AIC students dipped their toes in the advertising waters and got a real life experience that proves it’s easier said than done.

On April 8^th, AIC’s advertising class – also known as the “Honey Team”, hosted the last AIC night at the Springfield Falcons’ game. Throughout the semester, the students have gotten hands-on experience meeting with representatives from several well-known companies, including the area’s well-known supermarket, Big Y. When approached by the Springfield Falcons to develop a strategy to increase attendance, and to specifically attract more college students, the class jumped at the chance.

They intended not only to help Falcons’ attendance but also to gain a partnership with the team to open a new opportunity for future events for AIC students.

The Springfield Falcons is a pro-hockey team cherished by those in the area who enjoy attending games as a fun family event. The team is, in fact, the only professional team in western Mass. The Falcons rank third in the Northeast Division. Rookie goalie Anton Forsberg ended their season ranking third in the entire league.

The goal set for the Honey Team was to raise student awareness that there are venues for exciting events in the surrounding area, including right downtown. With only a couple weeks’ notice, the students began to develop strategies for encouraging the college crowd to move off-campus to find alternative entertainment venues. The class found discounted tickets for college students, made commercials, posted on social media, passed out posters, and utilized word of mouth advertising. Knowing the interests of older students, they even took the initiate to use personal resources to set up a pre-game get-together at the local establishment, McCaffrey’s House, to attract older students to make it out to the event.

The students were surprised by the still low AIC numbers in attendance. However, they appreciated the valuable insight that they obtained through the experience and feel more comfortable that they can better prepare for future endeavors.

One student in the class, Allison Gavin who is a sophomore majoring in communications and very active in the AIC community, described her new outlook.

“Our advertising class was different than I expected. We didn’t just read from the book but were thrown right in. I learned first-hand what to expect in a marketing or advertising job. I gained a lot of knowledge on how to focus on a target market and reevaluate what we’ve done to reach our audience. I learned to think out of the box and even bad ideas can lead the way to good ones,” she told the YJ.

An AIC athlete who attended the event, junior Juwan Moody, was glad that he attended.

“I play basketball, but as an athlete, I can appreciate the effort from players in all different types of sports. I had never been to a hockey game before but I’m glad I heard about the event and got to see for myself. It’s a tough sport,” he commented.

Unfortunately, since then, it has been announced that the Springfield Falcons were sold and will be moving to Arizona, leaving the region without a professional team. Still, the Honey Team is confident that with their growing skills, they will take on new projects and find ways to incorporate their clients’ goals with opportunities for the AIC community.