Ball State's American Advertising Federation (AAF) student chapter placed third in AAF District 6 National Student Advertising Competition April 20 in Detroit.

Ball State's ad campaign presentation team competed against student organizations representing 11 other Illinois, Indiana and Michigan universities.

The Ball State team of senior advertising majors Nick Basham, Jessica Dinkelman and Michael Panyard; and junior advertising majors Michael Metcalf and Katie Montag-Niese won the ad campaign plansbook competition, which accounted for half of its total score. The 32-page book included strategy, media and creative advertising for Coca-Cola Classic targeted to a multicultural audience of 13- to 24- year-olds. 

This is the fifth consecutive year that Ball State's team has placed within the top three in the district competition. Ball State advertising teams have won the competition the previous three years.

"Our success is due to our academic focus on teaching students the real-world, practical side of advertising as well as the dedication of our AAF student members in developing a professional, high quality ad campaign," said Michael Hanley, assistant professor of journalism and the AAF faculty adviser.

AAF is the trade association that represents 50,000 professionals in the advertising industry. It has a national network of 210 ad clubs and connects the industry with an academic base through its college chapters.

By Chantel Arsenault