Internet marketing game intended to build producer skills

MSU News Services

 1/23/2002

BOZEMAN – There's a new commodity game in town. The internet-based game is aimed at making Montana producers better marketers.

"The game is free to anyone with Internet access," says Alex Offerdahl, program coordinator for Montana MarketManager. MarketManager is a program of both the Montana Stockgrowers and Montana Grain Growers associations. He adds that the game "lets participants get market experience without exposing themselves to any real risk."

The Montana MarketManager's Commodity Challenge is an on-line marketing simulation developed jointly by Kevin McNew, Montana State University's Extension marketing specialist and MarketManager staff.

 "The simulation is designed to give marketing clubs and individuals an opportunity to test their marketing skills under real market conditions," says McNew. Participants must sign up by Jan. 31 and will compete between Feb. 4 and the end of March. The goal is to maximize "profits" and better understand the available risk management tools. Students in an MSU marketing class also will use the game as a learning tool.

Players register and play the game at www.commoditychallenge.com. User identifications chosen by players allow for some privacy. However, all trades are tracked so that standings of the "user IDs" can be posted to show how participants do in the competition.

 Players can access reports or make trades any time day or night. Participants begin with quantities of four Montana commodities: winter wheat, spring wheat, barley and feeder cattle. Over the course of the simulation they will market these commodities under real-market conditions, using futures, options and cash markets to manage prices and lock in profits. Participants also will be charged storage on commodities until they are sold on cash markets and pay commissions for trades.

 Thanks to a grant from the Montana Department of Agriculture's "Growth Through Agriculture" program, this session of the Commodity Challenge is free to Montana producers.       

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Send questions or comments to Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717 or email Flaherty at carolf@montana.edu.

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