Apple Farm Activation
A team of sixteen students enrolled in a spring experience industry management class partnered with the local historic Apple Farm Inn to create a place in its marketplace called the “Cal Poly Corner” to promote and sell student-made Cal Poly products such as cheese, jam, wine, and barbecue sauce.
The course – RPTA 321: Visitor Services in Experience Industry Management – taught by visiting lecturer Yen Tsutsumi, senior vice president of business operations at George P. Johnson Experience Marketing, led students through the process of executing the real-world experiential marketing project.
Tsutsumi worked with Sean Nolan, Apple Farm’s general manager, to create a course syllabus that would give students “an experimental marketing project to sink their teeth into by making them the leaders in designing, implementing and activating a launch event to highlight the new partnership,” Tsutsumi said. “All of these are things I execute with my team at George P. Johnson, but this time, I was able to teach students how to do it.”
Students were split into various working teams, including operations, marketing and promotions, and product distribution teams. Students were tasked with leading the logistics of the short nine-week timeline, budgeting, promoting the new partnership, and determining which Cal Poly products would be the best fit for the marketplace.
Anna Jewell, a third-year business administration student who is minoring in event planning and experience management, led a group of five students focused on marketing and executing a launch day experience to introduce the partnership to the surrounding community.
“The biggest take away of this class for me was learning how to interact with a client,” said Jewell. “It is a skill that has been discussed extensively in many of my courses, but this class was the first time I got to experience it. I presented to the client, scheduled meetings, and advised the client when necessary.”
“This class has helped me to better identify what I would like to do in the future,” said Jewell, who plans to pursue a career in experiential marketing or fashion merchandising. “I feel much more confident stepping into internships and jobs with the experience behind me.”— Anna Jewell
Susanna Hoffman, a fourth-year recreation, parks, and tourism administration major, assisted with overall operations including creating a production timeline and event branding. “I loved the experience because it was something tangibly done in quick amount of time,” Hoffman said. “It showed me how flexible the events world is and that no two experiences will ever be the same.”
The student product and distribution team sourced items and worked directly with Apple Farm to create a playbook that provided store employees selling the Cal Poly products with a clear narrative about the uniqueness of each product. “This is about the journey and learning experience of each of the student-made products being sold, it’s not just about a piece of cheese,” said Tsutsumi.
In May the class hosted a launch day event at the inn to promote the Cal Poly Corner and connect community members with the Cal Poly products being sold. “The launch was a smashing success,” said Jewell. “With the help of our class the Apple Farm Inn Market had one of its highest days of sales ever!” The partnership with the inn will continue, as will the valuable lessons students learned while executing the experience. “This class has helped me to better identify what I would like to do in the future,” said Jewell, who plans to pursue a career in experiential marketing or fashion merchandising. “I feel much more confident stepping into internships and jobs with the experience behind me.”
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