The sports universe has been around for over a century and yet the at home sports viewing experience has seen little change. Even though our society has seen monumental innovative, technological advances, watching sports at home has not undergone any changes and may soon find itself a thing of the past unless something changes. When the COVID-19 pandemic arose, a problem surfaced of revenue loss and decreasing fan retention leaving teams and leagues stumbling for solutions. RYZE offers a never before seen product that can revolutionize how sports fans watch and engage in sporting events. By taking the lucrative concept of “battle passes” from the video game industry and placing it in the sports industry, RYZE hopes to increase overall fan revenue, retention, and engagement. A clear market size and wide range of potential customers, RYZE looks to help fans stay engaged while also earning prizes. With competition ranging from fantasy sports to virtual reality, RYZE has competitive advantages that give it potential to become a sports fan’s go to product when thinking about their favorite team. RYZE has gone from a propelling question to a bright idea and then to a prototype along with a full pitch deck and hopes to engrain itself in college athletics, MLB, and other professional sports leagues.

Students from the Founder’s Lab at ASU created Equalitree, a company whose main focus is bringing together fans, student-athletes, coaches, and executive staff. In developing the company, the founders looked at various data points from the NCAA about what is already being done to increase diversity and inclusion. After finding staggering statistics about the state of diversity, the founders began to create ‘Equalitree’. A consulting agency tackling diversity and inclusion. The goal is to increase diversity and inclusion within sports organizations through a series of educational events, social campaigns, and dialogues. In researching the effectiveness of this business model, the founders hosted a week of events. The first event was a dialogue, in which attendees were presented with statistics of diversity within college sports, what is being done on college campuses to bridge gaps and open dialogues, and even held a discussion. For the second event, the founders hosted Keynote Speaker, former NFL player L.J. Shelton, to speak on his experiences within college sports and the NFL. Overall, Equalitree received highly rated reviews and feedback from attendees about the events and the effectiveness.

Micro influencers have become extremely powerful in terms of swaying buying patterns among consumers. This thesis examines the greater impact that micro influencers have on brand marketing. This was completed through a literature review that highlights the evolution of marketing, influencer marketing, discussing reach, relevance, and resonance, and Generation Z’s purchasing decisions. In addition, we conducted an online survey through Qualtrics that allowed us to analyze the impact social media influencers have. The results of our research indicate that TikTok is used most frequently, but Instagram is where social media influencers are followed most. From our data, we concluded that Generation Z is most influenced by authentic, genuine content created by influencers regardless of follower count. We recommend that a brand interested in reaching Generation Z (we refer to the brand as “Brand X”) use micro influencers, as our research shows that genuine relationships are valued among this generation. We believe that micro influencers are the most valuable to use as they are able to create meaningful relationships with consumers due to their reach, relevance, and resonance with the individuals their content reaches.

A large section of United States citizens live far away from supermarkets and do not have<br/>an easy way to get to one. This portion of the population lives in an area called a food desert.<br/>Food deserts are geographic areas in which access to affordable, healthy food, such as fresh<br/>produce, is limited or completely nonexistent due to the absence of convenient grocery stores.<br/>Individuals living in food deserts are left to rely on convenience store snacks and fast food for<br/>their meals because they do not have access to a grocery store with fresh produce in their area.<br/>Unhealthy foods also lead to health issues, as people living in food deserts are typically at a<br/>higher risk of diet-related conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<br/>Harvest, a sustainable farming network, is a smartphone application that teaches and guides<br/>people living in small spaces through the process of growing fresh, nutritious produce in their<br/>own homes. The app will guide users through the entire process of gardening, from seed to<br/>harvest. Harvest would give individuals living in food deserts an opportunity to access fresh<br/>produce that they currently can’t access. An overwhelming response based on our user<br/>discussion and market analysis revealed that our platform was in demand. Development of a<br/>target market, brand guide, and full lifecycle were beneficial during the second semester as<br/>Harvest moved forward. Through the development of a website, social media platform, and<br/>smartphone application, Harvest grew traction for our platform. Our social media accounts saw a<br/>1700% growth rate, and this wider audience was able to provide helpful feedback.