SFA students create full-scale campaigns, earn awards at AAF advertising competition

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Stephen F. Austin State University students, including members of the university's American Marketing Association student chapter and graphic design majors, made their mark during this year's District 10 American Advertising Federation Student Conference in Houston, earning top honors for their creative strategies and teamwork. Competing alongside students from across the region, SFA's talented representatives brought fresh ideas, built connections and gained real-world experience by crafting full-scale advertising campaigns in a high-stakes, industry-style challenge.

The client for the 2024 AAF-Houston competition was Rodney Jones, a personal injury lawyer in Houston, who provided a budget of $1 million for the student teams to create media plans and creative strategies spanning one year. AAF-Houston officials randomly assigned students with varying majors from different universities to teams of six or seven. Those teams worked from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to prepare complete advertising campaigns for Jones on the first day of the conference.

"Each student who participated in this event just moved forward in their career development," said Dr. Marlene Kahla, professor of management and marketing in SFA's Rusche College of Business and faculty advisor for SFA's AMA student chapter. "They entered the industry challenge, met new people and created a complete campaign within seven hours. Then, they selected people from their team to present their campaign to the industry judges. They are all winners."

The graphic design students in the competition were mentored by Peter Andrew, professor of art, and Daniel Anguiano, associate professor of graphic design, in SFA's Micky Elliott College of Fine Arts.

"This is a yearly event that our students look forward to so they can showcase their design skills, and it's an opportunity to network with the professional community of Houston," Anguiano said. "We are always grateful to the Friends of the Visual Arts that provides the grants for our students to attend events like this for their professional development."

Annabeth Wilkerson, first-year marketing student from Diboll, and Liz Canales, senior general business major from Houston, received top honors on the first-place team. Tess Cohen, first-year entrepreneurship student from Spring, and Charles Maples, graphic design junior from Longview, earned second-place honors with their team. Bradley Cavanaugh, junior English major with a marketing minor from Moscow, Texas; KJ Ghast, graphic design junior from Nacogdoches; and Moises Ordaz, graphic design senior from Houston served on the third-place team.

Other members of SFA's AMA student chapter participating in the AAF-Houston competition were Madden C. Bennett, junior from Austin; Jorge Cantu, junior from Houston; Katie Carcerano, junior from Orange; Amanda Flores, junior from Houston; Alexis Gallego, senior from Cleveland, Texas, and president of SFA's AMA student chapter; Isabel Jedmears, junior from Little Elm; Edna Rodriquez Mendoza, senior from Dallas; Caroline Oteiza, senior from Houston and vice president of SFA's AMA student chapter; Emily Ponce, junior from Nacogdoches; and Jennifer Rivas, senior from Lufkin.

Other graphic design students participating in the competition were Addie Clausen, senior from Lumberton; Scott Cordray, junior from Douglass; Jacob Crosby, sophomore from Kyle; Julio Espinoza, junior from Henderson; Juliana Frigo, junior from Abilene; Gideon Gyimah, graduate student from Ghana; Rebekah Glasgow, senior from Spring; Joycelyn King, junior from Crowley; Asher McAlister, junior from McKinney; Riley Troxel, senior from Katy; and Laney Wise, senior from Keller.

In addition to the competition, the conference offered résumé and portfolio reviews as well as a career fair to students. "Several marketing professionals at the career fair said they met SFA students and were impressed by them," Kahla said. "It's so exciting when you can tell that your students got the big picture during the conference."

For more information about SFA's Department of Management and Marketing, visit sfasu.edu/mgtmkt. For more information about SFA's School of Art, visit sfasu.edu/art.