BrandSpark: The Youth Marketing Challenge
6 – 8
April 2026
Business & Entrepreneurship
21 Days
About Project
BrandSpark challenges students in grades 6–8 to conceptualize, design, and pitch a marketing plan for a product or service of their choice. The product or service would be a small-medium size business in their local region, they have access to and doesn’t have a significant branding presence.. Students step into the shoes of a real-world advertising team, brainstorming ideas, identifying their audience, crafting messages, and presenting their campaign with confidence. This project connects creativity with critical thinking, giving students a hands-on introduction to how the media and marketing world works around them every day.
Expert Profile
Joseph Richards joined the marketing faculty at CSUS in 2001. He holds a doctorate in Marketing with further specialization in Econometrics. He is an active researcher in the fields of Internet related aspects of consumer behavior, marketing strategy, marketing analytics, and statistical and quantitative marketing models. Recent research and focus is in big data analytics. His publications have appeared in many leading journals such as the Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, Marketing Management Journal, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, and Journal of Hospital Marketing and Public Relations. In 2005, he received the best marketing research conference paper award from the American Marketing Association. Academic credentials include a Ph.D. from Syracuse University (2002), Post Graduate Diploma from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (1993), and B.Tech. (Hons.) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (1988). Worked in industry for many years before joining academia in 2001 with wide ranging experience in engineering, operations, marketing, and project management.
