Photo by Rachel Anderson
Butler University’s National Student Advertising Competition team is heading to the national competition for the third year in a row.
Their “Make Your Move” campaign, designed by members of ADrenaline for Nissan, was named the top entry among 20 teams from Indiana, Illinois and Michigan on April 14.
Senior Caroline Johnson, who served as the account executive and part of the pitch team, said that while the process was hectic, the end result was ideal.
“It was a stressful semester, and we worked up to the wire,” she said. “When we were in that element, it kind of all came together.”
Sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, NSAC allows students to compete against other schools in the region to design an advertising campaign. The group then presents the comprehensive campaign to the client.
The team finished fourth in last year’s national competition.
Johnson said that while they may refine some of their presentation for the national competition, they’ll keep their enthusiasm and differed voices in the presentation.
“We just had a lot of fun with it,” she said. “The personalities really set us apart.”
Junior Haley Deiser, who was a part of the research and creative teams, said that while other schools dwarfed Butler’s 14-person team, members’ passion shone through.
“We had a lot of ownership of this campaign, and we made it our own,” she said. “Other schools worried too much what other people would do.”
While the class meets once a week, Deiser said the group met about every other day leading up to competition.
“I was up most nights until 2 because it was ours and we were passionate,” she said.
Last Wednesday the team previewed their campaign, which featured a new slogan and multi-platform tie to music for Nissan that was meant to attract multicultural millennials to the brand.
They listened to questions and feedback from the audience in order to fine-tune their presentation and show off a semester’s worth of work.
Butler’s group used to meet for an entire year until the class was shortened to one semester last spring.
The group also has new advisers in assistant professor Mark Rademacher and instructor Armando Pellerano, who took over advising duties after instructor Donna Gray left Butler last spring.
Johnson said it was a “huge challenge with it being crammed into one semester,” especially since most schools work on their campaigns for an entire year.
“I would tell administrators to reconsider having it a whole year, even though we’ve proven we can do it in a semester,” she said.
Deiser said it would be helpful to focus on time-consuming research during the first semester and on execution in the second semester.
“It overwhelmed us at the beginning and made us have to backtrack,” she said.
Deiser said she would be interested in participating next year and that it’s a hands-on experience that gives insight into the workings of public relations and advertising.
“It solidified that I should be in the major,” she said.
