Brand-name fun for Wharton MBAs

Normally, Wharton MBAs spend their days studying formal marketing strategies and balancing credits and debits. Yesterday afternoon, they had the chance to study the finer aspects of these strategies, as they battled it out for pride and prizes in Lehman Quad. A cross between the Olympics and a carnival, the Brand Bash, sponsored by the Wharton Marketing Club, brought more than 200 MBA students together in the spirit of friendly competition while they compared different brands of products like chocolate, cereal, lipstick and beer. The students had their choice of nearly two dozen booths -- ranging from a putting contest to a model-car racing competition -- during the two-hour event. Aside from fun, the annual festivity provided an opportunity to learn about brand building and effective marketing techniques. For the game "Pucker-Up," the goal was to compare L'Oreal lipstick to Chapstick. So brave men like second-year MBA student Rich Ackerman donned a blindfold and waited while women wearing either lipstick or Chapstick kissed him on the cheek. "I have it figured out by now," Ackerman said, in between kisses. "The Chapstick has a mocha smell." If he guessed correctly, the woman received free Chapstick. Not everyone took the contests so lightly, however. Showing his competitive streak, second-year MBA student Steve Woda had other ideas. Defeated once in his bid to win the "Oreo Challenge," where contestants had 30 seconds to stack Oreo cookies as high as they could, he was determined to break the record of 27. "We can't let a former faculty member beat us," Woda said, referring to the defending record holder. "The key is to line up four at a time into seven stacks, so I'd beat the record by one. I'd be very happy with that." When it came to implementing his strategy, the Oreos came tumbling down, but Woda persisted. "You also have to use your beer bottle as a level in order to see how the table is angled," Woda continued, sharing some secrets of the trade. In the end he relented, after reaching 25 on this third try. Elsewhere in the big tent outside of Vance Hall where the event was held, second-year MBA student Allison Catalano was helping to run the "Speed-Beaming Challenge," where the first contestant to write the given phrase on a Palm Pilot -- grammatically correct, no less --and beam it to the base unit won a T-shirt. "I just thought it up as a silly game to get people interested," Catalano said, as MBA students crowded around her table, eager to show off their technological expertise. Free food was also in abundance at the event. "Our goal is to get them to eat as much chocolate as they can without getting a tummyache," said first-year MBA student Doug Brand, as he manned a chocolate-tasting booth. "We're asking them to eat Hershey and Nestle and come up with adjectives for each." In the back of the tent, the beer tasting was, not surprisingly, a perennial favorite. "We've had an excellent turnout," said second-year MBA student Melinda Newman. "Everyone is attracted to our booth for some reason." Booth managers had to devise their own concepts and then work to secure sponsors. "Nabisco does this as a national promotion every year, and I worked for them this summer," said second-year MBA student Mike Bufano, one of the organizers for the "Oreo Challenge." "The regional winners have a stack-off in New York City." Maybe Steve Woda just missed his big chance.