Ad Club Wins 2nd Place in New York in 2004

April 2004 -- A team of senior advertising students from Loyola's Advertising Club was first runner-up at the District II National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) held in New York on April 25, the highest any Maryland college has ever placed in the competition. For the past six months, the students worked on developing a comprehensive advertising campaign for their client, Visit Florida, with the goal of increasing travel and tourism to the state. Students conducted extensive primary and secondary research for the campaign.

The team developed a complete marketing strategy including a detailed plan book that addressed all aspects of the campaign. Students tested all ideas and materials including the tag line, "Take a Closer Look," and all other advertisements, including television commercials, prints ads, outdoor ads, and other promotional materials.

The team competed against 22 colleges, each of whom submitted a 32-page plans book and gave 30 minute presentations to a panel of judges, who are advertising professionals. While St. John's University won the competition, Loyola's team came in first place in the presentation category, and was only 1.4 points behind in the final rankings.

The team consisted of graduating seniors Maureen Higgins, Michelle Fox, Jaci Appel, Lauren Cadigan, Allison Hook, Kate Holstein, Jennifer Pietz, Emily Sadlock, Beth Capuzzi, and Jenna Steiner, who were recently inducted into Alpha Delta Sigma, the national advertising honorary society.

Faculty advisors for the group were Neil Alperstein, professor and Dawne Widener-Burrows, core instructor and president of Widener Research.

The According to Fox, co-president of the club, "each and every student" contributed to the final product. Higgins commented, "I can definitely say that it was one of the most important and defining moments in my life. I've never worked on something so hard, but along with
that, never felt such a sense of satisfaction when it all paid off."

The group's trip to New York was funded by SGA and Education for Life. Students also raised money for the competition by selling t-shirts they had designed. As second place winner, the team is entered into a wild card competition and may be selected to participate in the national finals in Dallas, Texas, in June. Results of that round will be announced May 14.