Presenters & Advisers
Alison Milioto '06 
Educating Students About Using Credit Wisely: Citibank Marketing Project
Alison Milioto is pretty responsible with a credit card. She's had one since she was 18 and has learned a lot about budgeting by owning it. So when presented with the opportunity to teach responsible credit card use to other students she jumped at the chance.
Last semester, Milioto and 15 of her classmates in Peter Masucci’s marketing class participated in a Citi/EdVenture program to teach students about avoiding financial problems by maintaining good credit.
Using $2,500 from Citi/EdVenture, a division of Citibank, Milioto and her peers created their own marketing agency, and set to work. The first step? Their agency, Etavonni (that’s "innovate" backwards) Creative Marketing, distributed surveys to more than 450 UNH students, with questions about their credit card use.
Based on the survey results, Etavonni built a campaign strategy, created brochures, a Web site, and even a "responsible credit" event at the Memorial Union Building, where students "traveled" to internationally themed tables (China, Italy, Jamaica) learning about credit, credit ratings, and APRs along the way.
But their work wasn't over. Etavonni then presented the campaign results to its client, Citi Vice President Kerry Locke Bedard. "As a marketing professional, I'm very impressed with the quality of the campaign and the degree of thought put into it," said Locke Bedard, who brought the results back to the corporate office for further analysis.
"What I liked most [about the project] was that we had real-time deadlines and we saw real results," says Milioto. "It was a good experience and showed me how valuable research can be."
