COLLABORATE

We envision the UT Shopper Marketing Forum to involve:

·         Meetings with executives and managers

·         Influence on undergraduate, graduate, and executive education

·         Influence on scholastic research

Concerning meetings, we are planning one executive level shopper marketing summit meeting each year for sponsors and one larger, more open shopper marketing conference for both sponsors and fee-paying managers. Through the dialogue at these meetings practitioners can influence each other as well as the teaching and research of scholars and scholars can influence the thinking of executives and managers.

Special programs and tools will be developed for students at all levels at UT that may include guest speakers, special information sessions, case studies/competitions, certifications, and specialized skills training.

The Forum should influence shopper marketing related scholastic research which will be published in academic journals, business trade outlets, white papers, and special reports. The UT Shopper Marketing Forum will serve as a portal for sponsors to gain access to faculty, research findings, associations concerned with shopper marketing, and students available for internships and full-time positions.

These and many other shopper marketing initiatives will only be possible with financial commitments by sponsoring companies.

In exchange for a yearly contribution, sponsors of the UT Shopper Marketing Forum gain:

·         access to other industry sponsors concerned with strategic and tactical shopper marketing issues

·         access to faculty at The University of Tennessee concerned with shopper marketing related issues

·         focused access to undergraduate and graduate students interested in careers in CPG/FMCG manufacturers, retailing, shopper/consumer data analysis, CPG/retail consulting, and consumer advertising

·         access to research and report summaries focused on shopper marketing issues

·         influence on concepts, tools and skills trained in the classroom

·         two seats at an annual executive Shopper Marketing summit

·         five seats at an annual open, senior to mid-level manager shopper marketing meeting

Faculty involved in the UT Shopper Marketing Forum gain:

·         powerful insights from executives, leaders and managers concerning shopper marketing challenges, processes, and success stories

·         access to other faculty interested in shopper marketing issues

·         access to research and report summaries focused on shopper marketing issues