Advertising students take top national honors
Jan. 23, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- Senior business students from Western Michigan University have won top honors in a nationwide advertising contest.
The senior advertising majors in a Creative Strategy course taught by Deborah Spake, assistant professor of marketing in the Haworth College of Business, entered the competition as a class project. Working individually or in teams, the students created public service announcements for Cleaner and Greener, a program of the Leonardo Academy, a nonprofit environmental organization. They competed in three categories: radio, television and print.
"I'm delighted -- but not completely surprised -- that our students made such a strong showing in this national competition," says Spake. "I used the competition as a class project as a way to expose the students to real-world scenarios."
Jason Meyer of Saginaw, Mich., won first place in the television category for his ad.
Meyer was also part of a group that took third place in the television category, teaming up with Alexandre Giglio of Midland, Mich., and Tsz Lok Yu of Hong Kong.
A WMU team also took second place in the radio category. Team members included: Jason Mengel of Brighton, Mich., Brandy Davis of Allegan, Mich., and David Stine of Madison Heights, Mich.
The Cleaner and Greener Program certifies companies that take action to reduce pollution from energy use, making it easy for consumers to identify environmentally responsible businesses. More information about the organization and the advertising competition is available on the Web at <www.cleanerandgreener.org>."
Media contact: Jessica English, 616 387-8400, jessica.english@wmich.edu