OSU-Cascades marketing students will make their way to Spokane, Wash. on Friday, April 17 to compete against nine other universities in the regional competition of the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), in the hopes of moving to the national competition in May.  NSAC offers an opportunity for students to achieve a professional-level educational experience in the industry’s leading student advertising competition.  This is the first time students from OSU-Cascades will have entered the competition.

Student groups were challenged with creating an integrated communications campaign to address the problem of binge drinking on college campuses on behalf of the Century Council.  The Century Council is a national not-for-profit organization funded by distillers and dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, and sponsored the 2009 NSAC.  This is the first time the contest will ask students to address a social issue that will promote a positive behavioral change.  In previous competitions, students have created campaigns for companies such as AOL, Yahoo!, Toyota, and the New York Times.

Finalists will be selected from the NSAC district competitions and present their work to The Century Council at the AAF National Conference which takes place June 4-5 in Arlington, Va. Many top advertising agencies use this opportunity to recruit the advertising industry’s newest talent. Over 150 AAF college chapters are expected to participate in the 2009 competition.

Nineteen students from OSU-Cascades, all in Professor David Knuff’s Fundamentals of Marketing class, devoted the winter term to the research and collaborative creative work involved in the creation of an integrated campaign.   Led by project coordinators and seniors Kasey Every and Nicole Mintiens, 14 of the students will travel to the Davenport Hotel in Spokane for the regional competition.  They will compete against Boise State University, Brigham Young University – Idaho, Idaho State University, Montana State University, Montana State University – Billings, Portland State University, University of Idaho, University of Oregon, and Washington State University.  

Every founded OSU-Cascades Student Marketing Group and serves as the group’s chief executive officer.  She was the recipient of Oregon State University College of Business Dean’s Leadership and Professional Achievement Award in June 2008.  Professor Knuff’s marketing students are members of a university chapter of AAF.  They are active in the local chapter of AdFed  and raised funds for their travel to Spokane through a raffle at the AdFed’s recent Drake Awards. 

Knuff is an assistant professor of marketing.  His teaching includes consumer behavior, international marketing, and personal selling. His research is primarily consumer behavior oriented, focusing on green consumerism, question and behavior phenomenon, word-of-mouth communications, and affective forecasting and he has lectured at University Center Cesar Ritz in Brig, Switzerland.