Judges say the scoring between universities was close
Members of the BYU-Hawaii Communications Student Association, along with students enrolled in the strategic communication campaign course COMM 321, gained practical advertising experiences by participating in the District 13 National Student Advertising Competition in Honolulu on Saturday, April 16.
Each year the American Advertising Foundation partners with a major corporate client to challenge more than 200 college chapters across the country to develop an integrated marketing campaign for a specific product, service or brand aimed at diverse target markets,” according to AAF.
The corporate sponsor of the 2016 NSAC is Snapple. As a client, Snapple provides the history of its product, the company’s objectives, and its current advertising situation. AAF requires students to participate by researching the product, identifying potential problems, and developing effective marketing strategies.
In the 2016 District 13 NSAC, only COMM 321 students were on the BYUH team. Team members were selected based on their academic performance in COMM 321.
The BYUH team went to Honolulu with their advisor, Communications Professor Daniel A. Stout, to compete against Hawaii Pacific University.
The HPU team created the slogan Sound Like Snapple, connecting music with Snapple’s products and inviting youth to share their musical talents through Snapple’s social media campaign.
The BYUH team said their plan was aimed to facilitate millennials’ curiosity towards Snapple products by creating an exciting impression of Snapple through social media and integrative advertisements. Their slogan was “Explore Your Curiosity.”
After both teams presented, judges convened to decide which team would be promoted to the semi-final competition. Both teams were rewarded medals for their hard work and participation.
The host announced HPU as winner of the district NSAC. According to one judge, the scores of the two teams were very close. All three judges agreed both the HPU and BYUH teams had done impressive work.“Both presentations have really mindful ideas that can hit target audiences,” one judge said.
Brighson Tolentino, a senior majoring in business management from Hawaii, was the only student in the team who was not enrolled in the COMM 321 class. Tolentino said he requested to join the team. “As a senior graduating, I need to get as many marketing experiences as I can to make myself marketable,” he explained.
Ronilo Nhil Banda, a senior from the Philippines majoring in international cultural studies, said “the most challenging part is creating the campaign plan book. It’s 27 pages of detailed research and advertising ideas.”This was the second year BYUH has participated in NSAC. Banda said, “It was so fun. If I could, I would love to do this again next year.”