FAU Sports Calendar" Florida Atlantic University (FAU), a multi-cumpus urban university, is one of ten universities in the State University System of Florida. With about 22,000 students attending classes in Fall, 2000, and a seven percent annual growth rate, FAU is one of the fastest growing major universition in the country. Among its eight campuses, in Broward, Palm Beach and St Lucie Counties, 15,000 students attend the main campus locatod in Boca Raton. Of its nine colleges, the College of Business with 5,600 students is the largest. The most exciting development on campus is inauguration of Division IAA football beginning Fall 2001. Looking forward to graduation at the end of the summer semester, and starting the FAU MBA program next fall, four marketing majors became so interestod in marketing planning and strategy that they formed a partnership to start a snall business. After considering a number of possible products, they decided upon a calendar. They reasoned the start of FAU's football team would generate tremendous school spirit, and a calendar with pictures of campus athletes would be a great hit with students and make a profitable business. They named their product FAU Sports Calendar. Their goal was to develop and market the calendar partly to gain some practical experience in business, but mainly to fund graduate school tuition of about $2,500 per year per your per student. The students faced three severe limitations. First, each could raise only $2,000 for start-up capital. Second, the venture could require no more than an average of about twanty hours per week per student. Third, if they were to market a product for the Fall 2001 semester, only nine months remained for the development, production and marketing of the calendar. The idea of a campus calendar is not new. Students at several other universities had developed and marketed calendars at one time or another. Since their marketing roscarch course had taught them to start by rescarching what others had done, the partaera developed a queatiornaire and conducted a telephone survey of other universities. The results are shown in Exhibit 1. Exhibit 1. Other Campus Calendars Selected Questions U of M U of O U ofT U ofC 1. Size of Market 2. Calendar size 3. Paper Stock: Ileavy, Light 4. What year: Culendar, School 4. Type Calendar: Male, Female, Both 18,000 8W"x 11" 32,000 "12" x 12" 28,000 8%" x 11" 36,000 12" x 12" Fewimnuit M-head M B Swimsit Pally clothed Campus scenes 5. Selling Price 6. Distribution Rotail, Wholesaln, Both 7. Unit Sales $7.00 $5.95 $9.95 $8.00 Rotail 5,000 Both 9,000 Retail 4,000 Both 7,000 Based upon the survey results, the students concluded that quality was particularly important. Visual inspection of sample calendars sent by the urvey respondents emphasized that the quality of printing, paper, and photography contributed greatly to the product imango, The size of the calendar varied from a folded skze of 8W X 11", which was considered amall, to 12 X 12", which was considerod large. The large size calendar prodaced at U of C on beavyweight stock was the most attractivo, but also the most expensive to produce. The survey lett many unanrwered questions about customer segmentation and targeting as well as the marketing mix. A check of the campus book store revealed two calendars being sold. A large Hallmark calendar on heavy stock with pictures of cute kittens and puppies selling at $9.95, and a sanall American Greetings calendar on heavy stock at a price of $8.49 featuring sea and landscapes. Both were calendar year rather than school year. The bookstore manager said she sold about 1,500 Hallmark and 2,000 American Greetings calendars during the year, an increase of about 10 percent over the previous year. The manager also mentioned that calendars are periahable goods. After about two months, hardly anyone would buy an aged calendar. To acquire more information, several focus groups were held. The focus groups revealed that students need a place to write notes and reminders. They prefer a calendar with a large date page, During orientation most freshmen and transfer students receive free desk-top calendar, however, and might not be willing to pay for an FAU Sports Calendar even with a large date page. Women said they would like a calendar featuring male athlotes in sport posos wearing athletic uniforms, and men said they would like a calendar featuring female athletes in swimsuits. Most said they would prefer a large calendar, with room for notes and reminders, especially if it featured attractive pictures. Almost all students wanted a calendar based on the school year that included important university dates, such as starting and ending dates of cach semester, drop dates, reading days, exam weeks, Spring break, and other no-school holidays. Information from the focus groups was used to generate a one-page student questionnaire. The questionnaires were administered to 329 students in several classes across the three largest campuses. A check with records in the Office of the Registrar indicated that the proportion of sex, primary campus, and class standing in the sample closely matched a profile of the student body. Results of the survey are shown in Exhibit 2. Exhibit 2. Student Questionnaire We are students in a marketing class at Plorida Atlantic University conducting a survey to detormine studont preforencos in an FAU Sports Calendar. We would approciate your anwers to the following questions. Please answer honestly; all information is anonymous. Thank you for your participation. 1. We would like to produce an FAU Sports Calendar for the year 2001-02. We plan to use atudent athletos as models. Would you be interested in buying such a calendar? 253 (a) yes 2. What kind of models would you prefer in a single calendar? 79 (a) all female 3. What kind of photo poses would you prefert 178 (a) athletes in unifortns 4. What starting date would you prefer? 36 (a) calendar year starting 5. Would you buy the calendar? 144 (a) for yoarself 6. What is the higbest price you would be willing to pay for a calendar? 3 (a) $12 7. What in your aex? 99 (a) male 8. What campas do you atend? 175 (a) BocaRaton 9. What is your claa standing? 35 (a) freshman 21 (b) sophomore 58 (e) junior 66 (d) senior 31 (e) greduste 42 () unknown 76 (b) no, If no, do not aak further questions 108 (b) all male 66 (e) both males end fomales 62 (b) athletes in swimsuits 13 (e) athleten dressed casually 197 (b) achool year starting Augut 76 (b) as a gift 33 (c) both 48 (b) $10 147 (e) $8 55 (4) 56 154 (b) female 48 (b) Davie 29 (e) lupiter 4 (4) other Several cross tabulations were run on the data. These revealed that 68% of the students likecly to buy the calendar were female. In addition, 73% of those who said they were likely to buy lived on- campus or attended classes in Boca Raton. Freshmen (66%), sophomores (62%) and juniors (59%) showed the most interest in the calendar compared to seniors (40%) and graduate (34%) students. In developing the calendar, picture quality was essential. A professional photographer priced the 12 settings at $3,000. This price included set-up charges, negatives, and a final camera-ready print. Several printers were contacted to obtain quotes. There were variations in both price and quantity. Variable cost for each unit depended upon the size and wcight of the calendar. Quotes for the various calendar size and paper quality combinations are shown in Exhibit 3. Exhibit 3. Production (Variable) Costs per Unit Size of Calendar Weight of Paper Stock Light (20 lb) Heavy (70 Ib) Small (8%" x 11") S1.00 S1.50 Large (12" x 12") $1.50 $2.00 All variable costs, including type-setting, printing, and binding are included in the cost of calendar size and stock quality in Exhibit 3. Higher variable costs would require a higher retail price, although the price was still undecided. The initial production run was a minimum 5,000 units. Terms were net 30, so the printer could be paid up to a month after calendar sales began. There were two methods of distribution: wholesale and retail. The campus bookstore was willing to buy 3,000 calendars wholesale at a markup of 50 percent over the variable cost, Since they would pay in full upon delivery, this one sale would produce either $4,500, $6,750 or $9,000 (3,000 calendars x 150% mark-up x either $1.00, $1.50 or $2.00). The bookstore had locations on all campuses. Selling wholesale to the bookstore offered additional working capital, but at a much lower price and profit margin compared to retailing direct to stadents. Wholesaling to the bookstore was regarded as one of their most important decisions. As long as it was connected with a student project, booths for retail sales could be rented at $10 per booth per day in Boca. The partners would have to man the booths, which could be set-up along the breezeway, in front of the cafeteria, in Fleming Hall and other classroom buildings, as well as high traffic locations during concerts, campus events and FAU sport activities. They had not decided upen how many booths they should rent. The partners oould also cary a dozen or so calendars in their backpacks and engage in personal solling whenever possible. Advertising and promotion also raised questions An cighth page advertisement in the student newspaper would cost about $00. The student newspaper is published weokly with an estimated 10,000 student exposures. Flyers, sized 8%" x 11", were estimated to cost about $0.05 per copy. How many newspaper ads? How many flyers? One possibility for free publicity involved trying to get interviewod by the student newspaper. The partners were trying to develop other possibilities * This case was adopted from "Campus Calendar," by William R. Wynd, Eastem Washington University, 1990, and significantly modifiod, modernized and updated by Erie H. Shaw, Plond Atlantic University. 1.Start with a Situational/SWOT analySis, D Labeling The different Strenyths, weoknesses, OPPortunities and Threunts faced by this business Verture with segord to he sports Calendur offering That You a2 naking on. TYRically, Strengths and weakntsses are fuctors internal to the firm, while OPPOrtunities and Threats ore factors Posed by The elternal envionment,