Capitol Advertising was named district champion out of 14 teams in this year’s National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC).
The 13 GW School of Business undergraduate students presented a complete advertising campaign to a team of five judges in New York on April 26 and 27, winning first place and securing a spot in the NSAC finals in June.
Universities located in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and D.C. competed in the district competition.
It was a double victory for the team’s faculty adviser, Professor of Marketing and Advertising Lynda Maddox, who was announced as the American Advertising Federation’s Distinguished Advertising Educator of the Year just before the district presentations.
She’ll receive the award at the American Advertising Federation’s national conference in Phoenix, which will also host the finals of the Student Advertising Competition.
“I think the fact that I won the award made the students more determined to win the competition,” said Dr. Maddox, who founded Capitol Advertising at the George Washington University 30 years ago.
The students on this year’s team--seniors Gabbi Baker, Jamie Clark, Adam Cole, Peter Cook, Corey Gregory, Jason Grobstein, Courtney Ross, Sarah Dalia, Jiayi Daphne Wang and John Macchione III and juniors Sevara Mallyn, Simi Ojuri and Hunter Pritchard--were selected for Capitol Advertising through an extensive review process.
“The types of people on this team are all, in some way, extraordinary,” Dr. Maddox said. “It’s not always their grade-point average; sometimes it’s just a drive, a determination or an interest.”
Dr. Maddox and two volunteer TAs, seniors Vandana Iyer and Nick Mejia, worked with the students over the course of the spring semester to develop the campaign, which includes a plan book, presentation and training for the Q&A section.
Glidden Paints was the 2013 brand sponsor for the competition, and all presentations focused on marketing the company’s various products and increasing customer awareness and sales at the 3,200 Walmart stores that stock Glidden nationwide.
The preparation is based in two courses, Advanced Advertising Campaigns and Integrated Marketing Communications Planning, taken concurrently with Dr. Maddox and centered on 15 interim assignments that build up to the development of the competition presentation.
“One of the rewarding things about these classes is that they are not just advertising; they are a complete package of strategic thinking, writing and presenting well,” Dr. Maddox said.
Ms. Baker agreed, noting that each challenge of the program has taught her something new.
“We have had the unique opportunity to see all sides of an advertising campaign before even entering the industry,” Ms. Baker said. “For many, the experiences in this class have brought us one step closer to discovering exactly where we want to be when we graduate.”
Dr. Maddox also stressed the collaborative efforts and diligence of the students, who often worked until 2 a.m. on sections of the campaign, a work ethic she welcomed since she has a total access policy for students, which sometimes resulted in 3 a.m. Skype calls and critiques.
This “down in the trenches” approach led to the winning campaign slogan “Simple Brilliance.”
“It came from hours of research, collaboration, conversation, one on ones, Skype, Google chats and everything coming together so that we could have an aha moment that we knew was the birth of a great campaign,” Dr. Maddox said.
Ms. Baker said Dr. Maddox’s passion and experience were invaluable to the team.
“She is tirelessly committed to her students, both in and out of the classroom,” Ms. Baker said. “She challenges us to produce the best results possible, and in the process, she teaches us how to be critical thinkers, concise communicators and creative advertisers.”
Under Dr. Maddox’s direction, Capitol Advertising has won five NSAC district competitions since 2006, the result of years of expanding advertising opportunities and programming for students who have made GW “a force to reckoned with in advertising education,” according to Dr. Maddox.
“Now, we are one of the top schools that companies and agencies in New York come to for students who want to go into advertising,” she said.
This tradition of turning out successful business professionals, such as former student Linda Sawyer, B.B.A. ’83, CEO of Deutsch Inc., North America, is an incredibly satisfying part of teaching and coaching, Dr. Maddox said.
According to her, the Distinguished Advertising Educator of the Year Award is “icing on the cake.”
“The most rewarding thing is getting to know the students as people and being an integral part of their lives and their career,” she said. “I never lose that connection with them.”