Pope John senior wins marketing contest

SPARTA — In this day and age where every moment is captured on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and/or Snapchat, anyone can become the next star player, musician or performer.
In Hope Pinsonault’s case, she may become the next great entrepreneur.
Pinsonault, a Pope John XXIII Regional High School senior, has shown she has the talent and drive to become one after recently winning a marketing contest with Brooks Running.
Pinsonault was one of three winners of the contest, which asked consumers to take a creative picture or make a video showing themselves wearing a pair of Brooks shoes before, during or after a run. In doing so, Brooks asked them to post the picture or video on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #LevitateLongRun while also tagging Brooks Running, Flo Track and MileSplit USA in the post.
Pinsonault created a 1-minute commercial featuring her and fellow Pope John student Julia Herraiz running on trails at Kittatinny Valley State Park in Andover Township with Brooks shoes and posted it on Instagram. Because of her quality commercial, Pinsonault earned a $500 gift card plus lots of Brooks merchandise.
“I really didn’t expect this,” Pinsonault said. “They (Brooks Running) were picking people from three different social media platforms, so I didn’t think it was a possibility. But, I was excited when I found out I won.”
Pinsonault made this possible because of the great interest she has taken in marketing.
Pinsonault first started learning about marketing from her father, Paul, who is an entrepreneur after starting his own pharmaceutical company. Then last year, she took Pope John’s Marketing and Advertising class.
“It’s just really appealing to me,” Pinsonault said. “I love using media, especially social media. I like getting the word out about a product I’m really into or receiving feedback from people on it. Everything about it just clicks for me.”
This year, Pinsonault is studying two more courses related to marketing.
She is taking Sports and Entertainment Marketing under the direction of Ms. Grace Halevy and Principles of Entrepreneurship under the guidance of Mr. Brian Carlson. Both courses are new to the Pope John curriculum.
In addition, Pinsonault has a passion for running, as she is a distance runner for the Pope John girls cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field teams. Pinsonault says that competing as a runner has also helped her marketing efforts.
“It has taught me to push myself and overcome adversity,” Pinsonault said. “In any business, there are going to be problems, but as long as you have that mentality to work hard and push through it, you are going to succeed.”
So, when she saw Brooks Running’s post about the contest, Pinsonault put her marketing, social media and running skills to the test.
Along with the help of Herraiz, Pinsonault filmed about 15 minutes worth of footage of them running on different surfaces throughout Kittatinny Valley State Park with their Brooks shoes. Once they were done, Pinsonault edited the video and posted it on Instagram with the required hashtag and tagging of Brooks Running and Flo Track.
When she got notified a few days later that she was a winner, Pinsonault couldn’t help but be humbled about receiving this type of recognition.
“It was awesome,” Pinsonault said. “From the video, you could understand what it was all about because we kept focusing on the shoes and got their message across. It was something they loved and other people liked as well. I appreciate that.”
Ms. Halevy was also impressed with Pinsonault’s work and her development as far as learning about marketing.
“I was so excited when I found out about Hope’s winning commercial,” Halevy said. “I thought it was really creative and well done. It was so rewarding to see Hope using the marketing skills we've learned in class in the real world. I see a bright future for this young lady.”
Pinsonault hopes to build on this contest win, as she plans to major in marketing in college.
“I do think it will help me in the future,” Pinsonault said. “I think it was the first step in my discovery of media marketing and I hope it will open more doors for me.”