Note: the Rotman MBA students are Tony Power, Michelle Stinson, Greg Mattan, Lila Janakievski, and Barclay Hancock. They were advised by Rotman Professors Andy Mitchell, Becky Reuber and David Dunne.

TORONTO, March 19, 2001 -- OSHAWA, Ontario - For the second consecutive year, a team of MBA students from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has been awarded first place in Saturn Canada’s Business School Project.

The five-member team received the top award of $15,000 for a marketing plan developed to introduce the new Saturn VUE sport utility vehicle in the university market. For their plans, University of Alberta School of Business was awarded $6,000, McGill University Faculty of Management, $5,000 and the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, University of British Columbia, $4,000.

Eric LeBlanc, Saturn Canada’s Advertising and Promotions Manager, said “The plans were outstanding. Very innovative, extremely well thought out, developed and prepared. It’s exciting to see what these young, creative minds have to share.”

He added that, “A project such as this provides Saturn with the opportunity to show that we are truly ‘a different kind of company’ and, at the same time, fulfill our commitment to youth and the communities where we live and do business.”

Those participating in the Saturn Business School project had five months to conduct market research and create a marketing plan for the Saturn VUE, first sport utility in the car-maker’s family of vehicles. Each team was given a virtual budget of $2 million to develop its marketing plan.

“We thought the best way to use the budget effectively was to combine advertising in student media, urban weeklies and on the Internet, student event sponsorships and direct marketing,” said Michelle Stinson, business student and member of the winning team. “We are convinced that the tactics we developed, including our VUE-tility/VUE-finder ad campaign, a ‘Drive Me Home for the Holidays’ contest, phone cards and postcards direct marketing would result in a 200 per cent return on investment.”

The project was also popular with the staff who assigned it to their classes. “This project was a very enriching experience for our students. The students put a lot of effort into the project and it gave them the chance to use their knowledge in a real world environment that will help prepare them for the workforce,” said Andrew Mitchell, Professor of Marketing at the Rotman School of Management.

Saturn Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors. Built in Springhill, Tennessee, the Saturn line of vehicles was introduced into the Canadian marketplace in October 1991. For more information on other Saturn initiatives, visit the Saturn Canada website at www.saturncanada.com.

-30-

Ken McGuffin
Media Relations Officer
Rotman School of Management
Voice: (416) 946-3818
E-mail: mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .