CAMPUS CALENDAR

William R. Wynd Eastern Washington University

Eastern Washington University is one of four regional universities in Washington State.

Operated on a quarterly system, enrolment is around 8,200 students, most of whom are
residents of Spokane Country. Academic programs at Eastern feature liberal arts,
education, business, and science.
Spokane, Washington’s second largest city, is 16 miles east. The county is a
metro area with over 356,000 people. It is banking, health care, and distribution center
for a portion of three states designated as the “Inland Empire”.
As part of a class in basic marketing, eight junior students became so interested
in marketing that they banded together for the purpose of applying what they were
learning. With the help of their instructor they formed a partnership called CI
(Collegiate Images). They sought to develop and market a product for the express
purpose of making enough money to fund their senior year tuition of $500 per quarter
and gain some practical experience in business.
Over a period of several weeks in the fall quarter they sought to narrow a list of
potential products. Three limitations helped purge their list almost immediately. First,
each could raise no more than $500 for start-up capital. Second, the venture could
require no more than an average of about 15 hours per week per student. Third, if they
were to market a product the following fall, only nine months remained for planning
and production. Applying these criteria they screened a list and determined that a
calendar featuring Eastern students posed in campus settings would be a likely
candidate.

This case was prepared by William R. Wynd of Eastern Washington University as a basis for class discussion rather
than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation
 The idea of a campus calendar is not new. Several other schools in the Pacific
Northwest had produced calendars at one time or another. Since the marketing research
section of their beginning course had taught them to start by finding out what others had
done, they developed a questionnaire and conducted a telephone survey; the results of
that survey are in Table 1. Based on the results of the survey, the students concluded
that quality was particularly important.

TABLE 1 Comparison of Calendars

Questions U of M OSU U of O USC
1. Size of market 18,000 15,000 18,000 International
Maket

2. What type of calendar did you produce F F F M&F

M – Male
F - Female
B – Both on same page

3. Was it at: M M M F- Swimsuit

B – full-body shot M - Head
S – swimsuit M – Head

4. Did you produce in: C C B/W C

B/W – Blk/ white
C - Color

5. Who did your photography? C C T C

T – themselves
C – contracted out

6. What calendar year did you use? C C C C

S – school year
C – calendar year

7. Did you put advertising on the calendar? Yes No Yes No

8. What was your unit price? $3-$4 $6.95 $5-$6 $7.95

9. How many did you sell? 3,300 6,500 1,000 International

Market

10. How did you sell them? W W W B

R – retail
W – wholesale B- Both

11. Sponsor? Miller Several Coors No sponsor

Beer Businesses Beer
 Visual inspection of sample calendars sent by the survey respondents
emphasized that the quality of printing, paper, and photography contributed greatly to
the product image. The size of the calendar varied from a folded size of 8 ½ “ x 11”,
which was considered small, to 12” x 12”, which was considered large. The large size
calendar produced at USC on heavyweight stock was the most attractive. But the survey
left many unanswered questions about what was wanted in a product and what
information was needed to develop strategies for pricing, promotion and distribution.
Several focus groups were held to determine how students use a calendar and
what they wanted in terms of quality, price, and character of poses. The focus groups
revealed that students need a place to write notes and reminders. Normally they try to
find a calendar with a date page that is large enough for this purpose. However, most
students received free calendars and so may not specifically purchase a calendar with a
large date page. In addition most students particularly full-time students living on
campus or off campus in Cheney, said they would be interested in a calendar featuring
Eastern students indicating some school spirit. Older students and many of those who
commuted, however, were not interested. They came to Eastern for an education,
worked in their space time, and did not come to the campus except for their classes.
Women said they would like a calendar featuring men, a mend said they would
like a calendar featuring women in swimsuits. Most said they would prefer a fairly
large calendar, especially if it featured attractive pictures.
Information from the focus groups was used to generate a measurement
instrument. This one-page questionnaire was administered to 329 students in classes
selected at random at a time and on a day when most students attended classes. Results
of the survey are shown in Exhibit 1. A check with records in the Office of the Registrar
indicated that the proportion of sexes, ages, and class standings in the sample closely
matched that of the student body. Ninety-three percent of the student body was
classified as full time.
EXHIBIT 1 Questionnaire

We are students in a marketing class at Eastern Washington University. We are conducting a survey to
decide the possibility of a campus calendar. We would appreciate your answer to the following questions.
Please answer fully and honestly, all information is anonymous. Thank you for your time and trouble.

1. We would like to produce a quality E.W.U. campus calendar. We plan to use students from the
campus as models. Would you be interested in a calendar with only E.W.U. students in it?
253 (a) yes 76 (b) no

2. What kind of models would you prefer in a single calendar?

49 (a) all male 62 (c) alternating males and females
110 (b) all female 108 (d) male & female on the same page

3. What kind of photo poses would you prefer? (check all that apply)
107 (a) fully clothed body shot 36 (c) face and chest shot
12 (b) swimsuit body shot 86 (d) partially clothed

4. What starting date would you prefer?

132 (a) a calendar year, starting in January
181 (b) school year, starting in September

5. Would you buy the calendar?

105 (a) for yourself 32 (b) as a gift 192 (c) not at all

6. If we produce a calendar which is pleasing to you what is the most you would be willing to pay?
0 (a) $12 19 (b) $10 48 (c) $8 70 (d) $6

7. What is your age?

135 (a) 18-21 80 (b) 22-24 54 (c) 25-29 60 (d) over 29

8. What is your sex?

150 (a) male 179 (b) female

9. Where do you reside?

161 (a) off campus, commute 61 (b) on campus
107 (c ) off campus (Cheney)

10. What is your class standing?

41 (a) freshman 55 (b) sophomore 82 (c ) junior 151 (d) senior\

Several cross tabulations were run on the data. These revealed that 54 percent of the
students who expressed interest in the calendar were male. In addition, 68 percent of
those who said they were interested lived on campus or in Cheney. Seniors were less
interested than underclassmen. Student preferences for poses are shown in Table 2.
Most male preferred females in swimsuits, whereas most females preferred males with
their clothes on.
 Several printers were contacted to obtain quotes. There were variations in both
price and quality. Production quotes for the best quality and price combination are
shown in Table 3.
There was a minimum order of 2,000 and 15 percent for each additional 500.
Production costs included paper, printing, and binding. Typesetting was an extra
$1,000.
Since the pictures were the central part of the product they had to be of good
quality. A number of professional photographers were asked to submit their portfolios.
The best work was far ahead of the rest. Their charge was $250 per setting with a
minimum of 12 settings. This price included travel, set-up charges, several negatives
and a final camera-ready print.
Selecting the students to pose for the pictures was a problem. One idea was to
have students nominate whom they wanted in the pictures. One of the student partners
in Collegiate Images was an amateur photographer and agreed to take the preliminary
snapshots that would later be screened by another group of students. Film and
developing costs were estimated at $75.

TABLE 2 student preferences for Poses

Pose Male Female
Fully clothed body shot 42 63
Swimsuit body shot 70 52
Face and chest shot 21 14
Partially clothed shot 45 38

TABLE 3 student preferences for Poses

Size of Calendar
Weight of Cover Stock Small Large
Light $6,920 $9,829
Heavy 8,000 12,040
 Distribution was also a problem. The campus bookstore offered to take 1,000
calendars at a markup on the cost of 40 percent. A booth in a high traffic area of the
Student Union Building could be rented for $2 per day as long as it was connected with
a student project. A booth could also be set up in the stadium at the homecoming
football game. There were other possibilities but a strategy decision would have to be
made about intensive, elective, or exclusive distribution before outlets could be
selected.
Promotion possibilities included interviews with the local student newspaper
and announcements in the FOCUS, a daily flyer available to all students in all buildings
on campus. A member of Collegiate Images could also appear as a guest on a talk show
aired by the student ratio station. None of these activities cost money. On the other
hand, an ad in the student newspaper about the size of the date page of the large-size
calendar would cost $140. The Easterner is published weekly with a press run of 6,000.
Flyers about the same size were estimated to cost about $2.50 in quantities of 100.
By this time it was evident that there was not enough money available to meet
start-up costs even at the minimum order of 2,000. Someone suggested that an
advertiser might be interested in sponsoring a portion of the calendar. Three of the other
universities surveyed had sponsored. Advertising consisted of a corporate logo in the
background of the date page. Students felt that if accepted, advertisements should be
tasteful.
There was a lot of work to be done before attempting to secure sponsorship. A
business plan would have to be made on how many calendars to produce, the exact
compositions of poses, the calendar start date, price, distribution, and promotion
strategy. A price for advertising sponsorship for all or a portion of the calendar would
have to be established. Everyone know that the success of the project depended on the
amount of creativity used in developing and implementing a marketing strategy.