Students of Pitt Business’s Projects in Marketing class have launched “You’ve Earned It,” their new campaign for the brand new 2019 Acura ILX. Taught by Professor Robert Gilbert, students have the opportunity to apply their marketing knowledge in the real world.

Competing against students from all over the country, members of Professor Gilbert’s class, who have coined the name “ProsInMotion” for themselves, have worked hard all semester on the project.

Representing Pitt in Acura’s competition, ProsInMotion strives for the chance to present its campaign ideas and findings to Acura at its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California. The students selected the name “You’ve Earned It” because they feel it exemplifies the stylish, affordable, and high- performance attributes that the millennial/Generation Z target audience wants in a car.

Despite millennials buying fewer cars than older generations, ProsInMotion still feels that the high performance of the Acura ILX is matched with the high-performance drive of this generation. To engage with the target audience, ProsInMotion hosted CARnival in the Schenley Quad, where students could see the car while playing games, winning prizes, enjoying free food, and earning Outside the Class- room Curriculum (OCC) Credit.

To further promote the car, ProsInMotion partnered with local Pittsburgh artists Chancelor Humphrey (@KeepPittsburghDope) and John Muldoon (@JohnMauriceMuldoon). Humphrey installed a 360-degree camera to the ILX and took viewers on a ride through some of his favorite Pittsburgh locations, while Muldoon, a spray paint artist, painted the car live at the CARnival event.

All of these promotions and events are part of the assignment to create out- of-the-box marketing tactics. ProsInMotion found that millennials and Generation Z heavily engage with social media platforms, and using popular local influencers can help reach Acura’s target market. The results of the class’s work will be revealed soon, and ProsInMotion hopes to have the opportunity to pitch the campaign to Acura in California.