January 2007

2007 Ad Team selected for Coca-Cola classic campaign

After a grueling application and interview process, 16 promising students from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications have been named to this year’s National Student Advertising Competition Team (NSAC). Their challenge: to develop a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for this year's corporate sponsor, Coca-Cola classic.

In April, the students will travel to Charlotte, N.C. to present their campaign in the American Advertising Federation Third District competition. Winners from 15 district competitions will then travel to Louisville, Ky., to present to a panel of industry executives at the national competition.

The students took advantage of their winter break to research the product and its competition. Karen Mallia, the Ad Team Faculty Advisor believes "We’ve got an incredibly bright, dedicated group of students on our team. They hit the ground running from day one. With the right concept, we’ve got a great chance of winning this year." Senior advertising student and team account executive Megan Wiedenhaefer agrees. “We know the workload ahead is vast, but are excited about the invaluable, real-world experience developing an integrated communications campaign will provide us. We’re up for the challenge.”

This competition began in 1967 and USC is the only university which has fielded an entry each year since its beginning. USC has won its district competition 16 out of the last 27 years and has placed in the top four nationally on five occasions, including a first place.

More than 150 colleges and universities participate annually in the prestigious AAF NSAC with dreams of seeing their campaign come to life. The American Advertising Federation represents 50,000 professionals in the advertising industry and also connects the industry with an academic base through its 210 college chapters.