Red River High School’s marketing teacher and DECA advisor approached AE2S Communications to see if our Grand Forks, ND office would be interested in Cause Marketing consultation and collaboration with her students. Cause Marketing is a type of promotional campaign. These campaigns have the dual purpose of increasing a company’s profitability while simultaneously improving society.
The DECA Cause Marketing project would be beneficial in many ways. It would help to support the teaching community as well as the local students’ education. The students would work with AE2S Communications to provide quantitative and qualitative research. This data would then be used to determine what is currently done for Cause Marketing and find other opportunities to further make an impact in the community.
The project started with the students discussing which options would be feasible yet create an impact on the desired target audiences. Then a digital survey was developed sent to local STEM teachers by the students. They further researched their findings through focus groups and interviews. Based on the findings, the Red River students, Theodore and Hayden, suggested creating a grant for STEM teachers in the school district. This grant would help provide additional funding for educational programs and materials for students interested in STEM-related courses.
The sophomore students presented their findings and report this spring at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando, FL. More than 19,000 high school students, advisors, business professionals, and alumni participate in the industry-validated Competitive Events Program. Our AE2S Communications team was excited to hear that their project placed in the top 30% of all competitors. Way to go Theodore and Hayden!