2009 Capstone Clients
The project was very important – providing an independent review of our current process and highlighting gaps in our product launch metrics and our inter-departmental communication. Significantly, our VPs from Manufacturing and Marketing, the Directors of New Product Development and some Core Team Leaders participated in the final Capstone presentation. Kushal’s contribution was significant in several areas: attention to detail when identifying the internal customer requirements, and the research completed to narrow the 60+ metrics to the critical 20. I felt that Kushal genuinely adopted Hill-Rom as his company for the six months that we worked together. This was not just a school project, but a corporate challenge that he took seriously and wanted to resolve. He demonstrated many solid skills necessary for a Marketing Product Manager, in particular diligence in follow-up, communication skills in meeting with and speaking with a wide cross-function of individuals and critical thinking skills. For me, personally, this was a very positive experience and I hope we are invited to participate again in the future.
Terry Moran
Director, Critical Care Marketing, Hill-Rom Company, Inc.
By participating in the MS Capstone project, Cincinnati Ballet was able to benefit from primary and secondary research and thorough analysis of a target audience that is at once fundamental to the company's future and seemingly beyond our reach: young professionals. Kurt Myers pinpointed actionable information (such as our target's price sensitivity), revealed untapped opportunities, and gave us smart marketing strategies concerning pricing, positioning and packaging that we will implement during our next season. In short, Kurt's great ideas, backed by solid research and analysis, motivated and inspired us to pursue this younger audience aggressively as we work to build new audiences for the future of the Ballet.
Annie Wadman
Artistic Manager, Cincinnati Ballet
It was necessary for Northlich to have an objective observer take a look at our marketing tools from the outside and put them together in a way that would fulfill the objectives of our MEdiaLab. He asked excellent questions that allowed him to reach actionable conclusions.
Rose Wesselman
Senior Media Strategist, Northlich
The 2009 UC MS Capstone Project was an outstanding experience for the Voice of Your Customer and our intern, Ankita Sahni. In 16 short weeks, Ankita implemented SEO for our website and developed strategies for our social and professional networking sites. Ankita’s work made a measureable impact on our business. UC is not just developing students, they are impacting the local business community.
Crystal L. Kendrick
President, The Voice of Your Customer
The Capstone Project initiated a new way of thinking about branding in our company. It was exciting to see the lightbulb go on. It was an exciting learning experience for everyone involved, and we hope it will add real value to the way we communicate with clients and prospects.
Dianne Powers
Marketing Manager, Premier Lease and Loan
Sun Chemical views participation in UC’s Capstone project a win for both parties. Working together with Lauren on an active marketing project gave Sun Chemical an additional resource and an outside perspective.
Mehran Yazdani
Vice President of Marketing, Sun Chemical
Our experience with our Capstone Marketing Consultant, Kristin, has been nothing but positive. She helped us to better define our purpose to people who may be first hearing about us and make it clear why it's important. She went over and above what we had outlined in our initial contract, and all of the work she did helped us to present ourselves formally for the first time to Cincinnati at-large. We feel that she has laid a very solid foundation for attracting both future participants and donors, and we hope to work with her again in the near future.
Colleen McSwiggin
Managing Director, Dramakinetics
I found the UC Capstone Project to be very insightful to our business in identifying opportunity areas. I was impressed with the level of professionalism of our student consultant and found the research to be thorough and the report actionable as it will be used as a basis for further enhancements to our programs. This was a very worthwhile exercise for us, and we were honored to be chosen to participate.
Jim Barber
General Manager, Court Yard Sportsplex
RGI is proud to have worked with University of Cincinnati's MS-Marketing Capstone program and believe the project will help our clients to drive profit at the point of sale — leveraging brands and emotion to add value through consumer and shopper insight. Margarita has been wonderful to work with on this project. She is energetic, outgoing, intelligent and very proactive. Her background and experience complimented our strategic offering and provided a wonderful perspective to our work.
Thomas H. Gilmore
Director of Brand Strategy – RGI Branding & Marketing Strategists
The work completed by Salonee Khanna helped to move forward the planning and marketing for the National Signage Research and Education Conference. Salonee’s work resulted in a Communications Plan for the Signage Foundation, a Marketing Plan for NSREC and several marketing strategies that will be implemented prior to the October conference. The board of directors of the Signage Foundation is most appreciative of Salonee’s scope of work and wonderful team spirit.
Patty Herbin
Signage Foundation Inc.
David Hess’ kind, professional manner has assisted the Mathis Foundation with fresh branding, identity and communication skills. I am overwhelmed by the depth of his work and by the countless strategies that he provided. It has been a great pleasure working with David.
Mary Lyons
Administrator, The Mathis Foundation for Children
Working with Sean Grace and the Capstone Project provided me and my company a great opportunity to amplify a small company’s limited marketing resources and turn out a fresh, disciplined, actionable plan.
Chris Dwyer
Owner, EmotivEnergy
Alex Tieman's work on our Capstone project helped shift our way of thinking in a dynamic and radically new strategic way to help plan for the future. I eagerly anticipate seeing the results of the implementation of this project.
Annalisa Pappano
Artistic Director, The Catacoustic Consort
Working with Diana Coffey and undergoing the MS-Marketing Capstone experience provided us valuable insights about our audience’s wants and needs — insights we would have been unlikely to uncover on our own, and certainly without comparable depth. Ms. Coffey was an effective leader, encouraging us to employ multiple research techniques in order to elicit broad-based respondent feedback. Her detailed and thorough analysis will give us a much stronger basis of consumer understanding as we develop our marketing plans for the coming year.
Katie Syroney
Public Relations Officer, UC’s CCM
2009 Capstone Student Consultants
Coming into the MS-Marketing program with more than 15 years of experience, I was interested in a Capstone opportunity that would offer a new challenge. My UCPP Capstone and several MS-Marketing classes indeed opened my eyes to the challenges of analysis in an ever-changing economic environment, and gave me a whole new outlook on the many facets and levels of marketing leadership and communication.
Stephanni Cohen
Hill-Rom’s Capstone project provided me with a unique opportunity to interact with various disciplines and levels within the organization. The overall project experience provided me project management experience by taking a project from inception to implementation. Capstone enhanced my understanding of the product launch process, the critical nature of post-launch monitoring and provided greater insight to the analysis of actual vs. planned performance. This learning experience will directly transfer to my professional career in Marketing.
Kushal Gohil
This project afforded me the opportunity to develop tools critical to Northlich’s differentiation. In the process I not only added value to the organization, but also gained a wealth of applicable knowledge.
Miguel Sanchez
The MS-Marketing Capstone was an amazing experience. It offered real-world experience and challenges. To be successful you must pull from your entire body of coursework and stretch your abilities to a new level. I was very fortunate to work with the Cincinnati Ballet. The ability to work with a world-class organization is a huge benefit of this program, and it is great to see the ideas that you create implemented and having a positive impact on the organization.
Kurt Myers
My Capstone project was rewarding for the many marketing issues it addressed, and the opportunity for real-world business application, but also because it impacted an organization serving a greater good.
David Hess
Working with Brian and his organization during the MS-Marketing Capstone allowed me to put everything that I was learning in the classroom into practice in real-time. The experience of developing a work plan and executing it for a real client was a challenging, yet rewarding experience. Utilizing my classmates for advice and help along with the guidance of Dr. Dixon made this project a success and rounded out a great experience with the MS-Marketing program.
Mike Sanders
The Capstone experience really exceeded my expectations. Having to push myself to complete all of the various elements of my project, while also making sure to deliver something useful to my real-world client, really helped to increase my confidence once I finished the project. It allowed me to see the great impact I can have and the amount of work I can achieve in a little amount of time. Though it was tough, it was truly an invaluable experience.
Cameron Ferguson
The Capstone experience gave me the opportunity to apply what I learned in the academic setting practically. Working with Colleen, I was able to identify issues and find creative ways to solve them. In turn, I gained exposure to many aspects of marketing I previously had no experience with including designing copy, working with graphic designers and creating multimedia. Most importantly, I walked away from this experience with confidence, knowing that I made a difference in the strategy of the organization and that my recommendations were being implemented.
Kristin Schaub
The Capstone experience provided me with a great opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge that I gained from the MS-Marketing coursework in a corporate environment. With the continuous support and guidance of my professor and inputs from the client, I was able to deliver a concrete implementation plan in purpose-driven branding, which is a relatively new field in marketing.
Binita Pradhan
The project has really provided the value that I was looking for in an academic setting. The pedagogical course undertaken for the Capstone and the MS-Marketing program as a whole has been a great learning source for me. The project opened up a new arena in marketing that I can explore as a career path.
Ankita Sahni
RGI is a company committed to innovation and growth. We were working shoulder-to-shoulder and harvested exciting results together. This project and the Capstone experience pushed my boundaries, made me reflect on my profession and formation as a marketer, and more than anything else, helped me grow.
Margarita Nemesh
The Capstone project provided me with a very useful learning experience. Having the opportunity to partner with a local business and develop a plan to address a key issue in the company were invaluable to me as a marketer and have me well-prepared to tackle more of these issues in my career.
Sean C. Grace
Working with Sun Chemical provided me with an amazing hands-on market research experience. I was able to apply what I had learned in the classroom to an organization and help contribute to its success.
Lauren Mariano
Having had the opportunity to develop the overall communications strategy for the Signage Foundation and the marketing plan for the event has been wonderful. Managing my Capstone right from planning, to deliverables, to the communication and marketing initiatives was a tremendous learning experience. The implementation of my recommendations by the SFI board members was a confidence booster in terms of getting ready to take on the real world.
Salonee Khanna
I strongly believe that my experience with the Catacoustic Consort has been the most challenging, thought provoking, valuable and gratifying experience in my academic career. I really enjoyed the opportunity to work with a first-class client to help develop meaningful solutions to significant business issues.
Alex Tieman