Pitching Activation Plans to Qualcomm
The view from the classroom looked a little different recently. Situated in the Founder’s Lounge of Snapdragon Stadium overlooking the field, SMBA ’25 presented their final activation plans to the Qualcomm panel - Julie Yamamoto, Garrett Ponder, Earl Martin, and Michael Lancia. Throughout their initial Fall semester, students focused on corporate partnerships and activations as part of Managerial Marketing with Dr. Dalakas. The cohort had the amazing privilege of collaborating with Qualcomm on an experiential learning sponsorship project that highlighted Snapdragon and SDSU Football.
This assignment allowed the students to apply Managerial Marketing concepts and strategies to a hands-on project, exemplifying their creativity, market research, presentation skills, and overall understanding of the client’s KPIs for a pre/during/post-game pitch.
As one could imagine, these projects were not overnight successes. This was a semester-long journey that took dedication and commitment from all teams. The student groups met with Dr. Dalakas, Julie, and Garrett at multiple points throughout the past few months to flesh out ideas and receive real-world advice and feedback that pushed them in the best way possible. Students also worked with Sports MBA alumni for their first project early in the semester, where they pitched partnership ideas and activations to various organizations (Anaheim Ducks, Golden State Warriors and Valkyries, Sacramento Kings, Bay FC, Utah Jazz, Red Bull Bragantino, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) that laid the foundation for their final Snapdragon project.
A big thank you to Dr. Dalakas, Julie, Garrett, Earl, and Michael for their invaluable support, feedback and commitment to this collaboration. We would also like to thank our incredible network of SMBA alumni, including Angelica Gamez, Forrest Lockwood, Shawn Lothman, Alexis Ross, Dominic Lucq, Sean Bell, Blake Nahlen, Jake Santo, Kelley Hertelendy, Zac Ipson, Greg Morrissey, and Guilherme Matarazzo for their generosity and support to the program. SMBA ‘25 is grateful for the hands-on sports industry experience!
