A Week Built to Bring Marketing to Life

Marketing Week made its debut at the David Eccles School of Business and students showed up in full force. Every event throughout the week drew strong participation, from the Opening Social to the Career Expo, the Industry Speaker Panel, and the high-energy Closing Celebration where the case competition winners were announced.

The whole purpose of the week was simple: give students hands-on, résumé-ready experience they can’t get from lectures alone. As Tara Elggren shared, “this was all about helping students build something real, something they could show a recruiter, add to a portfolio, or talk about confidently in an interview.”

A Case Competition That Felt Like a Real Agency Pitch

The centerpiece of the week was the TikTok Go-To-Market Strategy Competition featuring two outdoor industry partners as well as the competition’s sponsors:

• Cardiff Snowcraft: premium snowboard and ski craftsmanship
• Board Budder: sustainable board wax built for performance

Students were tasked with building a 90-day TikTok strategy combining creativity, analytics, and storytelling. Twelve teams competed, mixing marketing, design, entrepreneurship, and communication majors in true cross-disciplinary fashion.

Tony Passey framed it perfectly in his wrap-up:

“Seeing our students dive into this year’s TikTok competition was a powerful reminder of how experiential learning transforms the classroom. When students apply strategy, creativity, and analytics in a real-world context, their engagement skyrockets. This competition showcased the kind of hands-on learning that prepares our marketing majors to lead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.”

Teams delivered full GTM plans, mock TikTok ideas, influencer strategies, ad budgets, and success metrics. Judges from faculty and industry said the students’ work was agency-level.

Celebrating the 2025 Winning Teams

This year’s top teams brought creativity, clarity, and strong data storytelling:

First Place — Powder Pals
 Aidan Cerecedes, Moises Molina,  Soleil Scott,  Gracie Watkins – Presentation

Second Place — Trojan
Cali Bourdos – Presentation

Third Place — CRAW
Wesley Booher, Cole Du Plessis, Miles Goldstein, Sawyer Rizza – Presentation

Aidan shared his experience on LinkedIn, summing up what many students felt:

“Case competitions like this push you outside your comfort zone and give you real-world experience you simply can’t get in the classroom.”

Panels, Recruiting, and Networking—All in One Week

Beyond the competition, Marketing Week built bridges between students and industry pros.

The Speaker Panel featured leaders from Ski Utah, Snowbird, the Utah Jazz/Utah Mammoth, and Merit Medical. They gave students a candid look at what modern marketing careers actually look like.

The Career Expo kept the energy high with employer conversations, internship opportunities, and one-on-one connections.

Across every event, turnout stayed strong and student engagement was high, which is clear proof that there’s demand for more experiential opportunities like these.

A New Annual Eccles Tradition

This first-ever Marketing Week exceeded expectations in all the right ways: participation, student enthusiasm, and the quality of work delivered.

Because of how successful it was, Marketing Week is officially becoming an annual event at the Eccles School, and one that will continue growing, evolving, and giving students the real-world practice they’re asking for.