EOSERA
The eosera® Foundation has awarded a $5,000 scholarship to a team of TCU students whose creative marketing campaign earned top honors in a semester-long project designed in partnership with the company, the foundation announced Thursday.
The collaboration took place within a marketing course led by Dr. Jennifer D’Angelo, assistant professor of marketing in the TCU Neeley School of Business.
Throughout the semester, students conducted market research and created campaign concepts promoting eosera® EAR WAX MD®, an ear wax–dissolving drop. Their final presentations were delivered to eosera® CEO Elyse Stoltz Dickerson and members of the company’s marketing team.
Of the six student groups, the team known as NextGen Media received the highest score for its creative approach. The winning team included Audrey Edwards, Grace Gasvoda, Izzy Dimitroff, Kate Williams, and Kenia Zetino.
"We loved how these students really put on their creative thinking caps and dove into a topic not many people think about — ear wax," Stoltz Dickerson said in a statement.
The eosera® Foundation supports students and entrepreneurs through scholarships and seed funding provided by the eosera® Foundation Pitch Competition. A portion of every eosera® sale contributes to the foundation’s mission.
NextGen Media’s campaign focused on normalizing ear cleaning as part of everyday self-care. Their work included man-on-the-street social media videos, a get-ready-with-me TikTok concept, and ideas for a podcast and interactive blog.
D’Angelo said the hands-on project offered valuable real-world experience. "The students really appreciated the chance to work with a real brand to apply what they learned in the classroom," she said. "They mentioned it's been fun working in a product domain many were unfamiliar with at the beginning of the semester. It's also been a great opportunity to get to pitch to eosera® and receive feedback from the brand's leadership."
This year marked the launch of the eosera® Foundation Ryan Headlee Scholarship program, named for the CVS category manager who first noticed eosera® when the company pitched EAR WAX MD® in 2017.
"We loved what they came up with, and we're actually planning to implement some of their ideas in the coming months,” Stoltz Dickerson said. “Such a talented group of students.”