Hi all,
A cool new competition is being brought to Marshall this year courtesy of United Talent Agency and Pawn Stars. The talent behind Pawn Stars are looking to completely re-vamp and reposition their digital profile, and they are looking to this competition for help. There is no application, and it is open to all MBAs. Form your team of 3-4 MBAs, do work, and submit your deck by Wednesday, April 2, at 8:00 am. More details are below.
Gavin Johnson
Lead Coach
Marshall Case Competition Program
Gavin.Johnson.2014@marshall.usc.edu
This is a new challenge this year sponsored by UTA/Pawn Stars that focuses on the media & entertainment industry. The talent behind Pawn Stars (PS) are looking to completely re-vamp and reposition their digital profile, and they are looking to this competition for help.
The Background: The talent behind Pawn Stars (PS) are looking to completely re-vamp and reposition their digital profile. PS is looking to rethink their website and consider a mobile product that would extend their presence, their business and open new channels of commerce. As it stands today, the TV show and the website lack a uniform and complimentary experience. Beyond the behemoths of eBay and EZCorp’s of the world there is a sharp drop off to a well-recognized web property that has a credible voice in this business. There is an opportunity to harness the power of PS’s TV exposure, their social media followings and their brand name to develop a robust business platform within the “pricing/buying of collectibles” market. PS is the #1 ranked show on the History Channel and is currently in its 5th season.
The Mission: Pawn Stars is looking to develop a multi-platform commerce experience. The experience of pawning and selling happens every day. Customers are looking to get items valued, pawned for short-term loans or sold. Pawn Stars is creating a new online and mobile experience that allows consumers to come to them buy/sell/pawn collectible items. We will be building a new website, licensing key eBay API’s to allow us to get values on products and potentially use eBay’s commerce engine to transact.
The Business of Pawning: The TV show highlights a very profitable business. Customers are looking to take items they own and receive a short-term loan against the estimated resale value of the product. The monthly % of interest is standardized and pawn shops adhere to a 90 day loan cycle. Each month, the customer pays this interest fee (approx. 15-20% per month) until the loan is returned. If the loan is not retuned, the item becomes property of the pawn shop and is sold (with all proceeds going to pawn store who issued loan).
The Challenge:
1. We are looking for new revenue sources for this newly conceived digital venture.
2. We want to take the Pawn Stars name, reputation and market credibility to develop a profitable digital business.
3. We are looking to extract the most value out of traditional affiliate’s fees and partnership dollars to give the most value to Pawn Stars. Affiliate fees and transaction %s? An appraisal product to evaluate the potential market value of an item? Localized pawn drop off /payment centers? What else?
The Challenges: Those individuals looking to obtain money for a product are looking to do so quickly. From a digital perspective, how do we marry the need for immediate cash loan with a digital ecosystem that typically functions in a FED EX/UPS environment (meaning days)? How do we marry local pawn shops and nationwide pawns shops with this new digital venture as “local affiliates?” The TV show has made huge strides in converting the business of pawning from predatory or lowbrow to an exciting business of collectible sales and treasure hunting.
Considerations: What OFFLINE commerce experiences should we weave into this new ONLINE E-COMMERCE experience? What are the business products that PS should focus on that offer the greatest reward? What aspect of the Sell/Pawn experience can be best monetized and scaled? How do state and federal laws apply to the pawn business? Similar to contests or sweepstakes, are there states that need to be removed from our business operation? Are there states that would be easier to conduct online “sell/pawn” businesses than others?
Deliverable/Submission: Submission should include: market analysis of the space, insights on key players and up and comers in the space, innovative and implementable solutions for commerce, “landmines” in the space, commerce products to include in the PS digital experience and 3 forecast model.
Prizes
First Prize: $1,000 in cash and a VIP event with the cast/talent of Pawn Stars
Eligibility
- Open to all MBA students.
- Teams of 3-4.
- First round is a deck submission due by Wednesday, April 2, at 8:00 am. The top two teams are selected to move on to the second round.
- Second round will be a presentation at UTA (tentative) on April 8, 9, or 10 (date being finalized)
To Apply
No application is necessary!
Submit your teams deck and resumes through the Applications tab on the MCCP site or directly at http://cglink.me/s4507 by Wednesday, April 2, at 8:00 am.