Northwest class works to market Mozingo

There is a big difference between learning from a book and learning from experience.

That's why Northwest Missouri State University students in Jacquie Lamer's advanced advertising class take on marketing projects for real-world clients with real-world needs.

The initiative began a number of years ago when Lamer's classes frequently took part in national advertising competitions.

What with rising travel expenses and tightening university budgets, Lamer decided it might be easier — and better — to bring marketing projects to her students rather than the other way around.

"I just thought that if students could work on their own clients as a team, it would benefit the students and our budget," she said.

For the first time ever, this year's class has a local client, the city of Maryville, which has been looking for ways to increase awareness about Mozingo Lake Park and the adjoining golf course. Past clients for students taking the course in applied advertising have come from Kansas City or Omaha.

Working closely with Mozingo staff, students began the semester researching the 3,000-acre recreational area and assessing its resources.

Last week, the class began interviewing Maryville residents and other university students in an effort to see what park facilities people use the most. The area supports an array of recreational activities from fishing to camping to model airplane flying.

Senior Chayse Barr, who is from Maryville, and Lamer believe that community input is the most valuable component in their quest to create an effective marketing plan for the park and golf course.

"These are the people that use the lake, so what they think is really important," Barr said. "People come from all over to camp or fish or golf, but it's the local people that use it the most. We want to get all of the information together before we start throwing ideas out there."

An online Mozingo survey is open for anyone who wants to fill it out until Tuesday, Oct. 10. The questionnaire takes most people about 10 minutes to complete and is located at www.mozingosurvey.com.

From the input they get, students will seek to identify a number of trends. Do most people, for example, associate the word "Mozingo" with the lake or with golf?

"Right now the course and the lake have two different identities," Barr said. "We want to work it together into one, so there is one identity."

The ultimate goal for the students and the city is to strike a balance for Mozingo as both a local park and a regional destination.

Lamer has split her class into teams, with some doing research on competing recreation areas and some working on logos and slogans. Still others are crunching numbers and analyzing data.

The real work begins when the online survey closes next week. That's when students will begin pulling the different elements together into a unified campaign.

"The class operates like a real advertising agency," Lamer said. "We give a new perspective, an objective idea on the balance between the two sides, because that is what the client wants."

The city is not obligated to use the students' branding concepts, but municipal officials are hoping to get a lot of promising ideas without having to fork over big money to a professional agency.

"It's the closest thing to a real-world experience that you can get," Barr said. "The hands-on learning teaches you so much. You can't get that just in the classroom."

The students are scheduled to pitch their ideas to the city in early December.

"It's kind of nerve-racking because you don't know how they're going to react," Barr said. "But I like where we are right now, I think we can give Mozingo one unique identity, one brand."

To follow the project, go to www.advadv.blogspot.com.