The University of Idaho can take pride in the quality of advertising students produced by the School of Journalism and Mass Media.
The JAMM department sent a team to compete in the American Advertising Federation’s District XI Student Advertising Competition where it took first place.
“I am extremely proud of this team,” said Team Adviser Justin Barnes. “Every bit of credit should go to them, they did all the work.”
Barnes said for the competition every team was assigned the same client to create an ad campaign for.
“Our client was Glidden Paint,” Barnes said. “We had to advertise it for Wal-Mart. This was a challenge because usually people don’t go to Wal-Mart for paint, they usually go to places like Home Depot.”
Barnes said the team came up with a theme praised by the judges. He said one judge commented by saying “you guys found the nugget.” The theme was titled “Reflect Life’s Colors.” Barnes said the theme was simple, but had so much to work with.
“We were thinking color is a big part of our life, like with what we wear and what we see,” Barnes said. “We wanted to never lose sight of our campaign.”
Lana Schwartz, team leader, said the time leading up to the first place announcement was nerve racking.
“All we could do was sit around and hold hands, and our heart were beating so fast,” Schwartz said. “When they said we won I wasn’t sure if I should scream or laugh or cry so I just kind of did all three.”
Schwartz said the creative team worked on the visuals and later joined with the rest of the crew to create the tagline.
“There were some creative differences, but once everyone saw how it all came together people were able to let that go,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said this competition created bonds between the team members.
“We are definitely professional colleagues but we have developed friendships as well,” Schwartz said.
By winning first place at the District XI competition, the team qualified to compete at the national competition June 5-8 in Phoenix, AZ.
“I am so excited to go to Phoenix,” Schwartz said. “We are excited to go compete and represent the University of Idaho.”
Barnes said the team is holding fundraisers to gain some extra funds, and is doing practice run-throughs to make sure all the bases are covered.
“We presented to the Mass Media and Advisory Board this last Friday and they were blown away,” Barnes said.
Schwartz said the team isn’t allowed to change its presentation, so they are polishing up their individual skills.
Barnes said multiple ad agencies will be scouting college students at the national competition for potential employees.
“Our unofficial goal is to find job opportunities,” Barnes said. “My goal as an instructor is to make sure these kids find jobs.”
Schwartz said they are is preparing themselves so they can be “marketable” to the possible employers attending the competition.
Erik Fink can be reached at [email protected]