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The U.S. men’s water polo team.The U.S. men’s water polo team has passion, talent, muscles, charm and a chance to win an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. What the team lacks is brand awareness.

Four students in Rick Baer’s global brand management class at Thunderbird are working to change this.

“Water polo can be a really popular sport in the next generation in the United States,” said brand management student Tzu-Yao “Robin” Lin of Taiwan. “Almost everybody knows water polo in California. If the sport can be popular in California, then why not in the whole United States?”

Lin and three teammates in a global brand plan competition at Thunderbird traveled to Los Angeles last week to meet the Olympic athletes and learn about men’s water polo. The students will analyze the brand strengths and weaknesses of the team, gather market research and put together a plan that the U.S. squad can incorporate in its overall business strategy.

“We want to win our class competition,” said Thunderbird student Jeffrey Sinor of Hawaii.

“But we feel a stake in U.S. men’s water polo. We feel part of this team. They came to us with a problem, and we want to help them find a solution.”

Sinor and his Thunderbird teammates said they have gained a respect for the athletes, who train in the pool for eight hours a day.

“We didn’t know these guys would be built like football players,” Sinor said.

Thunderbird student Yusuke Ishizaka of Japan said the water polo athletes are intelligent and well-spoken, and many of the teammates he met attend top California schools such as Stanford University.

“They’re not looking to make money or gain fame,” he said. “They just want a challenge.”

Other teams in Baer’s class are developing brand plans for the Target India human resources office and Croissants de France, a bakery that has expanded to China.

The students will present their plans Aug. 14 to a council of five or six senior-level marketing professionals. Written proposals and videotaped presentations also will be sent to the corporate partners, who each paid $1,000 to participate.

Baer said he created the competition about five years ago as a rebirth of Thunderbird’s popular InterAd program. He said students gain real-world experience and a chance to network with professionals in their chosen fields.

Students in the class said they appreciate the challenge.

“This is the best class at Thunderbird,” Sinor said. “This is not pretend. This is it. This is what we’re here for. It’s everything I wanted in my Thunderbird education.”

Sinor’s teammate, Ai-Ting Wang of Taiwan, agrees.

“We are lucky to have this kind of project,” she said.