Newhouse School AAF team places 4th at Nationals

Out of 189 colleges and universities that competed in the 2007 AAF National Student Advertising Competition, the team from Newhouse came in 4th place

Congratulations to everyone and especially to our all-star presenters:

Brian Stout (Planner at the Richard's Group in Dallas),
Laura Lefkowitz (AAE at Tequila in Los Angeles; a division of McCann Erickson),
Ryan Parkhurst (Planner at Digitas),
Janet Levine at regionals (Media Planner at Deutsch),
Jenn Spaeth at Nationals (soon to be accepting a cool job) and
Juila Amirzadov (Queen of AV and kiosk builder and soon to be an employed Creative!).

And they couldn't have done it without the traveling creative support of Leslie Gnaegy who drove from St Louis to support and help.


Students Honored During AAF National Conference in Louisville



LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The team of students from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities was victorious today in the American Advertising Federation (AAF) 2007 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities took first place for an integrated marketing campaign created for The Coca-Cola Company.

Rick Zuroweste, group marketing director, Coca-Cola Trademark, Coca-Cola North America, commended the team for having the "most thorough analysis" out of all competing teams. "The fresh, not fractured, campaign clearly defined the brand architecture and featured a brand idea unique to Coca-Cola®." He further commented the team did a "solid job of emotionally segmenting the market to drive Coke consumption" among the Millennial group.

In their, "Together" campaign, the students positioned Coca-Cola® as "an uplifting part of youth's favorite shared experiences," taking existing Coca-Cola consumer values and making them relevant to a youth market or what they designated, the Millennial group. The "Together" campaign sought to engage the Millennial group and establish Coca-Cola as an integral part of their social lives. The campaign featured an essential characteristic of the Coca-Cola brand personality - the unique role it plays in uplifting social connections.

Coca-Cola invited AAF's college chapter members to develop an integrated marketing campaign for Coca-Cola, one of the world's best-known and beloved brands. The students' objective was to develop a plan inclusive of advertising, media, retail activation, packaging, public relations and promotions. For several months, the students--working in teams--conducted primary research to study the target market, including its media habits, and its competition. Getty Images provided use of images for the teams, and their materials were featured in the winning campaign. Other companies that contributed to the NSAC teams are Nielsen Media Research, Simmons and SRDS Media Solutions.

Judges from Coca-Cola and its media companies chose the University of Minnesota over college and university finalists competing at the AAF National Conference 2007 in Louisville, Ky. The following teams placed second through fourth, respectively: University of Michigan, University of Southern California and Syracuse University.

Considered the premier student advertising competition in the nation, the NSAC has become the proving grounds for 80,000 students who have participated and an imperative for an increasing number of ad industry recruiters seeking new talent. Finalist teams are awarded monetary prizes--first place received $3,500; second place received $2,500; third place received $2,000; fourth place received $1,000; and all other teams received $500.

2007 NSAC Finalists

District 1: Quinnipiac University, Renee Gravois Lee, Faculty Adviser District 2: Baruch College, William Heath, Faculty Adviser District 2: Syracuse University, Ed Russell, Faculty Adviser District 3: University of Virginia, Jack Lindgren, Faculty Adviser District 4: Florida State University, Barry Solomon, Faculty Adviser District 5: Marshall University, Alyssa Goodman, Faculty Adviser District 6: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Steve Hall, Faculty Adviser

District 6: University of Michigan, Mary Schmidt, Faculty AdviserDistrict 7: Savannah College of Art & Design, Art Novak, Faculty Adviser District 8: University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Howard Liszt, Faculty Adviser District 9: Webster University, Nancy Wilson, Faculty Adviser District 10: Texas Christian University, Mike Wood, Faculty Adviser District 11: Portland State University, Don Dickinson, Faculty Adviser District 12: The Art Center Design College - Tucson, Colleen Gimbel-Froebe, Faculty Adviser District 13: Chaminade University of Honolulu, Cliff Bieberly, Faculty Adviser District 14: California State University, Chico, Bill McGowan, Faculty Adviser District 15: University of Southern California, Ken Wilbur, Faculty Adviser



Wild Card Team: University of Texas at Austin, John Murphy, Faculty Adviser



The 2007 NSAC judges include the following advertising professionals:

§ Todd Arata, Advertising Director, Coca-Cola North America

§ Andrea Brown, Director, Strategic Media Planning, Coca-Cola North America

§ Kendra Hatcher, Senior Vice President, Director of Consumer Context Planning, MediaVest USA

§ Andy McMillin, Director, Coca-Cola Trademark, Coca-Cola North America

§ Rick Zuroweste, Group Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Trademark, Coca-Cola North America