AAF team places second at national advertising competition

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
June 15, 2010

The American Advertising Federation (AAF) team at Texas State University-San Marcos won second place at national competition June 11 in Orlando, Fla.

The AAF National Student Advertising Competition is the premiere advertising competition in the country dating back to 1973.

Texas State competed against 18 other district winners from around the country. Chapman University from California finished first while third place went to University of Wisconsin-Madison and fourth place was University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Texas State's presenters were Dan Wehmeier, Marissa Deslatte, Julie Korzekwa, Gabe Carrillo and Ben Wirtz. Teams were asked to prepare a marketing/advertising plan for State Farm Insurance, with a target market of 18-25 year olds. The judges at national were representatives from State Farm and their advertising agency. Texas State won first place in district competition in April 2010 to advance to nationals.

This marks the 12th time Texas State has advanced to nationals since 1990, winning two national championships and placing in the top four an additional seven times. The AAF team is a multi-disciplinary team with marketing, advertising, public relations, and communication design majors. Faculty advisors are Mary Ann Stutts, professor of marketing in the McCoy College of Business Administration and Alexander Muk, assistant professor of advertising in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.