The final class was held in the Dean's Conference Room in Barsema Hall on Monday, October 4, 2004. Guests and other audience members watched the proceedings by live broadcast from BH 133, across the hall. Both teams entered the Board Room and were introduced to the final task judges: Myron Siegel, John Felinski, Dennis Barsema. Advisors to the judges included Joe Cullinane, Dean DeBiase, Elisa Fredericks, and Carol DeMoranville. The video from the previous week's episode was played and then one team was randomly chosen to be first in presenting the final task. Each team would have 20 minutes to present their marketing plan for the DeKalb Trump International Tower and Casino (now Barsema International Tower and Casino), followed by 10 minutes of questions and answers. Silicon Prairie was selected to go first and Silicon Valley was sequestered in the Marketing Suite.
Silicon Prairie made their presentation and then escorted the judges to a mock-up of their sales office. Silicon Valley was brought into the Board Room and made their marketing plan presentation while the Prairie team was sequestered. The judges and advisors left to consult and determine a winner, and all of the MAC players, film crews, audience and guests adjourned to the Atrium.
At the Awards Ceremony, certificates were awarded to all players and film crew, with thanks for making the inaugural MAC class a resounding success! Plaques of appreciation were presented to the alumni who served as our 'Trumps' and the faculty advisors. AND THEN....... the winner of the First MAC was announced and presented with a ceremonial check representing a $1000 scholarship for each student. AND THE WINNER WAS.....
Jason Flesher
Justin Gress
Jennifer Hoganson
Amy Koscielski
Justin Mamula
CONGRATULATIONS!!
The fifth MAC meeting was held September 27, 2004 at 6:00 PM. A new Board Room was devised to accomodate both divisional teams, CEOs, and faculty advisors. The weekly video for each team was played and then Todd Garzarelli and Tekla Martin announced the results of the sales tasks, including number of tickets sold and total donations raised for the Alumni Center. Silicon Prairie sold 180 tickets for $1996 and got donations of $238 for total sales of $2234. Silicon Valley sold 152 tickets for $1688 and got donations of $688 for total sales of $2376.78. Todd and Tekla announced that the NIU Athletic Department would provide a tailgating tent for the Apprentice players and film crews at the Saturday Huskie-Akron game.
The CEOs and faculty advisors talked with each team about their performance and indicated that there was no clear winner; one team sold more tickets, the other had more total sales. The CEOs and faculty advisors left for a few minutes to allow the teams to formulate a 1-minute argument about why their team should be declared the winner. Justin Mamula presented for Silicon Valley and David Haas presented for Silicon Prairie. The CEOs and faculty advisors consulted again outside the boardroom, and upon their return they asked each player why he/she shouldn't be fired.
As the last person was explaining why he shouldn't be fired, the phne rang and CEOs Dean DeBiase and Joe Cullinane had to leave the boardroom. When they returned a few minutes later they announced that their company had been acquired and introduced the CEOs of the acquiring company, Myron Siegel and John Felinski. Mr. Siegel welcomed everyone and thanked them for their work. He said the new company only needed one marketing team and that whichever team performed best on the last task would be his new team. He also said that the new company had the resources to have 5 people on the marketing team so no one would be fired this week.
The Final Task
The last task was handed out and Mr. Felinski explained what the teams had to do. Each team will develop a marketing plan for a new DeKalb Trump International Hotel Tower and Casino to be built on a proposed scenic waterway constructed by expanding a section of the Kishwaukee River. The marketing plan will be for pre-construction sales of the high security luxury residences and the hotel condominiums. Teams will have 20 minutes to present their plan at the next Board Meeting on Monday, October 4.
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The fourth MAC meeting was held September 20, 2004 at 6:00 PM. Our CEOs, Joe Cullinane and Dean DeBiase, passed out invitations to the Black and Red black tie affair. The final eight students will attend this event and network with NIU alumni and business executives. Our advertising expert, Brandon Wolf from Starcom IP, a division of Leo Burnett, was introduced.
The Silicon Valley teams went to the boardroom. Our client, Regina Crosby of the NIU Student Insurance Office, and our advertising expert, Brandon Wolf discussed each of the team's ads. After additional comments by Dr. Fredericks and Dean DeBiase, 4 Grand was declared the winner and excused. The CEO, Joe Cullinane, and the faculty advisor talked with Impression about their performance. Impression voted anonymously for who should be fired and after consulting with the videos, faculty advisor, and votes, Lisa Vicicondi was given the boot.
The Silicon Prairie teams then went to the boardroom. Once again, the client and ad expert talked with the teams about their ads. Odyssey was declared the winner and excused. After a discussion with the "A"Chievers about the task, the team members voted anonymously for whom they thought should be fired. The CEO, Joe Cullinane, and the faculty advisor reviewed the videos, team discussion, and votes, and Paula Bandy was given the boot.
After all teams returned to the classroom, the class took an unexpected twist! The CEOs did some corporate restructuring and the two 2-member teams (Impression and "A"Chievers) switched divisions. Then, the two teams in each division were consolidated into one team of five students. The two teams, now Silicon Prairie and Silicon Valley, were given their next task which they have one week to complete.
Task #3: Week of September 20, 2004
Sales
Your fourth MAC task is to sell tickets to the Huskies home football game on Tuesday
evening, November 9, against the Toledo Rockets. You will work with the NIU Athletic
Ticket Office to obtain tickets and turn in sales. You must follow the proscribed measures
as explained by the Athletic Ticket Office for recording and submitting sales. The
portion of the ticket sales over $10.00 per ticket (East side) and $17.00 per ticket (West side)
will go towards the fund for building the new NIU Alumni and Visitors Center.
All sales must be turned in by September 27, 2004, 9:00 AM.
Submit the sales report to your Faculty Advisor.
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The third MAC meeting was held September 13, 2004 at 6:00 PM. The class started out with a short ceremony presenting a check for $10,665.54 to the Operation USO Care Package program. Rod Stiles and his wife Clair from USO Illinois were here to receive the check and explain how much the care packages mean to the troops overseas. Congratulations to all of our marketing apprentices for doing a wonderful job raising funds for this valuable program!
The Silicon Prairie teams went to the boardroom. After a discussion of each of the team's efforts, the "A"chievers were declared the winner and excused. The CEO, Joe Cullinane, and the faculty advisor talked with Odyssey Corp. about their performance and team interactions. Odyssey voted anonymously for who should be fired and after consulting with the videos, faculty advisor, and votes, Rob Oaf was given the boot.
The Silicon Valley teams then went to the boardroom. Once again, the CEO, Dean Cullinane, and the faculty advisor talked with the teams about the fundraising task. 4 Grand was declared the winner and given the option of someone immediately volunteering to go to the Impression Team or selecting someone to go to the Impression team after a private discussion. If neither of those options resulted in a selection, Impression would choose who they wanted on their team. After a discussion with Impression about the task, the team members voted for who they thought should be fired. The CEO, Dean DeBiase, and the faculty advisor reviewed the videos, team discussion, and votes, and Emily Grobe was given the boot. 4 Grand decided to have team member David Haas join Impression.
After all teams returned to the classroom, they were given their next task, which they have one week to complete.
Task #3: Week of September 13, 2004
Advertising
Your third MAC task is to design an advertisement for the Student Insurance Office.
Each division will design an educational print advertisement to appear in the Northern Star,
but each division will have a different educational goal. The plan is to run the ads multiple
times in the Northern Star and to have the ads be complementary to each other.
Silicon Prairie: Your task is to design an ad that will convey to NIU students why having
health insurance is important for college age people. The advertising goal is to increase knowledge
about the value and importance for college students to have health insurance.
Silicon Valley: Your task is to design an ad that will convey to NIU students the benefits
of the NIU Student Insurance Plan as compared to other sources of health insurance.
The advertising goal is to increase knowledge about the benefits of the NIU Student Insurance plan.
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The second MAC meeting was held August 30, 2004 at 6:00 PM. Jenny Keele, our expert
marketing research judge from Millward Brown was introduced and then the Silicon Prairie
teams went to the boardroom. After a discussion of each of the team's questionnaires,
Odyssey Corp. was declared the winner and was excused. The CEO, Joe Cullinane, and the
faculty advisor talked with the "A"chievers about why they thought they didn't perform as well.
The "A"chievers voted anonymously for who should be fired and after consulting with the videos,
faculty advisor, and votes, Mike Streczek was given the boot.
After Odyssey Corp and the A"chievers returned to the classroom, the Silicon Valley teams went
to the boardroom. Once again, our marketing research experts talked with the teams about each
of their questionnaires. 4 Grand was declared the winner and excused. After a discussion with
Impression about the task, the team members voted for who they thought should be fired. The CEO,
Dean DeBiase, and the faculty advisor reviewed the videos, team discussion, and votes, and
Nicole Heyob was given the boot.
After all teams returned to the classroom, they were given their next task, which they have two
weeks to complete.
Task #2: Week of August 30, 2004
Fund Raising
The second MAC task is to raise funds for a charitable donation. The donation
will be made to the USO for their Operation USO Care Package. This USO operation
takes monetary donations which they use to put together care packages to send to
troops overseas.
How and where you raise funds is ony limited by your creativity - although you MUST
do it ethically. You may find more information about Operation USO Care package in
their website. The care packages will include a message from the sender. Your team
must write this message as part of your task.
To get credit for a donation, the funds must be turned in to your faculty advisor by
9:00 AM September 6, 2004.
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The first MAC meeting was held August 23, 2004 at 6:00 PM. The class
procedures were described and then players were introduced to their CEOs who
chose teams for the Silicon Valley and Silicon Prairie divisions. Film crews were
assigned to each team and players received their first task.
Task #1: Week of August 23, 2004
Marketing Research
The first MAC task is to write a marketing research questionnaire. The topic
is academic integrity, cheating and plagiarism of NIU COB students.
The NIU COB strives to produce graduates with both high levels of business
skills and high levels of ethics and integrity. To achieve that goal, there is
a growing focus in the COB on ethics and ethical business behavior. There
are some people who believe that ethical academic behavior is a precursor
to ethical business behavior. Thus, it would be helpful to know more about
the academic integrity of COB students. The goal of the research is to
collect information that can be used to produce highly ethical graduates.
The specific objectives of the questionnaire are to determine:
(a) student awareness/knowledge of academic
integrity, cheating, and plagiarism
(b) attitudes towards such behaviors
(c) prevalence of such behaviors
The questionnaire will be administered to COB students and, if successful,
may be used in other colleges and universities.
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