WinningExperience
Many college students rely on internships to gain experience while in college. Some students in the College of Media & Communication have taken this a step further and recently had the chance to gain advertising experience while competing and succeeding on a national level.
The 2013-14 Texas Tech Advertising Team won the Tenth District competition in Austin, Texas, survived the new semifinal round judged only by their marketing campaign book, and placed third at the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition in Boca Raton, Fla., in Spring 2014.
The competition has taken place every year since 1973 and requires advertising teams from colleges across the United States to create advertising strategies for a chosen client by creating a marketing campaign book and a 20-minute presentation.
Shannon Bichard, advertising department chairperson, became the advertising team adviser in 2002. She said it was an amazing choice to become involved with the team, and it has become one of her biggest passions at Texas Tech. After taking over the team, Bichard said, she instituted a competitive audition process due to the difficulty of the national competition.
“I originally got the idea from watching ‘The Apprentice,’” Bichard said. “For the last three years, I have done group interviews. I put 20 in one group and 20 in the other. I then put the two groups through challenges. Buried in the assignment is something I am looking for. The tasks seem really random but I am always looking for some little nugget to show me what that person would bring to the team.”
Bichard said about 18 students are selected for the final team. She said the audition process takes place right after school starts, and the team is given its assignment by the American Advertising Federation within the first few weeks of the fall semester.
“The assignment can be between 20 and 30 pages long,” Bichard said. “This year’s assignment for client Mary Kay was very long. It was very specific with a lot of data. The students study it, and then I quiz them on it. In this competition, you are prohibited from talking to the client. In the real world, you could talk to your client and get their thoughts. That assignment is it for the team. So, they rip it apart.”
Steven Pence, now media coordinator at RD Thomas Advertising, served as account executive for the 2013-14 team. He was a member of the team during his junior and senior years.
“After the first year, I knew what it took to win,” Pence said. “That was my motivation for coming back my senior year. I wanted to lead the team because I wanted to win. I knew the amount of effort and energy it was going to take.”
Pence (Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and a minor in Advertising, 2014) said his business background gave him an advantage when working with the team.
“The client was Mary Kay and they are very focused on their sales force,” Pence said. “It was not about advertising a product solely. You also have to keep the business model in mind. It was an advantage that I could always keep that in mind. My job was to think as the client and my business background helped with that.”
Pence said he led the 2013-14 advertising team. He oversaw the entire team throughout the planning and presentation process. He also made sure that everyone completed his or her assignments on time.
“My role this year was account executive,” Pence said. “Essentially, I oversaw the entire team. I had directors under me who led the promotions, media, creative and research teams. I facilitated workflow and made sure deadlines were met. Normally, the account executive is the only one working with the client and reporting back to the teams. However, we had a case study this year so everyone got to delve into it.”
Bailey Baethge, a junior advertising major from Doss, Texas, has been a part of the team since her freshman year. Baethge was part of the creative team this past year, which she said she enjoyed due to her love of writing and the ability to see the end result of an idea. She said being an underclasswoman on the team was not intimidating, and she appreciated all of the help from her teammates.
“My peers became my biggest teachers,” Baethge said. “I was really thankful to be on the team. It is one thing just learning about it in a textbook, and it is another thing when you actually get to do what you are learning.”
Baethge, Bichard and Pence all agreed that the quality of people on the team led to the team’s success. Baethge said the team had a few returning members from the year before, and this helped immensely since the returning members already knew how much effort goes into the competition.
“There was a great chemistry among the team,” Baethge said. “Everyone had expertise in their own area. There were several returning people who had an idea of what to do, and the incoming people were just amazing and so talented.”
Pence said, “It was a perfect storm of people. The people were just talented and everyone worked well together. Everyone wanted to win.”
Bichard agreed. “The groups just achieved this synergy,” she said. “Where one person was weak, another person was strong. They pushed each other and were very vocal, but they also got along and liked each other. The fact that they were perfectionists also helped. But there is not a formula for success. It just worked this year.”
Baethge said she had many different roles this past year including creating practice questions for the presentation team. She said being a part of the team is a huge commitment, and those on the team miss out on one of the hallmarks of college life since spring break is when the team starts putting the whole presentation together.
“Ad teamers never have spring break,” Baethge said. “We are up at the College of Media & Communication all day. This is our resort.”
Looking forward, Pence said future teams could use the 2013-2014 team as a model for success. He said every team has a different chemistry, but hard work is required for any successful advertising team.
“I hope they don’t settle and become complacent,” Pence said. “Hopefully, they know now what it takes to get there. I hope they take this year as a model and use it. There will be different variables, but if they work hard, I think they will be successful.” mc
(Preston Redden graduated in 2015 with a Master of Arts degree in Mass Communications and in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. David Vaughn graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in University Studies.)
