Marketing in the Middle School

Chris Scoby, Middle School Curriculum Dean and Technology Coordinator, and Ilaria Belloni, Associate Director of the Ross Roeder Institute for Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship and Economics (RRI), used real-world situations in the Shorecrest School Store to help Mrs. Scoby’s fifth and sixth grade technology classes learn about data analysis, marketing techniques, surveying and presentation skills. 

Students competed in fifth grade to improve the sales of five underperforming products from the Shorecrest School Store. They used sales and survey data to design a cohesive ad campaign for their products creating Instagram posts, Facebook posts, in-store displays, marketing flyers and posters to be displayed on campus. The results have been tallied and C Block won the competition by increasing the sales of picture frames!

The sixth graders surveyed their peers, parents and Upper School students to find out which types of candies are most popular, purchase intent and availability. They used the data to create marketing pitches which they presented to their peers and a panel of judges. The hope was to find new candy that could be sold in the School Store.

One of the professional guest experts involved was Shorecrest parent Michela Vallalta, Tetra Pak Manager of Business Insights. She created two videos about marketing research for the students. Michela is mom to Arianna ’30 and Chiara ’33.

“The sixth graders did a wonderful job creating sales pitches using the data they collected while highlighting the main features of their products,” shared Cayce Cirino, Marketing Associate and School Store Manager. 

First place went to F Block with their pitch for Tru Fru. The other candies presented were: Hershey’s Kisses, Freeze Dried Nerds Clusters, Feastables and Push Pops. Cayce shared with students that although a presentation may win, the item they chose may not be a viable product for the store. They also learned about the different factors that go into carrying a new product in the store. They had to take into account price point, merchandise availability, customer intent and other factors that determine the viability of a product. In January, Feastables, Push Pops and possibly Tru Fru will be available for sale at the School Store. 

“For both projects the students learned with Mrs. Scoby how to analyze data in Google Sheets, they created surveys and analyzed the replies,” explained Ms. Belloni. “In both cases I think that discussing real examples of successful entrepreneurs and having professionals helping them throughout the process worked really well. For example the students learned how to create a survey from a Shorecrest parent and then they analyzed current marketing campaigns before planning their own.”

After sixth graders were introduced to the project by watching a video of a Scrub Daddy Shark Tank pitch, a class discussion around entrepreneurship ensued. Students shared personal experiences with lemonade stands, pet sitting, selling art and lawn mowing – just to mention a few. 

The middle schoolers were exposed to the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship. These are notions that the RRI builds into the curriculum from the Lower School through the Upper School using scaffolding techniques to introduce more complex real life examples as the students progress in their educational journey.