Competing against 10 colleges in the regional 2012 Student Advertising Competition, organized by the American Advertising Federation, a team of students from 91������Ʒ’s School of Communication placed third.

This is the sixth year a 91������Ʒ team has participated in the District 5 competition, against colleges in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Each district winner goes on to the national competition in June.

“This is the best that Cleveland State has done in its six years of competing, and their work will only get better,” said Rob Spademan, Assistant Vice President of University Marketing and Admissions, who served as a team advisor.

“The Cleveland State team bested groups from a variety of universities, including University of Kentucky, John Carroll, and Kent State University,” he added. Ohio University and Marshall University placed first and second.

In addition, many of the other universities offered students class credit, whereas Cleveland State students spent 8 months out of class preparing their campaign.

The 91������Ʒ Advertising Association’s challenge was to create a $100 million, research-based marketing and advertising campaign for Nissan to increase market share among multicultural millennials. CSAA’s theme, “Amplify Your Life,” went beyond traditional social marketing plans, with the creation of pop-up lifestyle stores in outdoor shopping centers where Nissan would host test drives and an engaging experience with guests. They created a mobile application to create road trips across the country and a good GPA promotion for college grads providing affordable incentives to lease Nissan vehicles.

After the 20-minute presentation and Q&A period, the judges complimented the 91������Ʒ team on their pop-up lifestyle stores and creative, unique ideas.

91������Ʒ team members are Emily Boylan, Bradley Bielak, Jennifer Stasko, Hailey Hughes, Ryan Walker, Andrew White, Mark Pace, Carys Behn, Donald Houston, Amy Potchatek, and James Terry. All are students in the School’s Communications or Journalism and Promotional Communication programs.

“The experience gained from this is so valuable and will set us apart when looking for careers,” said Emily Boylan, president of the CSAA. “Not only do we have great tangible work for our portfolio, we have created great recognition for 91������Ʒ and have become a real contender in this competition.”