This page provides complete details on the competition. To jump to a specific section, use the links below.

Concept
brandNEW! is a competition that leverages students’ unique multi-disciplinary knowledge bases in a world-class university by motivating them, encouraging productive creativity, and focusing them on a common real-world product development problem. Specifically, during the brand creation competition, teams of students with fresh, multi-disciplinary perspectives develop a new product concept for a sponsoring company. These cross-functional teams will be led by three students from the marketing MBA program and will consist of the brightest students from mechanical engineering, environmental engineering, and other applied engineering programs.

These teams will work as a group for tewn weeks to develop a new product concept, strategic briefing papers and sales forecasts, engineering schematics and prototypes, and a persuasive presentation that will be delivered to a panel of industry executives.

The Students
The participating disciplines on the MSU Campus include programs from the Marketing Department, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering and other related disciplines. Few universities in the world can offer such a list of nationally-recognized disciplines on one campus. Faculty champions from each of the areas will guide their students to this competition. Students will decide for themselves what disciplines to have on their teams, but the choices include the following:

• The Marketing students are enrolled in the full time MBA program of The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management and will take the lead role in designing the marketing and positioning strategy for each team and will serve as the project managers for the team. These students are expected to identify consumer needs, translate these benefits into product features, develop a solid business strategy, forecast sales for the product, and establish a migration path.
  
• Engineering students will be tasked with working with the business students to translate consumer needs in to the product design and will serve as the "voice of reason" when making tradeoffs between consumer needs and engineering realitiies. By integrating perspectives from environmental and mechanical engineerin, the teams will have the benefit of leading edge appraoches from both fields.

Benefits for Students
Students participating in the competition will experience a series of benefits.

• Interview Access
  • Students will have the opportunity to compete for reserved interview spots within Whirlpool's Brand and Engineering Leadership Development Programs.
    
• “Real” Experience to Enhance your Resume
  • Students will execute a project for a sponsoring company where they have to work in a cross-functional team and develop deliverables under intense time pressure.
    
• Showcase your Skills During Recruiting Season
  • This competition provides a rare opportunity to showcase your skills to a team of students from other disciplines and ultimately to a panel of industry executives during recruiting season.
    
• Win Cash Prizes and Other Rewards
  • Teams in the competition will be competing for a number of prizes:
    • Overall Winner: $1,000
    • Runner-Up: $500
  • Additional Non-Monetary Awards will be Awarded:
  • Most Creative Product Concept
  • Best Prototype / Product Illustration
  • Best Marketing Strategy
  • Best Engineering Strategy

Competition Process and Schedule

• 8/17/2009– 9/15/2009: Competition Registration
  • Interested students are be invited to register for the competition.
  
  
• 9/2/2009– 9/15/2009: Class and Student Group Presentations
  • If members of your student group would like more information, please email Prof. Voorhees (voorhees@bus.msu.edu) and he would be happy to make a presentation to your student organization about the competition and answer any questions.

• 9/2/2009– 9/15/2009: Candidate Screening and Team Formation
  • All registered students will be able to review and screen prospective team members’ resumes from a secure Angel site.
    
• 9/15/2009 (5:30 - 7:30 PM): Kick-Off Reception and Team Formation (Room 118 Eppley Center)
  • Whirpool: Representatives from Whirlpool provide students with the case and backdrop for the competition
  • Food: Pizza will be provided for all attendees
  • Team Building Workshop: Practice event to hone the students’ creativity skills and to practice functioning as a team under an intense deadline.
    
• 9/15/2009: COMPETITION BEGINS!
  • Students are provided the competition case following the Kick-Off Meeting.
    
• 10/8/2009 (8:00 AM) – Mid-Point Deliverables are Due

• 10/13/2009 (3:00 PM - 5:00 PM) – Mid-Point Presentations

• 10/14/2009– Leaderhsip Develop Program Interviews

• 11/11/2009 (5:00 PM) – Final Deliverables are Due

• 11/20/2009 (8:00 AM– 7:00 PM) – brandNEW! Competition Presentations @ Whirlpool
  • 8:00 – 10:00 AM: Travel to Whirlpool
  • 10:00 – Noon: Tour of CDP Facilities
  • 12:00 – 1:30: Lunch and Team Meetings
  • 1:30 – 4:00: Final Presentations
  • 4:00 – 4:30: Announcement of Award Winners
  • 4:30 – 5:00: Announcement of Award Winners

Details on the Deliverables
The competition will be judged primarily on the merit of your concept, but this concept must also be articulated well through a (1) briefing paper, (2) presentation, and (3) related supplements.

Here are the details on each deliverable:

Mid-Point Deliverables

• Briefing Paper on the Product Concept:
  • 3 page briefing paper that introduces and justifies your new product concept. As a guide, this paper should include the following information:
    • Preliminary Marketing Plan
      • Product name, pricing, description of the product concept and how this product fits with its selected brand
      • Description of the Target Market
      • Unmet consumer needs being met by this new product concept
      • Competitive Assessment
      • Point(s) of differentiation
      • Market Entry Strategy
    • Engineering Plan
      • Overview of the development plan
      • Anticipated engineering challenges and strategies for overcoming them
    • 1-Page Figure: Product Illustration / Demonstration
      • You must provide a preliminary illustration of your product concept. Your team can decide the level of detail, but the goal of the illustration(s) is to demonstrate how the product works from an end-user perspective and to provide the audience with some understanding of how the product would become part of a consumer’s daily routine.
• 5 Minute Presentation
  • 5 Minute Presentation
  • 5 Minutes of Q & A

Final Deliverables

• Briefing Paper on the Product Concept:
  • 10 page briefing paper that introduces and justifies your new product concept. As a guide, this paper should include the following information:
    • Final Marketing Plan (6 pages)
      • Product Overview
        • Product name, pricing, description of the product concept and how this product fits with its selected brand
        • Discussion of Market Opportunity
        • Description of the Target Market
        • Unmet consumer needs being met by this new product concept
        • Competitive Assessment
        • Point(s) of differentiation
      • Market Entry Strategy
        • Market Entry Strategy
        • Discussion of Potential Partners or Alliances
        • Preliminary New Product Sales Forecast
      • Market Growth Strateg
        • Migration Path
    • Engineering Plan (4 pages)
      • Overview of the Design Process
        • Design Specification and Objectives
          • Discussion of design plan, including topics such as value analysis, FAST diagrams, Feature -Function - Benefit linkage
        • Final Design Implementation
          • Basic Technical Design
          • Basic Process Flow Design
        • Supporting Figures
          • Product Schematics / Illustrations
          • Process Flow Diagram
  • Product Illustration / Demonstration / Prototype
  • 10 Minute Presentation
    • 10 Minute Presentation
  • 5 Minutes of Q & A