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Murphy Cup celebrates its 10th anniversary
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Experiential learning is a hallmark of a Heider business education. Converting undergraduate activities into real-world experience is what sets Heider students from their counterparts in the job interview process, and one of the college’s premier examples is the Murphy Cup Marketing Strategy Competition (Murphy Cup, for short).
This year, the Murphy Cup celebrated 10 years of student collaboration, creative solutions to client challenges, friendships, full nights, networking and professional presentations.
Matt Seevers, PhD, Heider faculty coordinator of the Murphy Cup, says it was a joy to watch students collaborate with others to perform well under high pressure.
“In less than 48 hours, the students were able to develop workable, outstanding proposals for the client despite not knowing the challenge – or their teammates – until the start of the event,” says Seevers. “The students displayed all of the qualities that we claim among our student outcomes: leadership, critical thinking, communication, business acumen,” among others.
This year’s client was Quantum Workplace, a nationally recognized, award-winning human resources software technology provider headquartered in Omaha. Natalie Wickman, BA’13, vice president of marketing at Quantum, and her team tasked students to develop a marketing and communication strategy to help Quantum maintain a high level of customer retention among their existing clients over the next two years.
Creighton students Emma Hermann and Henry Lewis and Drake students Alexia Simonton and Kalin Valster made up the championship team (Team Hustle). Runner-ups (Team Reliability) were Danny Poulos and Cora Saak from Creighton and Taylor Boeser and Julia Buchholz from Drake. Heider students Kirstin Smith and Cameron Kresko were named “Most Creative Contributor” and “Most Outstanding Presenter,” respectively.
The Murphy Cup continues to be a shining example of how the experiential learning opportunities we offer Heider students expose them to real-world, real-time challenges that prepare them well for a successful career.
— Matt Seevers, PhD
And what were their Murphy Cup takeaways?
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- Emma Hermann: Collaboration and the value of constructive feedback are important components of success.
“My team certainly had disagreements and strong opinions about how each slide should look and what should be included in the final pitch. We meticulously edited each of our slides until we could compromise. This is why collaboration and constructive criticism were my important takeaways. After hours and hours of brainstorming, check-ins, conversations, creating the presentation, creating the graphics, editing our proposal deck and practicing, I was so proud of myself and my team in that moment.”
- Kirsten Smith: Murphy Cup will be one of my favorite Creighton memories.
“The experience is rewarding in the way that it simulates campaign development in the real world. After we were given the assignment, we did a Q&A with the client, took a deep dive into research and development of our communication strategies, met with the client to receive feedback, had to pivot and adjust our strategy based on the feedback and pull it all together in a live presentation on our marketing strategy on the big screen. I love that Creighton and the Heider College of Business provide experiential learning opportunities that cater to all learning styles.”
- Cameron Kresko: Murphy Cup is a differentiator in the job hunt.
“Participating in an event like the Murphy Cup is the best thing you can do to show that you are truly passionate about marketing. You are showing employers that you are willing to take time out of your weekend to showcase and sharpen your abilities. The purpose of college is to prepare you for the real world. Experiential learning opportunities, such as the Murphy Cup, puts your knowledge to the test.”
“The Murphy Cup continues to be a shining example of how the experiential learning opportunities we offer Heider students expose them to real-world, real-time challenges that prepare them well for a successful career,” Seevers says.
Given the success of the Murphy Cup these past 10 years, it is safe to say the marketing competition will be around for decades to come.
