Elon student part of AMA Triangle Marketing Jam winning team

Tara Petrillo ’21 worked with students from NC State University and Campbell University to create and pitch a marketing plan to increase food allergy awareness in schools.

Seven Martha and Spencer Love School of Business students joined peers from NC State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Meredith College and Campbell University to address food allergy awareness during the American Marketing Association Triangle’s Marketing Jam collegiate competition held March 2 at HQ Raleigh.

In randomly assigned teams, students worked as consultants to address a client’s problem. Krobe Interactive tasked teams to create a marketing plan to address how K-12 schools can raise awareness of the severity of food allergies among stakeholders, including administration, staff, parents and students.

Teams had four hours to complete an analysis, evaluate alternatives and formulate a plan before presenting their work to a panel of marketing professionals serving as judges.

The participating Elon students were Jillian Eder, Anita-Lotti Harkov, Rani Hecht, Megan Muller, Ben Nelson, Tara Petrillo and Kaitlyn O’Donnell.

Petrillo and teammates from NC State University and Campbell University won the competition. They were invited to discuss their experience the following week at the High Five conference for marketing and creative professionals.

“The AMA Triangle Marketing Jam taught me the importance of learning to adapt in situations when you don’t know all of the information,” said Petrillo, a sophomore Business Fellow from Montvale, New Jersey. “I worked on a team where I didn’t know the other three students, and having the ability to all come together and create a detailed sales pitch was absolutely incredible. The Marketing Jam put me in a real life work experience and I loved every second of it.”