News From the Advertising Program

            The spring Strategic Advertising Campaigns class, MCJ 148, traveled to San Francisco to compete with five other schools and present their work.

          Although the Fresno State team did not win the competition, their hard work did not go to waste and the experience was memorable.

          “The experience taught us a lot and got us ready for the real world by showing us that you might not always get the account,” Fresno State senior Stephen Laswell said. “This project was like real work experience and helped us all to gain a better understanding of how the industry works.”  

Before the competition, the class goal was to develop a national campaign for Postal Vault Systems. Postal Vault Systems (PVS) is a new series of locking mailboxes with the capacity to hold letters, small parcels, and weeks worth of mail. This campaign consisted of marketing research, development of communication objectives as well as a strategy for an integrated marketing communication program.

The competition judges said their campaign was well executed and fit the original guidelines, however, Nevada State University’s campaign ended up taking first place.

The students will take a copy of the campaign with them after the semester to add to their portfolios and this product can assist them in obtaining jobs in the field.

“This is the single best way for advertising students to get ready for the real world,” Laswell said. “It puts students in all the high positions that they would probably not get to experience in an internship or an entry level job. You really learn how to develop a campaign from start to finish.”