Are you a contestant on “Survivor 3?”

You’ve probably seen shipping crates around campus with “Survivor 3” written on them and wondered what this meant. It is part of the annual Saturn of Beaverton promotional event run by PSU marketing students.

The shipping crates and the colorful bandannas with Portland State’s School of Business, Saturn of Beaverton and Survivor 3 logos, to be worn by advertising students at the event, are a few of the new things added this year’s annual event.

“I wanted a better connection between the advertising theme and what was the theme on the event itself, on the ground, the day of, so we got the survivor theme, which is better coordinated with the poster campaign” said Don Dickinson, director of advertising management, explaining the choice.

This year’s third annual Saturn of Beaverton promotional event will be held today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Portland State Park Blocks, regardless of the weather.

According to Arielle Smith, a public relations student, there will be free food and prizes for the 1,000 people who are expected to attend. Last year 900 people participated.

Several prizes will be raffled off at the event. The grand prize is one month’s free use of a Saturn vehicle. First prize is a trip to Las Vegas for two nights and three days, and other prizes include Nike apparel, hats, tickets to a Winter Hawks game, a 24-Hour Fitness pass, coupons and other freebies.

Advertising students will hand out what is called a “Product Familiarization Card” questionnaire. Participants will go to four different Saturn stations to answer the questions.

“They’re easier questions,” Smith said.

Each station is equipped with different Saturn vehicles: the newest Saturn model, the Saturn 3-door sport coupe, which is the main attraction, a luxury sedan, and a “cut away” car to demonstrate its assembly and features.

In addition, the stations will be categorized accordingly, such as “ride the cost,” “survive the heckles” and “survive the crash.”

Participants will go through these stations to fill in the answers on the product familiarization card which they will hand in and exchange for a free meal ticket and a raffle ticket for the prizes.”This event was to increase the awareness of Saturn vehicles,” Smith said.

The General Motors Marketing Internship is a nationwide program where participating institutions compete to win Scholastic Achievement Awards, with prizes up to $12,000. The contest’s main purpose is to allow students to learn about real-world marketing and advertising.

General Motors and Saturn of Beaverton have provided a budget of $2,500 to Portland State students in Professor Dickinson’s class to put on the promotional campaign.

However, Smith said the students also raised money on their own to fund the event and to cover advertising costs.