Nissan Sponsors 2012 National Advertising Student Competition

Over the last 38 years, nearly 150,000 future advertising professionals across the nation have jump-started their careers through the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF’s) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), which provides college students with the hands-on, practical experience necessary to be competitive in the industry. And at the same time, 38 blue chip companies – one each year to sponsor the program – have had the unique benefit of getting the marketing insights of thousands of college students, trained in the art and science of advertising, and organized into teams that act as advertising agencies to focus their energies on their sponsor’s brand. The AAF today proudly announces that Nissan Americas will be the sponsor of the 39th annual NSAC.

The competition requires AAF college chapter members to develop a 32-page marketing campaign and 20-minute presentation in response to a case study co-authored by Nissan Americas and the AAF Academic Division. The case study will focus on the Nissan brand as it relates to multicultural audiences, expanding upon Nissan's innovation theme. Each student team will first participate at the district level, and then winning teams will advance to the national level. Student teams will pitch their campaign to a judging panel selected by the sponsor during the AAF’s National Conference, the annual ADMERICA!, to be held in 2012 in Austin, Texas from June 2-5.

Year after year, the quality of work and level of creativity surpasses the previous year, and sponsors have been known to implement the ideas generated by these impressive, high-caliber student teams.

“Nissan is extremely proud to support the creative minds of the National Student Advertising Competition,” said Jon Brancheau, vice president, Marketing, Nissan North America. “We are excited to see how the students can help Nissan deliver even more innovation to our communication platform.”

The AAF has 15 districts with over 200 college chapters represented. Last year, 148 AAF college chapters competed at the district level, and it is anticipated that that number will increase in 2012.

“The automotive sector is incredibly dynamic, and Nissan is an exciting and innovative brand in that sector, and so I know our students are going to be thrilled to learn that Nissan is the 2011-2012 NSAC sponsor. I am confident our partnership with Nissan will be a true testament to the quality of work our AAF college students can produce. Most of all, I thank Nissan for believing in and supporting the future of the advertising industry by providing our college students the kind of hands-on training these students cannot get anywhere else. We look forward to working with the Nissan Team,” said AAF president and CEO James Edmund Datri.

Nissan Americas will not only sponsor the NSAC this year, but will also host the 2011 AAF Student Conference in Washington, D.C. on October 27-28. This event connects students with a variety of professional development opportunities and encourages them to meet and network with industry leaders and AAF alumni.

To learn more about how to start an AAF college chapter and participate in the NSAC, please visit www.aaf.org/education.