
Strategy experts from UPS, a $91 billion company with more than 500,000 employees, recently asked BBA students in Goizueta’s Business Communications “BComm” 365 course to craft a global communication strategy that encouraged customers to use UPS self-service options.
Designed to introduce Goizueta BBA students to the skills necessary to prepare and deliver effective client presentations, Bcomm 365 culminates in a professional communication strategy case competition. During the month-long competition, students put their new-found communication skills to the test as they work with a company—in this case, UPS—to address a real business challenge.
In late October, UPS representatives explained its project to 18 student teams. UPS’s ask: create a strategy that increases use of UPS self-service options from 70 percent to 80 percent. UPS allotted the teams a hypothetical budget of $900,000 to come up with their strategies. “UPS presented a real challenge for our students through this highly ambiguous and open-ended problem,” noted Steve Savage 21EvMBA, assistant professor in the practice of Organization & Management.

Three weeks after the initial meeting, the teams presented their plans to their Bcomm professors—Savage, Molly Epstein, professor in the practice of Organization & Management, and Nikki Graves, associate professor in the practice of Organization & Management. Following those presentations, each professor selected two student teams to present their strategies to the UPS team.
“All six of the teams who presented to UPS executives exceeded our rigorous expectations,” said Graves. Those teams were Team Charlie, Unstoppable Problem Solvers, Beyond Boxes, Sammy’s Team, Savage Consultancy and Tobinators.
“As a Goizueta alum, it is great to see the continued excellence that these students bring to the challenges put before them with their creativity, executive presence, and rigor of their final presentations,” UPS Experience Strategy Senior Manager, Neal Marshall 21MBA wrote in an email.
Charlie the Chatbot Takes First Place
During initial brain-storming meetings, the members of Team Charlie, Erin Koo 27BBA, Ishaan Attal 27BBA, Ashmit Dua 27BBA, Jezmin Chavarria 27BBA, Kaitlyn Furbay 27BBA, Ellis Whiteson 27BBA, and Zhuyue “Julie” Jiang 26BBA, decided the best strategy would be one that cut costs versus one that would increase revenue. Research done by Team Charlie indicated that customer service calls cost UPS $20 million a year. But when the students went through the UPS My Choice app, they encountered a less-than-optimal user experience. “We realized that creating a super-functional and convenient app would be a key strategy and really effective in pushing consumers to utilize self-service,” noted Ellis.
Team Charlie’s winning idea was anchored in what Graves called “an interdisciplinary approach:” the creation of Charlie—an AI chatbot that would guide users through the UPS’s My Choice self-service platform as well as the creation of a rewards campaign encouraging users to download the app.
While Team Charlie was not the only team to suggest a chatbot, Team Charlie did have an advantage—Chavarria, who Furbay described as “a pro at graphic design.” Chavarria was able to utilize her graphic design and coding skills to create a workable mockup of Charlie. “That was probably one of the things that put us over the edge,” said Attal. “Showing them what a prototype could look like.”
During their presentation, Team Charlie incorporated a slide demonstrating how the chatbot would respond to voice commands. The task was assigned to Dua. Getting the mockup to work “was an amazing feeling,” Dua said. “Seeing everyone—our professors, the UPS reps—in the room smile when we did that slide, it was honestly surreal.”

Ellis called the team’s focus on Charlie’s implementation rather than a typical communications campaign “a very calculated risk.” Attal added that the team decided it wasn’t “a productive use of our time” to go into detail when they defined demographic groups. “We [decided] to say, ‘We’re targeting Millennials.’ We thought [the UPS executives] knew what a Millennial was,” he said.
Team Charlie recognized that other teams would have similar ideas and that they needed to do something to stand out. “We were competing with a ton of smart business school students who were going to come up with great ideas,” Furbay explained. She added that the team’s dynamics led to constructive conversations. “None of us were afraid to speak up when there was a mistake or provide each other with constructive criticism,” Furbay added.
“As someone who is working on UPS chatbot technology, Team Charlie did their research and highlighted current trends, cutting edge technologies, and packaged their insights for their UPS clients superbly,” said John Mccauley 21MBA, UPS Experience Strategy Senior Manager.
Team Charlie’s second recommendation called for the integration of a rewards program. Customers would earn points for downloading the UPS MyService app, for interacting with Charlie to address quick fix issues, and for completing short surveys. Team Charlie also recommended that UPS establish a “quid pro quo” campaign with some of the corporation’s most visible partners, including integrating Charlie into its partner’s branding.
“We were so impressed with all the teams and especially with Team Charlie,” said Kelsey Lindsey, UPS Experience Strategy Senior Manager. “It was clear they understood our customer pain points and their ‘Charlie’ AI chatbot solution effectively demonstrated how it could assist customers digitally while improving the user experience.”
Team Unstoppable Problem Solvers also chose to tackle UPS’s digital experience, recommending a reorganization of the existing UPS app as well as clarification on how to access the app’s self-service options. The team—Sara Larson 26BBA, Ashima Girdhar 26BBA, Oliver Hutchison 26BBA, Abel Zurita 26BBA and Sean Baik 27BBA—also suggested UPS engage with micro-influencers to extend the company’s existing “Be Unstoppable” campaign, which was created to empower diverse-owned small businesses and help them recover from the global pandemic.

“This team was special. Driven, dedicated, and highly communicative with each other— in both the easy and more difficult conversations,” said Savage. “The depth of research they performed and the level of integration they brought from their other majors at Emory (including psychology), added that extra layer to their deliverable in the most compelling way. I couldn’t be prouder of what they achieved this semester.”
UPS’s McCauley was impressed with all the finalists’ presentation skills. “Generous eye contact, appropriate hand gestures, confident tone, excellent pacing, and overall professional demeanor way beyond an early career level,” he said.
Alumni Judges Passing the Torch
Of the UPS executives that served as case competition judges, two—McCauley and Marshall—were alumni. “Our alumni see these opportunities as vehicles for repaying the support they received when they were students,” Savage said. “That fosters the attitude in our current students to do the same one day. It’s a real hallmark of the enduring community and support that our school is known for.”

Real Solutions for Real World Problems
Graves described experiential learning as “the backbone of Bcomm 365.”
“Working with a corporate client on a live business problem equips students with critical thinking, teamwork, and presentation skills essential for success in the workplace,” said Graves. “Students thrive on the real-world challenges that the case competition provides, and our clients benefit from the innovative recommendations that our students provide.”
Going through the class often causes students to adjust their thinking. “At first, I wasn’t sure how much I could gain from the class, but it completely shifted my perspective—even inspiring me to become one of Graves’ teaching assistants this [spring] semester,” said Dua. “The class stood out from all my others because it focused on real-world application rather than just theoretical concepts.”
Taught during the first year of the BBA program, Bcomm 365 is often a BBA student’s first foray into experiential learning. In their final year, BBA students are required to enroll in an immersive project-based elective where they address and analyze a real-world organizational or societal need.
Goizueta’s undergraduate business program empowers student to make significant positive contributions to the organizations they serve and to society as a whole. Learn more about pursuing a BBA at Goizueta.