Grayslake Grad Wins National Competition

A team of four Aurora University marketing students, including Nick Sloan of Grayslake, won GfK's second annual Next Generation Market Research Competition, a contest designed to give undergraduate student researchers a chance to test their marketing knowledge by creating a research project that addresses a critical issue weighing on marketers' minds.

GfK is one of the world's leading research companies.

The study, "Exploring Uncharted Territories: Addressing the Emerging Hispanic Market," studied media and messages directed at the Hispanic audience. As part of the project, the students interviewed local Hispanic business leaders and conducted research among Hispanic consumers.

"I am so proud of the students," said Dr. Brian Vander Schee, Associate Professor of Marketing at Aurora University. "The magnitude of the research in terms of time and effort was significant. The fact that their academic achievement was recognized by winning a national competition was just outstanding."

The group presented their findings on March 20 at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) Great Mind Awards ceremony in New York City.

"We are pleased to honor such a thorough and ambitious study of a topic that is at the forefront of marketers’ concerns today—the Hispanic consumer,” said David Krajicek, CEO of GfK Consumer Experiences North America. “Nurturing the next generation of market researchers is a top priority for GfK, and should have the same urgency from every company in marketing and research.”

Significant findings from the study include that acculturated Hispanics are more likely to spend time on-line and prefer promotional messages in English, while unacculturated Hispanics are more likely to spend time watching television and prefer Spanish language promotional messaging.

In addition to a trip to New York, GfK presented the team with Next Generation awards and a $1,000 prize.

Submitted by Aurora University