In 2010, the university’s athletic department was connecting with various sponsorships from eager surrounding businesses. Everyone wanted to advertise to the thousands of students at DU. However, it didn’t take long to realize many of the area’s small businesses were getting left out, and that the university was only connecting with the big ones.
Soon after this realization, the DU Zone was born. DU Zone connects with businesses around campus, big and small, for no cost, and works with them to generate more traffic from students. The program supplies free cards (both physical and digital) to students that are good for discounts, deals and promotions at over 60 surrounding businesses.
Diane Wendt, DU’s director of strategic partnership corporate relations, was one of the minds behind the start of DU Zone. For years, she has helped connect the university with various businesses, corporations and organizations, and she was recognized by the university for her contributions when the recently opened fields by the Ritchie Center were named after her. Wendt punctiliously oversees the DU Zone’s operations and was ecstatic to discuss the program, its upbringings and its future.
Wendt feels that it is DU’s duty to connect local businesses with students, and for the past several years, she has helped the DU Zone team figure out exactly how to do that. They ran into some concerns about mixing up Pioneer Cards with DU Zone cards and reaching out to students, but Wendt says the kinks have been worked out.
“As we got more leadership and engagement from students who were interning with the program, they really talked about why it was important to really reach out to students,” said Wendt. “This year was the first year we started reaching out, and we had an intern who helped us with the distribution to all new students, and transfer students.”
Wendt is pleased with how much effort is being put into DU Zone by so many people, and she is eager for the future of the program.
“Through our call for opportunities for partnerships with different programs and departments, we’re really going to try and come up with ways we can get the card in the hands of more students. There are so many more ways we can enhance our distribution, but it will be kind of a crawl, walk, run cycle that is dependent on us having sufficient people to help us with the distribution. We invite and encourage different organizations to partner with us and help us with that distribution.”
DU Zone cards can be picked up all over campus at the Coors Fitness Center front desk, Ritchie Center North Box Office, Newman Center Box Office, Leo Block Alumni Center, Mary Reed Building Human Resources front desk and the Public Service Credit Union on University Blvd. However, the easiest way to get the card is to simply Google “DU Zone,” go to their page, scroll down and copy the DU Zone logo to your phone. Simply showing this logo at participating businesses is all it takes.
We’ve all been there, waiting for another Cup Noodles in the microwave while everyone is out to eat. Life is certainly expensive, and sometimes it does taste like microwaved noodles, but DU Zone can help going out be more affordable. Pick up a card on campus or simply Google DU Zone to find the downloadable logo. Also keep up to date on DU Zone’s Facebook and Twitter pages, and look out for a DU Zone app in the future.
A note of acknowledgement from Diane Wendt: “Public Service Credit Union is the Official Sponsor of the DU Zone Program. Campus leadership and support for this program are provided by Alumni Relations, Conferencing and Event Services, Marketing and Communications, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, and Athletics and Recreation. Student interns from DCB and Communications also provide valuable leadership and support for the continued growth and success of this program.”
