May 24, 2007

Morningside College Ad Club team garners first place in national advertising campaign

A team from Morningside College’s Creative Edge Advertising Club won first place in the undergraduate level of the 2007 national Cadillac Case Study Competition.

Left to right: Brianna Blake, Dr. Pam Mickelson, Angela Uher, Erin Eckerman, Laura Andersen, Grant Leavitt.

Members of Team “indulge” presented their advertising campaign in the final round of judging on Wednesday, May 23, at Cadillac headquarters in Detroit, Mich. Top executives from Cadillac; Modernista!, Cadillac’s advertising agency; and edVentures Partners of Orinda, Calif., the company that sponsored the competition, participated in the final judging.

Morningside and the Western Michigan University were the chosen finalists in the national competition that included more than 1,200 students from 56 different undergraduate and 20 different master’s level business programs in colleges and universities from across the country and Canada.

“Our students performed very well against strong competition,” said Dr. Pam Mickelson, professor of business administration and economics, the faculty advisor for the ad club. “They met the challenges within the case study and presented their campaign with tremendous poise and confidence.”

As the first place team in the competition, Morningside's team "indulge" was awarded $3,000.  One first-place and one second-place winning team for undergraduate and master’s degree categories were awarded $3,000 and $1,000, respectively.

“We worked so hard to make our campaign and presentation the best it could be,” said Brianna Blake, a senior from Wiota, Iowa, and member of Team “indulge.” “It’s very exciting and rewarding to be recognized like this.”

In addition to Blake, other students on Team “indulge” included Laura Andersen, Omaha, Neb.; Erin Eckerman, Sioux City; Grant Leavitt, Marcus, Iowa; and Angela Uher, Sioux City.

This year’s assignment for the National Case Study Competition was to develop a multi-media branding campaign to bring a specific target market to the Cadillac brand, specifically the 2008 Cadillac CTS. The campaigns were required to meet three objectives: decrease the average age of the Cadillac consumer; increase the conquest rate; and improve the image and reputation of Cadillac.

This is the second year that Creative Edge has participated in the national case study competition. Last year they were selected as one of the top two undergraduate finalists.

Additional members of Morningside’s Creative Edge Advertising Club and their associated team names, which are also the tag lines for their campaigns, include the following:

Team “C-T-S:" Ashley Brewer, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa; Derek Rowedder, Denison, Iowa; Sean Rud and Chantel Stratton, Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Matt Stachowitz, La Crosse, Wis.

Team “Defining Cadillac:" Katie Bowen, Keystone, Iowa; Sara Courter, Rockwell City, Iowa; Nicole DeVries, Sioux City; Jonathan Goodin, Sloan, Iowa; and Allison Kirby, Whiting, Iowa.

Team “Success Brings:" Jama Farah, Sioux City; Jeremy Gabel, LeMars, Iowa; Kayla Joslin, Odebolt, Iowa; Reed

Nuss, Nebraska City, Neb.; and Megan Wunsch, Garner, Iowa.

The entire Creative Edge Advertising Club was on hand for the final round of judging in Detroit. Andersen and Wunsch are co-presidents of the Creative Edge Advertising Club and provided direction for the Morningside teams.