Students selected for USC's Ad Team

Thirteen students have been selected for the 2008 Ad Team and will represent USC in April at the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Student Advertising Competition. The student team will develop a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for this year's corporate sponsor, AOL.

Members of the 2008 Ad Team are: Kelly Mullinax, Katie Coughlin, Ellie France, Christina Penteado, Missean Jenkins, Katie Crawley, Jason Talbot, Hunter Clawson, Jordan Smith, Sammy Rutkowski, Wetherly Collins, Alyson Lavigne and Katherine Kuszmaul.

The students will compete against 150 other colleges and universities from across the U.S. In April, they will present their campaign to top professionals in the communications industry at the Third District competition in Charlotte, N.C. Winners from all 15 district competitions, and one wild card team, will advance to the national competition at the AAF National Conference in Atlanta, Ga., in June.

The 2008 Ad Team has been working on their campaign since the Fall. “We have been doing extensive research, particularly on consumer behavior, and we are excited to represent USC the best that we can,” said team member, Christina Penteado.

The team’s advisor is advertising Professor Karen Mallia, who said, “We have a powerhouse team this year. I am thrilled to be working with each and every one of these students — they are going places!”

Mallia left the New York advertising community to join the faculty of the J-School in 2005. She spent more than 20 years in top creative positions in the advertising industry, including TBWA\Chiat\Day, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide.

Since the AAF competition began in 1973, USC has been the only university to compete every year. They have won the district competition 18 of the last 35 years and have placed in the national top four positions on six occasions, including one national win.