Zipcar - Internship Final Paper MGT 401

San Diego State University: Business Department

Management Internship: MGT 401

Marissa Garcia - Final Paper

Prof. Mark Sloan

Fall 2014

Purpose:

Zipcar was founded by two women in 1999 that based it on similar companies in

Germany and Switzerland. After launching in Boston, MA in January of 2000, Zipcar soon

expanded into other markets in the United States and quickly became a well-known name

throughout the country. Impressively not only are they an international company with cars in

Austria, France, Spain, Turkey, Istanbul, United Kingdom, and Canada but they are also the

world’s largest car sharing community.

My role at the San Diego Zipcar office is brand ambassador and collegiate expansion

planner and my primary responsibility has been to create and execute the marketing plans which

would allow us to expand even further into the major universities in the San Diego area (SDSU

being one of them). This included contacting those in charge, planning, coordinating and

working at events to ensure sure all goes smoothly and we reach our quota.

Project Accomplishments:

My first and most important step was creating the plan which would allow us to develop

and expand in the collegiate market. Since back to school was in full swing for SDSU, PLNU

and USD but not yet for the UCSD, I determined the quickest and most impactful way for us to

get started was to take advantage of the plethora of annual back to school events UCSD offered.

UCSD is Zipcar San Diego’s biggest user of cars. For their university they have 14 cars

scattered about in various faculty and student lots on and off campus. Of all the local schools,

UCSD and Zipcar San Diego have the most unique partnership and arrangement; Zipcar pays for

the parking spots and in return UCSD provides $50 gift cards for their faculty, staff and students.

This partnership allows the interested party an easy and cost free way to try our services.

Historically, the greatest challenge with this arrangement has been getting the UCSD users to

actually enter in the gift card codes when signing up. As a result, since those credits don’t get

used, Zipcar receives no payments for them from the school. This would be great if the sitting

money went to Zipcar as a profit, but the school doesn’t reimburse us until the codes are used

and activated. As a result, when I started at Zipcar we had ~$15,000 of unused gift cards and no

plan of how to get them in use. After brainstorming about the best way to approach the

“zipcentives” as we call them, we soon realized that it would be best for them to fill out physical

applications on the spot instead of giving them the gift card code which would allow them to

submit on their own time. We experienced a few challenges with people being hesitant to write

down their credit card information, but overall only lost a few applicants that way. We also

realized that for those potential members that were wary about writing down their credit card

information, we could have them fill out the entire application and only put half of their billing

information. Since having an email address is a requirement for z Zipcar membership, we would

then send them an email once we got back to the office and asked for the remainder of their

billing information. This helped to put the student’s mind at ease and that way they didn’t have

their entire credit card information all in one place. This method of getting the missing

information was also very helpful for students that were not presently carrying their driver’s

license on them. When this happened we would just send them an email the same way we would

for missing or incorrect credit card information. This was far more successful resulting in far

fewer codes not being used.

We also typically bring plinko (think Price Is Right) when we work events at the

Universities and give away prizes. My plan was to bring Plinko and have one of the prizes be a

“zipcentive” which is $50 driving credit. So by bringing plinko and giving away four prizes we

were able to incorporate the zipcentives as a mystery prize. Once students won the mystery prize,

we were able to activate and get our return on those gift cards from UCSD. By working directly

with UCSD staff and students and working welcome week we gained hundreds of applicants as

well as increased our visibility on campus.

While working with UCSD during Welcome Week it was important to simultaneously

focus on SDSU, our second largest San Diego University by usage. SDSU has 9 cars all around

campus and at the apartments were students are living. We are constantly monitoring their usage

to determine if we need to place more cars there and how our sign-ups are affecting the

availability. For all of our cars we like to keep their usage at 30-40%. When we have usage fewer

than 20% that is a sign that we should remove a car, when it is 20-30% things are good but they

can be optimized better. When it is anything above 40% that is an indicator we should be adding

on an additional car so that students and community members can use the cars when they need.

For SDSU, most of our cars are between 25-30%. The plan, similar to UCSD’s, was to continue

to have a consistent presence on campus and to reach out to the student organizations as well as

businesses on campus. Our goal was to be a regular presence on Campanile Walkway throughout

the first month and a half of school by being there at least twice a week. We would work

Wednesday by either setting up a booth with plinko and an actual car, or guerilla marketing.

Bringing a car on campus proved to be helpful in showing the students how the cars actually

work. Zipcar is unlike most car rental companies, because there is no interactions with a teller,

the keys always have to be in the car. With the keys already being inside the car, the driver has to

use their zipcard to get into the car via satellite access. Being able to have a car there and

physically show them how to enter and the noises it should make helped the students grasp the

concept. In addition to being on Campanile on Wednesdays, we would also work the farmers

market on Thursdays; the popular SDSU farmers market brings in a large numbers of students as

well as community members every week.

Aside from physically being on campus for members and potential new members, I also

felt it was very important to reach out to those involved on campus to take advantage of their

social networks. I know that many students are involved in clubs or organizations on campus and

that they most likely have friends outside of these organizations that they would be hanging out

with in their free time. A great way for word of mouth to travel would be to engage with the

organizations and get these base students involved so that they would in response, have the

opportunity to use the cars with friends not previously familiar with Zipcar. I spent much time

contacting and working with SDSU’s club and organization leaders to facilitate visits and talks

with their members and at their events. I was able to go to their meetings and speak with their

members. It was beneficial to go myself instead of asking them to just mention it to their

members. When I would attend their meetings they were able to ask me questions that I could

clear up on the spot.

My final major goal and initiative for San Diego State University was getting the foreign

exchange students involved. At Zipcar, we accept any international license as long as the driver

has had it for at least a year. Fortunately for Zipcar, SDSU is a huge hub for international

students. Reaching out to the International Student Center I learned that they conduct weekly

coffee hours for international as well as local students to socialize. I then suggested that Zipcar

would love to sponsor an event at the International Student Center to educate their members of

our convenient student friendly service. Needless to say, this would be a great opportunity to

gain valuable face to face time with international students. These students would otherwise have

no way of getting a car for their time here unless they were to purchase a car. International

students typically know that to rent a car from a normal car rental agency, the age requirement is

25 and for an extra cost on occasion, 21. When we then share with them that they only have to be

18 for Zipcar, they get very excited since it provides the perfect opportunity for them to drive

and explore the greater San Diego area. Many international students express how grateful they

are that we have this service because it gives them the ability to drive to the grocery store or take

weekend trips up to Los Angeles. This method of marketing proved to be extremely beneficial in

gaining customers at not only SDSU but at the University of California, San Diego as well.

In addition to setting up University marketing events and expansion, I felt it would be

beneficial to research our main competitor, Car 2 Go. I felt that by understanding the ins and outs

of our competitors and how they work it would shed light on how best to market and brand

ourselves. I spent significant time researching the Car 2 Go website as well as interacting with

them at marketing events to glean more about their product, their philosophy and their rules.

Many of Zipcar’s members are also Car 2 Go members, even some of our staff. Our model and

theirs are very similar but also drastically different. From my research, I was able to complete a

SWOT analysis which proved to be quite an eye opener for Zipcar San Diego. It came to my

attention that Car 2 Go is not only a reservation based system for round trip travel, but also a one

way system. This one way system is the real upper hand that Car 2 Go has. Many drivers only

need to take the car one way and do not have to return it back to where they picked it up from,

which is how Zipcar works. Luckily for Zipcar, our “Home Office” is beta testing the one way

system in Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York. Knowing that our market should be

one of the next to get the one way driving has allowed us to share with our current and potential

members that one way is coming their way within a year. I also learned that unfortunately for

Zipcar San Diego, since Car 2 Go had established their presence in San Diego County first, they

are already a more established brand with the adults in the community. Many times when talking

to potential customers when we make initial contact they would ask if “those little blue smart

cars are you guys?” Because Car 2 Go has such a strong presence people tend to think of them

first which is what we are trying to change. A part of the differences between Car 2 Go and

Zipcar is that all of Car 2 Go’s cars are SMART cars. Smart cars are great because they are

entirely electric, but that also creates a challenge for their drivers. Smart cars can only drive up to

about 35MPH and are not used for long distance trips. With Zipcar, all of our cars seat at least 5

people and run either entirely on gas or partially.I also learned, that fortunately for Zicpar, Zipcar

has the larger and stronger presence with the university students. Car 2 Go only has cars located

at SDSU and has yet to reach out to the other universities. This give us a significant upper leg to

reach future San Diego leaders who don’t currently have access to Car 2 Go at their universities

and can spread Zipcar’s brand awareness.

Since working at Zipcar I have taken a look at our number of applications from this year

and compared them to last year. All across the board from August until November, we have

swept last year’s numbers away. The only monthly total that is less than last year is November’s

and that is because I only had access to the numbers from Nobember 1-19 instead of the entire

month. We are only 6 applications behind from all of November 2013 and I don’t see us not

passing last year’s numbers. Overall in the time I have been at Zipcar from August up until now,

we have had 1259 applicants. That same length of time last year, including through the end of

November we had 973 applicants. Based on our numbers I would say that our marketing efforts

and methods this year have been effective in getting us more applicants and gross new members.

I am eager to see what the final numbers come out to be for November and to add that to the

grand total.

Concept Integration and Application

In any business venture, management theories will be involved in every aspect. While

working at Zipcar I have applied many management theories and been able to put my course

material to work. The first management theory that I found I applied most was the 5 C’s of

Marketing. The five C’s are a speedy checklist to run through when developing a strategy for

your marketing efforts.

The first C is customer needs. When planning my events for the universities I asked

myself “Who is our target customer?” and determined that students are the primary target

customer on campuses. By focusing on our target customer, we can think of the best possible

way to market to them in a way that provides them a viable and convenient solution to one of

their transportation challenges. For example, one of our marketing initiatives for the universities

was to pass out top ramen with a brochure about Zipcar as well as a promotional code. By

providing not only free food but that it is Top Ramen, the classic quick meal for the financially

strapped student. This allowed us reach out to students in an entertaining light hearted manner

and clearly communicate to them that we know and understand their financial challenges of

being a student.

The second C we must consider is our company skills. This is where we take into

consideration how we can meet our customer’s needs. As I mentioned above, students typically

don’t have extra money to spend on things that aren’t necessities. A good amount of students

don’t have cars on campus, especially the first years, and as a company, we can provide them

with wheels when they need them for a low cost. We do our best, as a company, to keep the cost

as low as we can for students. We have partnered with Ford so that when students drive a Ford

they get an even lower hourly and daily rate than any of our other cars. We really want all of the

students to know that as a company, students are a huge portion of our users and so we aim to

please them.

The third C is for keeping our attention on our competition. We need to know who our

competition is and what they offer so we can always focus on making us more relevant and

valuable to the customer. This is where doing the SWOT analysis and researching Car 2 Go

came into play. It was extremely beneficial to learn that Car 2 Go is only on the SDSU campus

and that there was an opportunity for us to gain a large presence on the other San Diego

campuses. Knowing that Car 2 Go is available at SDSU also pushed us harder to reach out to the

students and differentiate ourselves. We needed to make sure potential customers were aware of

our brand so that if they ever needed a car, they would know to turn to us instead of Car 2 Go.

We keep our competition in mind when we are marketing so we know which aspects of Zipcar

we should highlight most. For example, many drivers want to be able to run to the grocery store

with four of their friends so that they can all split the cost of the car. With Car 2 Go, their

vehicles only seat 2 people so as a student looking to save money, it is much more cost effective

to take a Zipcar which will seat 5 instead of a Car 2 Go that only seats two.

The 4th C is collaborators; we need to partner with and reach out to those that we know

can bring us customers. For example, I work for the Oggis on campus and as a result used my

connections to collaborate mutually beneficial marketing efforts with Oggis and Zipcar. I have

reached out to Oggis on behalf of Zipcar about partnering in one of our marketing and customer

satisfaction methods. Using partners that can be mutually beneficial is a great way to collaborate

both companies’ resources towards the same goal, getting and retaining customers.

The last C in the 5 C’s of Marketing is Context. It is extremely important to make sure

we are approaching our customers in the right context. When planning a marketing strategy we

should do a PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) analysis to be sure we aren’t

overstepping any boundaries and are marketing in the correct context based on the region we are

located in. This was applied to the marketing methods for Zipcar San Diego’s university

marketing by remembering that when we market at USD, we must keep in mind they are a

private, Catholic university. Just like any other marketing event, we need to be respectful of their

beliefs in the ways we conduct ourselves and appear in relation to where we are at. The 5th C has

a broad range of meaning depending on where you are marketing and that is why it is of the

upmost importance that we do not take this step lightly.

I think that the 5 C’s of Marketing are extremely important and that it was one of the

better theories I used and put into practice. I would recommend Zipcar continue to use this

theory since we have such a broad range of customers and events. Paying close attention to the 5

C’s allows the marketer to cover all of the bases. It is the best way to make sure nothing is being

forgotten and to address questions that might have otherwise been overlooked.

The next management theory I found we frequently put to use was performance

management. Performance management is a key part of business. Performance management is

used to monitor the company’s performance by taking into consideration the methodologies,

metric, processes and systems that are in place. Performance management helps break down the

numbers into an easier to follow explanation of what they mean. In business, it’s important to

constantly evaluate the methods and strategies being used and their effectiveness.

At our Zipcar branch, we had monthly staff meetings where we would go over the

month’s statistics and goals as well as the upcoming month’s goals and updates from the team.

These meetings were valuable because they allowed us to take a moment to step back and reflect

on our performance for the month. We would look at our actual numbers in comparison to the

planned numbers for the car utilization, revenue, applications, and gross new members.

Depending on if we hit our goals or fell short we would have to re-evaluate our methods. From

this information we took advantage of internal communication about our strategy by having an

open discussion about what we were doing that we felt was working or not working and how to

tweak it. We would then look at the resources we have and compare how we had been using

them to potential new uses, while determining the long-term and short-term trade-offs of

changing our methods. The performance management enabled us to see the numbers in a

transparent manner and therefore we could respond in a way we agreed best fit.

Over the few months that I was at Zipcar, these meetings and performance management

reviews led us to change our strategy a few times. We were able to see that in the beginning of

the year at SDSU’s farmers market was a great place to set up. But as the semester progressed

with midterms and the lull of the middle of the semester, the farmers market has not been as

much of a success as we had hoped. It is important to review our numbers to see how there are

trends in which events work best and when they do. It doesn’t make sense for us to send two

people to work the farmers market if they come back to the office after 5 hours with no sign ups.

The more students are stressed with school, the less likely they are to stop at a Zipcar booth that

takes up valuable study or work time in their day. Now that we know the farmers market is not a

huge hit for Zipcar, we are reevaluating what we should try next. We know that it isn’t cost

efficient to be sending employees on Thursdays at SDSU so now we are using our resources for

other projects and markets. By using performance management, the company should be able to

effectively look at their numbers and goals and see if they are on track. Our monthly Zipcar San

Diego meeting accomplished this and has saved us valuable resources.

Project management is such a necessary procedure in all business that if a company isn’t

checking in on themselves they are asking for disaster. I think that the Zipcar San Diego office

would benefit from making the meetings every other week instead of just the monthly meeting. It

would allow us to respond to our results in a timelier manner and save us even more resources. If

we are not able to do multiple meetings a month then management should at least send out the

numbers on a weekly or semiweekly basis.

The last management theory I think Zipcar San Diego put into practice while I was there

was Concentrated Marketing, “Concentrated Marketing is a market coverage and market

segmentation strategy in which the product and marketing message is aimed at a (few) well-

defined segments of the consumer population in a market”. ( Concentrated marketing is

essentially what my project was since I was in charge of the collegiate market segment. Our

office’s three main segments of the consumer population were: 1. Collegiate (ZipcarU) 2. Zipcar

for Business (Z4B) and 3. Military Personnel. These three segments were our main focus and

were typically the ones who got a discount or promotional deal. Each of the segments was

headed by a different employee so that we could all focus directly on our own market and plan

our events. This allowed us to go into deeper and more advanced planning for each of the

segments. We were also able to bounce ideas off of eachother and get a fresh perspective as to

how they are approaching a different segment.

In my time working on this project, I was in charge of organizing and planning the whole

collegiate segment of our marketing, given goals for events as well as a budget to adhere to.

Being responsible and focused on just the university segment allowed me to zone in on one type

of customer and a more specified method of marketing. Being a student myself was also a huge

advantage for Zipcar San Diego. Having a student plan the marketing events for students gave us

a firsthand opinion and advice on how to go about things. I know from my own personal

experiences that students hate when they are bombarded with people hanging out flyers by the

footbridge. When I was planning our events I would take experiences like that into consideration.

We did not want to give off the feeling of being attacked by us while students are walking to and

from class. Instead we wanted to have an open table where students would not feel obligated to

talk to us and could come out of their own natural interest. When we would set up, we always

make sure to have our chalk board that has the student deal on it. So at San Diego State students

get to sign up in person for only $25 and in return we will put $35 driving credit into their

accounts. With this we were essentially paying for the student’s first year and to test out the

driving for an hour. We also always bring SWAG when we go to the campuses because most

students love to receive free gifts. We would often times let people play Plinko regardless of if

they are a member or not and they can still win a free prize. This is beneficial because then they

have a positive experience associated with Zipcar and are also promoting our brand by using our

pens or bags.

It is important to break up into concentrated marketing because it allows for a better and

more specific marketing plan. For Zipcar San Diego we do what we call “Surprise and Delights”

where we leave goodies in the car for an unsuspecting customer. Breaking our market into three

segments allowed my “surprise and delights” to be targeted directly to students’ wants and

needs. It would have been illogical for us to put a Target Fun Box (the surprise and delight for

university cars) in a Business account car. The customers are of completely different

demographics and as a result of concentrated marketing; we are able to market much more

efficiently. Concentrated marketing makes a huge difference in the customer’s satisfaction and

the ultimate end goal is to make the customer happy. I think Zipcar does a great job taking on

the concentrated marketing and should continue the way it is being done.

Personal Reflection

Throughout my time at Zipcar I feel my outlook on management and marketing has

changed. Being the person in charge of thinking of the marketing methods we will be using and

then carrying them out has been eye opening. Being an office that was not the headquarters

opened my eyes to how difficult it is to market on a regional level. I had come up with contests

and ideas for marketing via Instagram and Facebook but since we were a regional office we were

unable to create our own social media accounts. I hadn’t given much thought about if we would

be allowed to have our own social media accounts because I have never before worked for an

international company; going through the difficulties of interactive web and mobile marketing

was very challenging. Because of these extra challenges, the projects and competitions I was

initially planning on having the students do were not as effective and it was nearly impossible to

measure the team’s results. If I were to try to plan competitions again I would have to find a

better way to track each organization’s usage and sign ups.

I had previously thought I had a grasp on the organization that it would require to put on

events, but I still managed to underestimate it. When I began to plan for UCSD’s Welcome

Week, we ran into challenges with not having contacted them early enough and were unable to

do certain events such as the International Fair because of the lack of preparation. Not only did

that create difficulty with our initial plan, organization played a key role in keeping us on track.

We needed to stay organized to make sure we were going to UCSD and SDSU evenly as well as

for said events.

Unfortunately, USD and PLNU were not very accommodating schools so to organize

events there was nearly impossible. As difficult as those schools were, it was beneficial learning

how to work with a partner who is not nearly as accommodating as you need. When we wanted

to plan anything at USD, it was required we go through one coordinator. Our contact at USD was

very unhelpful and inaccessible, making marketing at USD nearly impossible. If we wanted to

even reach out to the organizations, it still had to be through said coordinator. After speaking

with our various contacts, I came to the conclusion that being the contact marketer between

Zipcar and the San Diego Universities was a great learning experience. It helped me become

more direct and confident in myself while speaking to someone in charge.

I also had the experience of training a new Zipcar hire while I was there and that was

more or less my first role in a management position. I enjoyed being able to teach and show him

how our office works as well as shape his Zipcar experience. Training him was also the first time

I had ever felt like a new hire didn’t click with my personality. I felt like when I was training him

he felt as if he already had all the answers and instead would tell me how to do my job. Working

with a personality like that was something I found very challenging as I was the higher up of the

two of us. I had to quickly adapt and relearn how to speak with him.

I also learned a lot from watching how my manager engaged with the rest of our

employees in our office. She was great about verbalizing what she thought we needed to work on

and delegating what she needed us to do. I admired my boss for being able to delegate projects

and assignments to us since she has the personality type where she would rather do it herself. I

would recommend that she work on her delivery though. I know that majority of the employees

in the office did not respect her as much as she should have because of the way she would speak

to us. A good amount of the time her delivery came off as rude and condescending and as a

result, it was very difficult to work with her. We had an employee quit because of that very

reason. It seems unnecessary to say things in a condescending way and watching her made me

realize how much more everyone would respect her if she kept her attitude more positive.

She also shared a lot of her personal life with us while we were in the office, which is

fine in most situations. It became a problem though when she would talk for twenty minutes

about her fiancé or her landlord. It was unprofessional to hear her bash on her landlord and it

interrupted our productivity during the day.

Despite her downsides, she was still a great manager. She also had us take a personality

test and send her our results. During our next office meeting we went over what each of the

categories meant (they were colors) and she told us who fell into each. Once we knew what

category each of us fell into she read off descriptions of how we should approach each different

personality type in the work force. Taking this test and learning about how to work with different

types of personalities helped each of us know how to approach one another while working and

how to best communicate. I really enjoyed that she shared with us how to best communicate with

different types of workers because while I have experienced most, there was and always is more

to learn as you encounter new personalities and people.

I did not expect to learn that I enjoyed helping out with the fleet work as much as I did.

On occasion, Amir (our fleet manager) would need help with taking the cars in for work or

cleaning and would ask for my assistance. I enjoyed the freedom it brought from getting to take a

break from behind the desk where I spent a good portion of time. Since Zipcar was bought by

Avis Budget Group, Zipcar and Avis have been working on car-pooling. This is a system where

we will pull cars from the San Diego Airport Avis lot to put in certain locations when we know

the Zipcars are in high demand. Watching Amir take on his project with pooling made me realize

I would enjoy being a manager on a project like that. A project that is challenging and requires a

lot of planning but is tremendously rewarding when finally completed.

My time at Zipcar has been very fulfilling and has taught me a lot. I think taking on as

much responsibility as I did was scary, but also really helped push me in a direction I needed.

This internship has helped me develop the most out of any I have ever done in the past and I look

forward to continue to learn and grow.

Conclusion

Overall I feel that taking on the collegiate marketing expansion role was an extremely

beneficial experience. It was the first real project in which I have had pretty much full control

over everything and had the weight lay on my shoulders. I came to realize that being on campus

and interacting with students face to face was the best way to get them to sign up and use our

product. It was not only beneficial for gaining sign ups but also for spreading our brand

awareness. We found that many people either had no idea who we were or had a

misunderstanding about who we are. Many times I had people think that Zipcar is a taxi-like

service such as Uber or Lyft. These misconstructions of what Zipcar’s use is are the reason

people either sign up or don’t sign up. Many times after we were to clarify what we actually did,

people would get excited and love the idea. This misinterpretation made me realize how

important it is to have a clear brand message.

Relying on just print advertising on the university campuses was also something we

realized was not the most effective. After having tried the method of hanging flyers and leaving

brochures we resulted in hardly any sign up in comparison to the face-to-face method. It is also

important to note, when students would sign up online and not interact with us, they were much

more likely to misunderstand the rules and therefore break them and get charged. It is much

more effective for us to send our employees out to the field to answer any questions our users

might have regarding our rules and fines.

Lastly, I think my time at Zipcar has been the most valuable interning experience I have

had yet. With it being my first real project I feel like I grew a lot and understand what my day to

day life post-graduation could potentially be like. I enjoyed getting to see my schooling be put

into use first-hand instead of just reading and learning about it. Learning about the different

management theories during my time at university was necessary, but putting it to use for a real

company with real consequences puts the pressure on, in the best way possible.

References:

5 C's of Marketing Strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from

http://www.12manage.com/description_5_cs_marketing_strategy.html

Concentrated Marketing. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from

http://www.12manage.com/description_concentrated_marketing.html

Corporate Performance Management. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2014, from

http://www.12manage.com/methods_performance_management.html

Market Expansion Plan for UCSD

We are targeting the incoming freshman and transfer students who do not have cars on campus as well

as any other students without cars.

Events worth tabling at:

Saturday Sept 27:

o UCSD move in for freshmen and transfers. We should table in front of the bookstore

since there are 6 different residence halls. We should bring plinko and give away water

bottles, 3 free hours in a mini, free membership with the “zipcentives” and a mystery

prize which can be a Frisbee. This is the day that we should announce we are having a

competition between the residence halls and the residence hall with the most car usage

by Halloween will win a Halloween pizza party. When they sign up, we can write which

residence hall they live in on the paper and I can keep track of it.

Sunday Sept 28:

o The bookstore is hosting a new student welcome party (10:00AM – 5:00PM) where they

will be giving away prizes. This is a continuation from the 27th. They begin the “welcome

party” at 10:00AM so we should try to be on campus by 9:30. Again, we should be using

the same methods as the day before.

Monday September 29:

o UCSD has their Student Services Fair beginning at 12:00PM. If we are allowed to table,

we should table. If not, we should gorilla market to all the students who are at the fair.

We can bring applications with us as well as flyers. At this time we can explain the dorm

competition.

Tuesday September 30:

o UCSD has a farmers’ Market every Tuesday from 10:00AM – 2:00PM. We should table

each Tuesday and have a consistent presence on campus. For this first Tuesday we

should table at the “Find Your Niche” since we plan to be in attendance at the Farmer’s

Market for the remainder of the semester.

o At 11:30AM they are having a find your niche fair. At the fair the various clubs and

organizations on campus will be there so we should table this event since most of the

new students will be interested.

o UCSD’s welcome convocation and dinner begins at 5:00PM that evening which the new

student body typically attends. We should gorilla around the dorms around 3:00 since

that should be enough time before they all leave but early enough that they are on their

way back from the fair and farmers’ market.

Wednesday October 1

o All of the residence halls participate in the “All College Olympics” and have been training

for it since move in. Since there has been such hype for this event I think we should

table outside of the event, there should be a lot of new students.

Thursday October 2

o All Campus transfer social is from 3:00-5:00PM. We should table this event

o Following the transfer social we should move over to the AS Chill & Grill which gors from

6:00-8:00pm

Friday October 3

o First Friday at Price Center begins at 11:00AM

They give away food and prizes

We should table this event since many students come for free food

Saturday October 4

o Meet the Beach begins at 11:00AM at Scripps Beach. This event is very popular every

year. I know Rockstar had flags there at the last event so I assume they allow sponsors

and will hopefully let us table. If we can’t table we should gorilla and push the fact that

they had to take a bus to get to the beach.

After October 4th the events on campus seem to slow down. We should keep a consistent presence on

campus by attending the weekly farmers market and tabling. The week of the 20th we should table in

front of the various dorms to remind them about the competition for the pizza party. Throughout all

these events we will also be passing out our “zipcentives” and explaining to students how they work. We

will also try to sign them up on the spot so that we know the gift cards will be logged in and used.

Once we are finished with the welcome week activities it will be time to move on to the Greek

organizations and various clubs on campus. Typically the sororities have weekly meetings on Monday

nights and fraternities on Sundays. I will get in contact with the various sorority presidents and explain

who we are. If allowed, we will do walkarounds to the sororities and fraternities to get them to sign up.

To get them motivated to sign up and use the Zipcars, we will put the Greeks in a competition of which

house can use the cars most and whichever fraternity/sorority has the most sign-ups/usage will win

either a pizza party dinner or the equivalent amount of money donated to their charity of choice. The

same competition will be applied to the various clubs and organizations that are on campus. On Friday

9/19 I will contact the various organization leaders on campus to find out when they meet and when we

can stop by.

University Market Expansion Plan:

Create a San Diego Zipcar Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to post to the students and

encourage them to follow us.

o Twitter and Instagram competition to try to get #UCSDZipcar #SDSUZipcar

#USDZipcar and #PLNUZipcar to be used with pictures of the students in cars to

win a free Zip Trip or driving credit

Make a contest and put the different dorms against each other

o Give the winning team driving credit and a pizza party!

Continue to have a strong presence on campus

o Bring Plinko and give away prizes including driving credit, shopping bags,

Frisbees, and phone wallets.

o Try to attend at least once a week so that if students have questions they know we

are reliable and will be on campus

o Farmers Market

Reach out to various organizations and clubs on campus

o Greek Life

Put the Greeks in a competition similar to that of the students in the

dorms.

o Student Organizations

Do walk-arounds and give them an incentive to sign up with us and drive!

University Market Expansion Updated Plan:

Twitter and Instagram competition to try to get #UCSDZipcar #SDSUZipcar

#USDZipcar and #PLNUZipcar to be used with pictures of the students in cars to win a

free Zip Trip or driving credit

o Unable to post on behalf of Zicpar on Instagram

Still encourage them to hashtag when we have face to face contact

Create a San Diego Zipcar twitter, Instagram and Facebook to post to the students and

encourage them to follow us

o Since we can’t have local accounts, encourage them to follow our national Zipcar

social media accounts

Make a contest and put the different dorms against each other

o Possibly break it down even further to the various floors against each other for

who has the most sign ups and usage.

o Give the winning team driving credit and a pizza party!

Continue to have a strong presence on campus

o Extremely helpful to have a car on campus with the tabling!

o Bring Plinko and give away prizes including driving credit, shopping bags,

Frisbees, and phone wallets.

o Try to attend at least once a week so that if students have questions they know we

are reliable and will be on campus

o For tabling, be on the main walkway and know that there will be a steady flow of

traffic when people are going to and from class.

o Farmers Market

On Tuesdays at UCSD and Thursdays at SDSU

o Orientation

o For SDSU – table before we know there is a basketball game and try to speak

with them on the way to their games

Reach out to various organizations and clubs on campus

o Greek Life

Put the Greeks in a competition similar to that of the students in the

dorms.

Greek houses are typically very competitive and philanthropic;

putting them in a competition to see who gets the most sign ups

and usage would result in them winning a $100 donation to their

philanthropy.

o Student Organizations

Do walk-arounds and give them an incentive to sign up with us and drive!

Bring our flyers and cater our marketing efforts to said

organization. .

Leave surprise and delights in the cars for students

o Try to leave nice notes as well

o Try to leave surprise and delights when we know students have finals and

midterms as an extra “good-luck” from Zipcar!

Contact the Fluent representatives and coordinate on campus events with them as well as

get their updated plans so we do not overlap.