Art Center Students Win at District Competition

Eight colleges competed for the opportunity to attend the American Advertising Federation national competition June 4-5 in Washington, DC. This is the sixth time The Art Center has won the district competition in five years and has advanced to nationals beating University of Texas - El Paso, University of Arizona, Brigham Young University, University of Northern Colorado, New Mexico State University, and the University of Utah.

The National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is the premiere college advertising competition. It provides more than 6500 students "real-world" experience by requiring college students to design a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for one major, corporate sponsor. From over 200 colleges and universities, sixteen schools are selected as finalists to present their campaigns to a panel of industry marketing and advertising executives at the AAF National Conference.

This year's corporate sponsor is The Century Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting underage drinking and drunk driving. This year's challenge was unique in that The Century Council asked college students around the country to create a campaign to decrease binge-drinking on college campuses.

Each college team developed an integrated $10 million marketing campaign targeting the 18-24-year-old youth market. For months, students worked to develop a marketing and advertising plan that included creating online advertising, as well as print and television ads, collateral material, promotions, new and traditional media selections, and appropriately allocating the budget.

The Tucson team members included presenters: Jessica Youde, Scott Mosteller, Jeff White, Cally Vick and Aaron Piatkowski. Other team members include: Derek Hoyle, Alessia Alaimo, Correne Hankins, Daniel Limon, Francis Neely, James Morley, Joel Cowdry, Lindsay Nortz, Marien Van Der Lelij, and Marisa Dominguez.

"Real world experience is so important for today's students. This experience has been both challenging and rewarding, as the students will be able to take what they have learned from this competition and apply the skills to their post college careers. The quality of the education students receive at The Art Center is evident in the success of our students at these types of competitions," said Sharmon Woods, President of The Art Center Design College.

Judges for this year's event included

• Erica Moulton, Director of Communications for The Century Council; is responsible for public relations, events, advertising and new media.
• Sherri Anderson, Copywriter at Engauge in Columbus, Ohio; 13 years experience in crafting advertising messages, as well as teaching the subject at the Columbus College of Art & Design.
• Kim Kemmer, Senior Planner for Prime Contact Research/Flint Communications; an industry veteran clients include brands such as Bobcat, AdFarm, BCBSND/WY, Alerus Financial and SMDC Healthcare.
• Tom Sherer, Vice President and Executive Creative Director for Hydrogen, Seattle; as co-founder and award-winning designer clients include EBay, McAfee, Microsoft, Agilent Technologies, Kentworth Trucks and Quadrant Homes.
• Tami Weitkunat, President and CEO of Mediacomp in Houston, TX, a media planning and buying service; is an expert in research, marketing and media planning for US markets as well as Canada and Puerto Rico.

The Tucson Art Center team is raising funds to compete in the regional competition in Washington, D.C. and AIGA Arizona is proud to be a sponsor of the team. Good luck to all of the designers!