friendly page, our members can easily access to find all of the information they need about our organization. Information regarding upcoming events, philanthropy, professional development and AMA are easily accessed through our new website. Our newly renovated blog now redirects students to find more information through our PSMA webpage. Last semester, we took the initiative to hire a web developer to design our new website. We could not be prouder with the result: a beautiful webpage with easily accessible information about our organization. The new feature that we are most proud of is our Member Showcase. This feature allows our hardest working members to be better recognized, so look out for new posts on this page every month or so. As with previous years, we have continued to send out weekly newsflashes to all of our members in order to inform them of upcoming PSMA events and various internship opportunities, which are also listed on our blog.

New Websi te

External Communications

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Goal: To increase social media traffic and following.Result: We are happy to say that traffic to all of our social media profiles have increased by leaps and bounds. We have passed the thousand-like mark on our Facebook page and the number of people who liked our page has increased 13% so far this year. Our Twitter and Instagram accounts have also seen gains, having increased in number of followers by 19% and 42%, respectively. The biggest increase, however, came from our LinkedIn account. What started as an account with zero followers at the start of the year has increased to 53 followers as of this February.

Social Media

Goal: To improve PSMA’s visibility amongst Smeal faculty, and improve likelihood of reaching new students. Result: We sent five 2-page newsletters to all marketing faculty in order to increase PSMA’s visibility to the marketing department. The first page included a letter from the president, list of upcoming events and an overall chapter update. The second page included “Last Month's Highlights” which announced the results of major competitions, fundraisers, and events. The newsletter replaced last year’s Advisory Board, as we felt this would reach a wider audience and require less commitment from our busy faculty. At the time of this Annual Report, we still have two issues remaining.

Alumni and Faculty Newsletter

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Project Manager Training sessions

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Goal: Equip Project Managers with skills and strategic planning abilities to execute their projects successfully.Result: In the beginning of each semester, the Executive Vice President held workshops with selected project managers in order to provide them with the knowledge to make their project succeed. Each project manager is equipped with a handbook that outlines a 2-4-6 project management plan along with a checklist that details needed deliverables in that time frame. Project managers were also given training on member retention and advised to acquaint with their teams to build retention within the organization.

PSMA Alumni Advisory Board Goal: Create an advisory board with experienced PSMA alumni with a wealth of knowledge about PSMA operations and the workplace.Result: Corresponded with 8-10 PSMA Alumni from various years and backgrounds on a weekly to monthly basis. Each alum offered valuable insight in difference ways based on their passion and qualification. Unfortunately we were unable to make this a formal panel at its early stage. Now that the relationships have been build, this advisory board can be implemented with little or no challenges. The Executive board will work closely with these advisors to implement better practices and develop short term and long term strategic plans for PSMA’s success.

Goal: To ensure that incoming board is fully prepared to lead members and implement new strategies.Result: After our new executive board is selected in the last week of February, incoming and outgoing officers will go through a month-long formal transitioning and shadowing process to better prepare them for their positions and create stronger incoming officers. These members will attend our Officer Transitioning Workshop in April and participate in a leadership development seminar. We will also have the new upper executive board write up a draft of the chapter plan for next year and present it to a panel of PSMA Alumni leaders to ensure they are planning their year effectively.

Goal: Maintain high quality leadership in order to ensure a successful chapter and operations Result: Conducted market research via monthly surveys and interactive discussion groups to gauge successes and failures in the current leadership and areas of improvement. The executive board created an agenda to implement the feedback on a monthly basis. This was then enforced in the upcoming month of chapter operations. This proved to be a very beneficial practice to help improve overall performance in all aspects.

Leadership Feedback Market Research

Goal: Earn an A on 70% of projects, a B on 20% of projects, and a C on 10% of projects. Result: After the conclusion of each project we determined a grade, judging on criteria such as goals met, the number of members involved, the budget and the amount of value added to the club. 48 projects in this report are graded. Overall we exceeded our performance expectations, earning an A on 92% of projects, a B on 4% of projects, and a C on 4% of projects.

Project Evaluation and Improvement Scorecard

Goal: To give all members the opportunity to personally address issues with PSMA management. Result: The President, Executive Vice President, and Faculty Advisor each routinely dedicated two hours per week every week to discussing projects and initiatives with executive board members, project managers, and general members.

Weekly Office Hours

Officer Selection and Training

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