Hands-On Brand Building

  MasterCard's internship program provides some memorable moments and real-world business experience for a handful of college students, but is it worth the effort?
  With a swing of the bat Texas Ranger Hank Blaylock gave home-field advantage to the American League for the 2003 World Series, catapulting the team to a 7-6 win in the 74th Annual All-Star Game.
  And while the event will be remembered by many, for 12 college students some of the excitement came before the game's first pitch.
  The vast majority of the assembled 47,609 baseball fans in attendance at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field didn't know what to make of the dozen 20-somethings near home plate, clad in dark blue golf shirts with an orange and yellow circle insignia on them. Then, over the public-address system, it was announced that the students were winners of MasterCard International's Priceless Edge program, which allows college students between ages 18 and 25 the opportunity to gain real-world experience in the sports industry.
  Oftentimes credit card issuers are maligned for their marketing methods on college campuses, offering students a free water bottle or other giveaway and then issuing cards that enable students to pile up debt that takes years to pay off. The average college student carries $3,000 in card debt upon graduation, according to Newton, Mass.-based American Consumer Credit Counseling.
  Under such criticism, card marketers recently have tried to find different ways to hit the youth market, especially college students, in a responsible way ("They're Baaaack: Card Marketers on Campus," June). The youth market, ages 13 to 24, represents 20% of the population and is growing faster than the overall population, according to research from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The age group spends $260 billion a year and has influence over another $600 billion in spending.
  MasterCard is attempting to hit the higher tier of that youth demographic by focusing on 18- to 25-year-olds with its Priceless Edge campaign. The campaign includes student-oriented print advertising, broadcast commercials, and on-campus signs. The decision to offer the age group an internship came through the association's research showing students are very concerned about careers, says Elisa Romm, vice president of brand building at MasterCard.
  Launched in 2002, the program originally offered students the opportunity to intern with a record company. Some 12,000 students submitted essays last year, with 50 selected for a five-week course and 12 receiving internships to help produce a music documentary.
  MasterCard expanded the program this year to include a sports internship as well as music. The association told students about the program through campus advertising and related marketing, and national television ads. MasterCard wouldn't disclose the cost of the program.
  Some 32,000 students submitted essays to be eligible for this year's program, which took 100 semifinalists to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., for a five-week course on either the sports or the music business. After the five weeks, the winners from the sports and music programs were placed in internships, mostly to learn about marketing. The 12 sports students interned for either the St. Louis Cardinals or New York Mets. The 12 music students went to the Santa Monica, Calif., offices of Interscope Geffen A&M records.
  Prior to heading out to those locations, all 24 interns were in Chicago to receive some hands-on experience in their respective fields. The music interns helped set up for the Lollapalooza music festival in July.
  Those from the sports side worked various activities connected with the All-Star Game, including escorting team mascots around the ballpark and working the All-Star Fan Fest, before moving on to their teams.
  "It was kind of like being in Disneyland," says Peter Forsberg, one of the sports interns who attends Princeton University.
  The interns also worked with Hall of Fame slugger George Brett, a MasterCard spokesperson during the midsummer classic. Brett serves as special adviser to the Kansas City Royals, his former team, and also has ownership stakes in a number of sports organizations, including minor league baseball teams. Brett spoke to the students about the importance of having real-world experience in the sports industry and gave Andy Mielnik, one of the interns, an unforgettable experience.
  Mielnik, attending Baylor University, was standing on the field when Brett walked up to him and took him to meet a friend. At first Mielnik thought he was going to meet a reporter or another intern, but Brett introduced him to St. Louis Cardinal outfielder Albert Pujols. "I was speechless," he says.
  While the opportunity to meet Major League Baseball players is one none of these 12 sports students will forget, some industry observers question whether a small-scale internship program is an effective way to reach the youth market. Scott Strumello, an analyst with Westbury, N.Y.-based Auriemma Consulting Group Inc., says it's tough to see this as youth marketing.
  "I would call it philanthropy, it's an investment into the community," he says. "It's not clear to me how this is reaching out to youth markets." Auriemma performs market research in the credit card industry.
  The program, however, could give an overall boost to MasterCard's brand over time, according to Strumello.
  "They're getting the name in front of those consumers," he says.
  Anything that can be done to "put a positive face on credit cards" is good, according to Ed Solomon, president of Philadelphia-based College Credit Card Corp., which has marketed cards to college students since the 1970s and recently did work for Discover and Citibank.
  Marketing credit cards to college students has changed in the past few years, Solomon says. There is more of a focus on educating students, rather then just giving them a card and letting them charge away.
  Marketers also have to be aware that this age demographic doesn't like to be hit over the head with advertising, says Tony Sgro, president of EdVenture Partners, an Orinda, Calif.-based youth-marketing firm.
  "Most research says Generation Y doesn't want to be marketed in your face," he says. "They're highly mistrustful and can tell good advertising from bad."
  Sgro says lifestyle-based marketing, like Priceless Edge, is the correct way to hit the youth market now. EdVenture Partners teams with universities around the country to offer students real-world experience in various fields. The firm has worked with Citibank to have students run marketing campaigns on credit awareness.
  Not surprisingly, the students involved in Priceless Edge have a positive view of MasterCard now, whereas before they might not have given the brand much thought.
  "MasterCard, Discover, and Visa bombard you with applications," says Adam Lobel of St. Louis. "But now going through this has developed a whole new brand loyalty for me to MasterCard."
  Jennifer Dutko, from Oregon State University, doesn't have a credit card.
  "I always thought of them as signing up for this and get a free towel," she says. But now she will be applying for a MasterCard.