Southern California:  April 26, 2013 – University of Nevada Las Vegas took top honors in the Southern California and Southern Nevada district level student competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). UNLV topped eight college and university teams during the competition held at Cal State University Fullerton on Thursday April 25th. UNLV will represent AAF District 15, competing against teams from 14 other districts across the country, at the AAF National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) in Phoenix, AZ June 5-8, 2013.

The NSAC is a unique, real-world experience that prepares students for successful careers in the advertising industry and provides sponsoring companies with tangible, effective, integrated marketing campaigns. The Education Services division of the American Advertising Federation conducts the NSAC annually in cooperation with a major client sponsor.

This year, Glidden challenged over 3000 advertising students nationwide to develop a research based, $10 million communications campaign to help build awareness and consideration for the Glidden paint brand within US Walmart stores. As a challenge to the competing university and college teams, Glidden provided a case study outlining key campaign objectives. Student teams were tasked with developing effective integrated and multi-platform campaigns to reach three different customer segments.

Schools competing for the AAF District 15 title included California State University, Fullerton; Chapman University, Orange; Mt. Saint Mary’s College, Los Angeles; University of California, Irvine; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California San Diego; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Special judges’ recognition went to the presentation team of Chapman University for ‘Group Polished Delivery’; Kristen Foss of CSUF for ‘Best Q&A Answers’; and the team of UCSD for ‘Best Big Little Idea: In-store Color Tabs’. All were awarded cash prizes made possible in part by participating recruiting companies. Additionally, judges presented “The Creative Ink Difference Award”  to Jessica Badrou from USC, Jeff Pelton from CSUF, and Gabe Lapuz from UNLV. USC and Cal State Fullerton received 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively. Several recruiters representing Los Angeles and Orange County based advertising agencies and media companies attended the district competition to recruit the industry’s brightest and most talented young candidates. The competition was hosted by Cal State University Fullerton and held in the Titan Student Union Pavilions.

Industry judges for the district level of competition included Ryan Berman, Founder/Chief Creative Officer of i.d.e.a – San Diego; Lynnae Hornbarger, Marketing & Media Consultant – Reno, NV; Joyce Mireault, Director of Client Services for Flint Group – Duluth, MN; and Trisha Schum, Assistant Brand Manager for Glidden Paint – Strongsville, OH.

The NSAC national finals will be held June 5-8 during the AAF Admerica National Conference in Phoenix and will showcase district finalists culled from 150 participating teams which will have presented original campaigns to panels of industry judges across the county.

For more information on AAF and the NSAC program, please visit: www.aaf.org