McCormack Department of Sport Management MBA/MS Students Tackle Exciting “Real World” Consulting Projects

The Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management has secured three high profile clients to participate in its 2016 MBA Practicum consulting projects, the capstone experience to its dual-degree (MBA/MS) curriculum. Strategic management briefs - ranging across a variety of industry segments and client needs - have been crafted with Bank of America, Under Armour and Right To Play USA.

The Bank of America partnership, spearheaded by 2005 Sport Management dual degree alumnus Joe Smith (SVP of Global Sponsorships), assigns students the task of constructing a disruptive, 360 degree marketing campaign surrounding BofA’s 2016 MLB-themed activation. Students will be challenged in the areas of market research, fan engagement strategy, and marketing integration across a range of BofA’s consumer and financial targets. Strategies and recommendations will be implemented into the second half of the 2016 MLB season (All-Star Game and World Series, especially), and integrate rights/assets within BofA’s overarching MLB portfolio.

Right To Play, a global non-profit that uses sport and the power of ‘play’ to educate and empower children facing adversity, has tasked students with devising a comprehensive corporate sponsorship and events strategy, in order to help the company grow its donor base, engage properties in more targeted ways, and expand its overall social impact.

“We are thrilled that the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management has chosen Right To Play as one of the partners for this year’s Practicum projects”, says director of external affairs Carin Zaleski. “Although we are a global organization reaching over one million children each week, the US office is a small team and we are constantly looking for creative ways to improve our work. Working with such a bright and diverse group of students will help us to identify some new and innovative ways to market our organization and continue to raise funds for Right To Play’s global programs.”

The partnership with Under Armour involves the company’s Global Events team. Under Armour is designing innovative products and developing a single view of their customer, and is excited to partner with UMass to identify meaningful consumer drivers and build a global events strategy. Students will primarily be tasked with creating a ROI and consumer engagement model for the apparel giant’s various tiers of national events: professional, collegiate, and grassroots. Students will construct a systematic measurement model – focused on engagement, retail marketing strategies, and customer acquisition - that will allow Under Armour to benchmark success, and easily identify areas for improvement. In addition to events, UA’s fast developing “Connected Fitness” platform will be a focus of the project, exposing students to the cutting-edge world of personalized, “wearable” tech engagement. This project will include student attendance to several UA events, as well as company headquarters in Baltimore, MD.

These three clients follow a distinguished list of past MBA/MS Consulting clients including: Visa, EvoShield, 47 Brand, Xenith Corporation, Major League Baseball International, Basketball Hall of Fame, University of Massachusetts Athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and the Alli Dew Tour, among others.