The student team from the School of Communication won the National Student Advertising Competition District Four Championship on April 5 in Orlando and will move on to the semi-final round later this month.
The victory marks the first milestone on the team’s attempt to earn its second consecutive NSAC championship, said adviser Alyse Lancaster, chair of the Department of Strategic Communication. 26 students from various departments in the school strategized, wrote, designed and pitched the campaign, which bested campaigns from Florida State University, Miami International University of Art and Design, Ringling College of Art and Design, and University of South Florida in the district competition.
The National Student Advertising Competition is a program of the American Advertising Federation in which students across the country develop a complete campaign for a corporate sponsor. Mary Kay is the 2014 sponsor, and students have designed an innovative campaign targeted at millennial women for the cosmetics company, Lancaster said.
“This is by far the best campaign we have ever created for NSAC,” said adviser Meryl Blau, assistant professor of practice in the Department of Strategic Communication. “The idea is truly a big idea, one that goes way beyond student level work. This is something I stand behind as a game changer for the Mary Kay business and believe, if adopted, would put this brand on the map for the millennial generation.”
In the semi-final round, district champions will pitch their projects and be interviewed via Skype by a new team of professionals later this month, Lancaster said. The winners of the semi-final round will go on to the national competition later this summer. More than 130 college and university teams are competing for the championship.
The University of Miami team won the 2013 NSAC with their campaign for Glidden Paint.
