Creative Associates in Marketing, “A Credit Affair to Remember”

A jousting arena, life-size tricycles and free food and prizes

combined to entice students to the Lory Student Center Plaza to

learn more about financial responsibility.

The Creative Associates in Marketing Ventures, CAM, held a

capstone event, “A Credit Affair to Remember,” to help students

learn more about good credit on Tuesday.

The event involved tables that students could visit to learn

about good credit and have a card punched that allowed them to

participate in the games, get free food and win prizes.

CAM Ventures is a student-driven marketing firm developed as

part of the social-marketing seminar taught by Kathleen Kelly,

marketing professor at CSU.

“Social marketing revolves around having students apply their

marketing skills to a social issue,” Kelly said.

Kelly’s class has partnered with EdVenture Partners and Citibank

to provide an opportunity to work on a social issue. Citibank gave

CAM Ventures $2,500 to use for its credit-education campaign.

Building strong credit is important to students because they are

prime targets for credit card companies, Kelly said.

“College students often get into debt at a young age,” Kelly

said. “It’s important for students to step back and realize (a

credit card) is not the same as cash.”

Ashley Nelson, a sophomore speech communication major who

attended “A Credit Affair to Remember,” thinks that educating

students about credit is important.

“I have a lot of friends who are college students and who

already have bad credit after one year,” Nelson said.

In order to help prevent this, CAM Ventures has been creating

fliers, chalking the Plaza and doing media advertisements to

promote the event. It is continuing the financial education by

creating posters informing students about a Citibank Web site.

As part of the project, the group has had to go through Citibank

for approval. Kelly found that this was one of the most challenging

things for the students.

“Approval can take up to two weeks,” Kelly said. “That’s

frustrating for them, but that’s realistic.”

This reality, although challenging, is also what some students

have found most beneficial about the class.

“The goal of the social marketing class is to give a us

real-world experience in the classroom,” said Julie Loustalet, a

senior marketing and finance major. Loustalet is the public

relations department head for CAM ventures. “In other classes you

have projects, but never really get to implement them.”

The students have also learned how to work together better.

“The biggest thing I’ve gotten is knowing that I can’t do it

myself,” said Jessica Barbara, a senior marketing major who is the

advertising and sales promotion head. “I’ve noticed the value of

teamwork.”

Kelly also noticed the way students in the class work

together.

“It’s really nice to hear students talk about the relationships

they’ve developed,” Kelly said. “I feel really proud of how they’ve

come together.”