The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown Down!!

As I was sitting in a workshop at the National Black MBA Association's Annual Conference in Orlando yesterday, I had the chance to brag on brand students from The Wisconsin MBA. I assured my colleagues at the table that my schoolmates would finish strong in P&G's invitation for our students to compete in their 'Buzz for Braun Case Competition'. Who else could better take on a brand management case from P&G than the students within the Center of Brand & Product Management? Needless to say, some of my colleagues from other schools invited to compete in the competition had bouts of delusion and claimed Wisconsin could only place in the top three if the subjects were beer and cheese. One had the guts to say that we were a good regional school in Real Estate, but marketing should be left to "the big dogs". So this is an open letter to the current students in the Center - Allow this to be a public stepping stone to show the marketing world and our counterparts at other schools who we are and what we are made of. I congratulate you now for stepping up to the challenge of this case competition and fully support your efforts. As Jan Heide taught me and my classmates as first years in Marketing Management - "Kick ass and leave a footprint!"


http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYM10910092007-1.htm

Braun Challenges Business School Talent To 'Create A Buzz' - Case study competition offers MBA students face time with P&G executives and the chance to win $40,000

September 10, 2007: 11:14 AM EST

BOSTON, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Braun is challenging the country's brightest business school students to create a buzz for the billion dollar brand. Known throughout the world for its superbly designed and engineered electric shavers and household products, Braun is seeking marketing plans for its electric shaver business from students currently enrolled in some of the nation's highest-ranked business schools. The winning marketing plan will be awarded $40,000 - to help toward business school tuition.

The "Create a Buzz for Braun" competition is open to students enrolled in MBA programs at the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, University of Michigan, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California Berkeley, Duke University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, University of Notre Dame, Cornell University, Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The competition will provide an invaluable opportunity for three finalists to present their marketing plans in person to Jim Stengel, Chief Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble, Bracken Darrell, Global President, Braun, and a professor of marketing from a non-participating university, at P&G's headquarters in Cincinnati.

"P&G is a big recruiter of MBAs and a big believer in the power of ideas from outside the company and I am personally excited to hear some provocative ideas from this new generation of business leaders," said Bracken Darrell, Global President, Braun. "This challenge will be great for those who choose to participate. It provides a good dose of real world experience and a chance to 'win something'."

Registration information, contest details and official rules and regulations are available on www.buzzforbraun.com.