Thank You to the IMC Class at the University of Akron

A special thank you to the 39 students in Assistant Professor of Marketing, Federico de Gregorio's, Spring 2009 Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) class at the University of Akron that dedicated their time to the GO project this past semester. The two main objectives of the course were to introduce key concepts of IMC planning to the students and to have the students use those concepts in the development of a full IMC plan for a real client. Downtown Akron Partnership served as the client and the students were divided in to competitive teams to developed marketing plans for the GO program.

The winning team, which included students Steve Fracasso, Jeff Kneale, Taylor Kruse, Whitney Milligan and Chelsea Sir Louis, developed a plan entitled "The 42 Blocks of Summer." The plan included ideas such as recruiting Office Ambassadors to inform Downtown employees about the program, a Downtown Passport tracking program, block parties and the "My 42 Blocks" campaign and contest. DAP plans to utilize many of the group's ideas in conjunction with future projects.

A second group, "Step Up, Step Out, Experience Akron," contributed an idea that has been utilized in the GO program, Downtown Akron Bingo! Read about it here.

Thank you again to Professor de Gregorio and all of the students in the IMC class that contributed their time and wonderful ideas to the program!