Head of the class

Who better to design a Web site targeting youthful car buyers than young people themselves, figured the executives at Buick.

The division of General Motors enlisted a graduate class at Florida State University to redesign the brand’s site for the soon-to-be launched Buick Rendezvous, a sport utility hybrid scheduled to debut in the spring. The class worked with Buick’s Internet agency of record, Commerce One, Detroit, as well as McCann-Erickson in Troy, Mich., the brand’s national agency.

“We wanted some younger minds first to react to the Rendezvous as consumers and then to look at Web activities,” said Jack Bowen, Buick Rendezvous brand manager.