Name: Jessica Edwards
Year: Senior
Major: Advertising
Hometown: Yardley, PA
HC: Tell us about what AAF NSAC is.
Jessica: AAF stands for the American Advertising Federation, a national organization for advertising professionals. They have chapters in different cities across the country as well as at various universities, like here at Penn State. NSAC is the National Student Advertising Competition that AAF holds each year where their college chapters pitch campaigns against other schools to win the “account”. The Nittany Group (our “agency’s” name) is comprised mostly of senior advertising majors in the College of Communications who work throughout the fall and spring semesters to build an integrated marketing campaign for the client selected for that year.
HC: Tell us about this year’s campaign.
Jessica: So this year we’ve had the privilege to be inspired by Glidden, specifically their Brilliance Collection sold exclusively at Walmart. It’s been quite a challenge to meld together the consumers of both brands and find out what they have in common. We conducted extensive research throughout the fall and transformed our findings into relevant messaging to be placed in both traditional and nontraditional media as well as in-store initiatives, all to increase the awareness of Glidden in Walmart, encourage consideration, and ultimately drive purchase.
HC: How does this year’s campaign stack up against previous years?
Jessica: Last year I was one of the few juniors accepted onto the team to pitch a campaign designed for Nissan, proposing how to best reach a multicultural millenial target. We did very well, winning districts in New York City and traveling to Nationals in Austin, TX last June. Hopefully we can do just as well if not better this time around! The one thing that was very different with Glidden is that we weren’t creating a brand campaign, but rather a promotional one. Glidden wasn’t asking us to help them redefine or reinvent their brand, they simply wanted us to come up with ways to improve the sales of their brand in Walmart stores. As the team leader, this was a challenge for me to wrap my head around because it was so different from what I had been used to while working on Nissan. I really think we’ve come up with a great campaign and I can’t wait to present it to the judges in New York on the 27th.
HC: What made you want to become an advertising major nad get involved with AAF?
Jessica: Honestly, I came to Penn State knowing that I wanted to get into advertising. However, I didn’t truly understand what that meant and was unaware of all that this industry really has to offer. I originally thought I wanted to be a creative as I had worked on my high school’s yearbook and fell in love with design and Adobe software. That’s where it all started, but AAF really got me where I am now. I had attended AdClub my freshmen year and heard Professor Ken Yednock (the AAF advisor) talk about the team and I knew that was how I wanted to end my senior year. It’s seriously the best decision I ever made; as a junior I worked with the research team and discovered my passion for that aspect of advertising. And being the overall chair and a presenter has really developed my skills, an experience I could never quite put into words. I’m so grateful for all it has taught me and I sincerely recommend any ad major out there to get involved as soon as you can, it’s the closest thing to real-world experience you’ll get during your time here. You won’t regret it!
HC: What do you plan to do after graduation?
Jessica: Well like I had said, I’m really interested in research and consumer insight so I would ideally like to work as an account planner. I had the privilege of winning the Stickell Award for outstanding junior AAF member last year which led me to intern at Saatchi & Saatchi in New York over the summer. There, I was an account management intern for Capri Sun and Kool-Aid, which is another area of advertising I enjoy so I also wouldn’t mind taking an account position. I absolutely loved the city and hope to be back working there soon, after all it is the advertising capital of the world you know (at least in my opinion)!