Students who are looking for a last-minute way to impress their sweetheart this Valentines Day can make a stop at a bake sale sponsored by the University's American Marketing Association chapter. Buy your sweetheart a treat at the Ansari Business Building or the Jot Travis Student Union lawn.

The proceeds will help fund a trip to New Orleans to compete in the "Renew New Orleans" case competition at the American Marketing Association's 29th Annual International Collegiate Conference. The University is one of eight finalists in the competition to develop a marketing plan to revive tourism in New Orleans.

"We're really excited about this opportunity," said Arielle Recine, Vice President of Programs for the University's AMA chapter. "This is one of many different ways we are trying to earn donations."

The chapter began working on their marketing plan in September after they got the proposal from the AMA.

"We did two months of just research," Recine said. "We made sure there weren't any holes."

The team had only a $5 million budget for their marketing plan. With this budget, they made plans to create advertisements for Myspace, Facebook, a travel website and in magazines such as Maxim, ESPN, Cosmopolitan, Shape and Allure. They also factored in one television commercial to be played on ESPN. The team decided that these outlets were the most effective way to reach their target audience of 18-30 year-olds.

"We had to ask ourselves what would push us to want to go down there with our friends," Recine said. "We took a really unique approach. We used technology because it is a huge advantage for reaching the target audience."

For the plan, the team developed the slogan, "your New Orleans is ready." The team plans to include the slogan on their advertisements, websites and collateral material, along with shorter phrases such as, "your drink is ready," "your costume is ready," and "your party is ready."

"A lot of our ambition came from trying to help the city," Recine said. "It really just energized us to go out to our demographic."

Although this is the 29th year AMA has put on this competition, the University has not participated since 1983. Recine attributes this to the amount of time and dedication that is required for participating.

"There is just so much time that goes into this," Recine said. "This has been a full-time job for our whole team."

Anyone who is interested in making a donation to the University's AMA chapter is encouraged to contact Mary Groves, the group's advisor, at (775) 784-1769 or by e-mail at mgroves@unr.edu.