Students conduct marketing research to help local company, 141 Eyewear, launch new line of glasses
(-- The Beacon)
By Rose Hoonan Staff Writer hoonan15@up.edu
UP's Marketing Group (UPMG), a student-run organization that provides opportunities to work with local businesses, is helping 141 Eyewear launch a new line of glasses aimed at college students.
141 Eyewear, which began in Portland, donates a pair of glasses to a person in need with every eyeglass purchase.
UPMG will conduct marketing research to help 141 Eyewear promote its new line.
"We are researching how to successfully advertise the line," senior and UPMG co-founder Laura Graef said.
The prospect of working with 141 Eyewear began with senior Armine Kalan.
"I had an internship with 141 Eyewear, and I talked to (the owner) about having UPMG volunteer to help with marketing research," Kalan said. "I am sort of like the liaison between the two."
According to Kalan, providing UPMG the opportunity to coordinate with 141 Eyewear was a winning situation.
"We want experience and to gain connections, and 141 is a great local company," Kalan said. "Plus, our volunteer work benefits them."
The group will distribute surveys to students, asking where they look for glasses, what they look for when shopping for eyewear and how they feel about buying glasses online.
"There's much more to formatting questions," Graef said. "You have to make sure they are unbiased."
UPMG will survey college students in the Portland area who wear glasses.
"We are still in the planning stages of the survey … we will be surveying probably within the next month," Kalan said. "We are going to present the results of all our research to the 141 co-founders sometime in February."
141 Eyewear is launching a new line of glasses designed for college students this March.
"Working with students is a great resource because they provide consumer insight," said Kyle Yamaguchi, who founded 141 Eyewear with his wife Shu-Chu Wu. "We still think we are in it, but we're not. These kids give us better perspectives."
Within two years of founding the company, their products spread to around 70 retailers across the country.
"I always wanted to own a company, and Shu-Chu was in the optical industry," Yamaguchi said. "After throwing around ideas for awhile, we came up with 141 Eyewear. We wanted the company to have meaning and to help others."
UP's Marketing Group aims to offer students real world experience, Graef said.
"We hope to have a stronger presence and work with other clubs," Graef said. "We have many other places to go."
A few weeks ago, 141 Eyewear distributed glasses to children at Peninsula Elementary School in North Portland. As a part of her internship, Kalan volunteered during the event.
"141 partnered with One Sight to conduct eye exams on a bus," Kalan said. One Sight is an organization that provides free eye care through temporary optical clinics and vision vans.
With the help of volunteer optometrists, the children were diagnosed and got to pick out their glasses immediately.
"It was really fun watching the kids choose out their glasses, and they looked so cute with them on!" Kalan said.
