Students challenged to market Smart Car

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Some graduate students at the University at Buffalo are being put to the test. Their challenge is to come up with a marketing campaign for the Smart Car.

Master of Business Administration students are taking one of their class projects for a test drive, inside a garage.

U.B. grad student Jill Pitzonka said, "It handles really well."

Queens MBA student Amanda Scarnati said, "It's a really great car!"

It is the Smart Car, by Mercedes. It gets about 41 miles a gallon highway, fits into very tight spaces, and is considered very affordable.

News 4's Al Vaughters asked, "Would you buy one?"

Scarnati said, "When I go back to New York City, probably. I would love to parallel park this in Manhattan!"

And that's the point of the lesson. The grad students are split up into teams that will devise marketing plans for promoting the Smart Car.

U.B. Marketing Professor Arun Jain said, "...so our students are job-ready to compete in this difficult economic environment."

Vaughters asked, "So this is combining academics with real experience?"

Jain said, "That's right."

Let's face it, the car is so small, it looks like it was made for Ken and Barbie. But they tell Al, it has a surprising amount of room on the inside.

Vaughters said, "I am 6'3", so let's check it out. In, close the door, and that didn't hurt a bit!"

How about the director of U.B.'s MBA program, who is 6'-9"?

Vaughters asked, "Were you surprised when you saw how roomy it was?"

David Frasier (U.B. School of Management) said, "I was. As you say, you look at it, and it looks like a toy car. But it looks pretty good when you get inside."

Can the U.B. students help sell the Smart car?

Brooke Arber (Smart Center Buffalo) said, "I thought it was a wonderful way for the students to get hands on experience for how to do a marketing project like this. It mirrors what we did to get the Smart Car to Buffalo."

Pitzonka said, "...a lot roomier than I ever would have thought it would be, just seeing it from the outside, and I think the biggest surprise for me were the safety features, and that it is actually a very safe car."

During the course of the semester, the MBA students will devise marketing strategies for other companies.

You could call it U.B.'s version of the reality show, "The Apprentice," without Donald Trump, and nobody gets fired.