NSCC students create ad campaign for SCORE

LYNN ? SCORE does plenty of good things for the local business community, but ask the average person what the acronym stands for or to list the free services the organization provides, and chances are only silence will follow.To raise awareness about the Service Corps of Retired Executives, students at North Shore Community College took on an assignment from their marketing class instructor, Katie O’Shea. The students, divided into two teams, were challenged to create a comprehensive advertising campaign for the SCORE office nearest to Lynn, one of 370 nationwide.Last Wednesday, the students presented two multi-prong campaigns aimed at bringing SCORE into the 21st century, or at least introducing the resource to those who were unaware of its existence.”We had 18 students in two groups. Their job was to introduce ideas and create a campaign because the name SCORE just isn’t out there,” said O’Shea. “The organization helps small businesses but it doesn’t have much of a budget.”The teams delivered presentations to the entire advertising class, a sprinkling of college administrators and, most importantly, to Peter Colarusso, perhaps the most familiar face of SCORE in Lynn.The team led by student Chris Hogan developed a new tree-shaped logo that capitalized on the color green and a marketing collateral program with give-away pens, stickers, calendars, T-shirts and coffee cups. The students also capitalized on technology, devising a radio advertisement that emphasized SCORE’s services are free to small businesses, a video testimonial on YouTube from a satisfied client. Additionally, they gave SCORE an organizational presence on Facebook to demonstrate the power of social networking sites.Colarusso praised their efforts, joking that SCORE’s present image is of tired, old, bald, retired businessmen who haven’t worked for 20 years, just the sort that young men and women are unlikely to seek out for advice, especially when it concerns new technology.The team led by student Roald Osvold relied on sports analogies to get the message across. “When you bring something related to sports into the message, people listen,” Osvold said, explaining that his team’s ad campaign has the excitement of a game in progress.The team’s suggested slogan: Win the Game and SCORE!Another suggested marketing phrase: “Is your business chugging uphill with square wheels? Let SCORE help you round them out.”The students created a brochure that can be cheaply produced and distributed, and print ad that can be clipped out like a newspaper coupon, the word “free” dominating the other text.O’Shea said the assignment was meant to give the students a taste of real life in the business world, to make the lesson relevant. “It has to be applicable,” she said.The advertising teams even translated their messages into Spanish since Lynn was the target area and the city has many businesses run by Spanish-speaking owners or managers.The students further suggested local SCORE representatives work more closely with the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce and the city’s younger residents, and consider an alternative to the present SCORE acronym. The suggested alternative acronym: Success. Creativity. Originality. Reliability. Enthusiasm.”I like that,” said Colarusso.For the record, SCORE, founded in 1964, already has a Web site, www.score.org. Its counselors assisted more than 523,000 people in the past year, providing services to more than 8.5 million business owners. About 3.2 million people visited the Web site.