2008 Woodie Awards
Contest stretches bands' value on campus
By: Walter Foley
Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: News
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Each year Stanford designates a secret, common item for students to try to market as a way of practicing business and entrepreneurial skills.
Students had to make and upload a three-minute video to YouTube by 9 a.m. Thursday, telling their story and showing their results. They were left with just five days to do this, after rubber bands were announced as the item at 6 p.m. Feb. 22.
"I kind of thought it was going to be something that mundane, but I was actually pretty excited about it," said senior Lauren Papesh, a business major with an option in marketing.
Her team aimed to raise heart disease awareness by getting passers-by to add red rubber bands to a heart-shaped mural, which had been decorated by a local artist.
"We tried to brainstorm and ask, 'What is a rubber band? What can we do with it?'" Papesh said. "The time constraint helped squish that out of us … my brain is still reeling from last week."
Teams all over the world participated in the event this year, each one competing against other teams from their own schools. Faculty members at each school judged the videos and chose the winners. The results were not available by press time.
Papesh's team wanted to have 1,000 rubber bands on their mural, which will be donated to Enloe Medical Center, Papesh said. In the end it had almost 2,000 rubber bands.
The group had a booth displaying facts about heart disease, including how common it is and ways to prevent it. It raised $75 for Enloe Medical Center.
Senior Jon Dunphy, a business entrepreneurship major, started the team Brewing Innovation, which had a booth on campus and aimed to promote sustainability by asking students who walked by to put a rubber band on their wrists and donate to the cause.
Dunphy said the rubber bands were to remind students of simple ways to preserve the environment. For instance, he encouraged people to ride bikes instead of driving.
"Chico's so small you really have no excuse," Dunphy said. "If you're driving to the gym, you're a lazy ass."
The group's final donation total was $450, with Dunphy adding out of his own pocket to even the sum, he said. It will be donated to Ocean Conservancy, American Land Conservancy and Breathe California.
The best way to get people to stop, hear the sustainability message and donate was to get in their faces, said junior Spencer Moran, a business major with an option in marketing.
"You really have to just get in front of people, or else they'll cold-shoulder you," Moran said.
Brewing Innovation's Web site includes tips on keeping the air clean, sustaining natural resources and conserving the ocean.
The videos are available for viewing at YouTube.
Walter Foley can be reached at
wfoley@theorion.com
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