Heineken USA recently welcomed members of the Ad Campaigns Team’s Creative Team to New York to honor them for winning first place in Heineken’s Public Service Advertising Competition.  Pictured are Nick Timmins, Natalie Clarke, Don Blaustein (Heineken USA president and CEO), Lindsay Moore and Dan Tearno (Heineken USA senior vice president for corporate relations).

TCU Creative Team wins top national award

Creative Team members of the TCU Advertising Campaigns team have placed first nationally in the Heineken USA/American Advertising Federation Public Service Advertising Competition.

The award was presented to three members of the campaigns creative team –Nick Timmins, Natalie Clarke and Lindsay Moore – in New York by Heineken officials in late April.

“The competition was one of the best experiences I've had because it offered a real-life opportunity to create an idea and present it to an actual client," Timmins said.

Timmins, Clarke and Moore received a $3,000 first place prize and the opportunity to pitch their campaign ideas to Heineken USA executives in White Plains, N.Y.

The University of Arizona finished second in the national competition.

Students were asked to create a drink responsibly campaign that included a print, radio and new media idea. The TCU students' responsible drinking Heineken campaign, titled "Who Will You Be Tonight?" featured a series of television commercials, radio spots and print ads highlighting typical party guests, and encouraged party hosts not to let their guests get out of hand.

"For the first time ever in TCU's history and in the history of the 10th district, our creative group won the AAF Heineken creative competition for their public service campaign," Campaigns team adviser Mike Wood said. "The whole campaigns team just works in harmony-in complete sync. I love to watch them because it's like turning a switch on."

In another national advertising competition, the defending district champion TCU Advertising Campaigns team placed second out of 16 teams at the District 10 American Advertising Federation (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) in Dallas in mid-April.

As a member of District 10, one of the two largest districts in the nation, the TCU Campaigns team has a chance to claim the wild card spot and advance to compete on the national level at the AAF National Conference in June.

Wood said that although the team must wait until May 16 to find out whether or not they claimed the wild card spot, "my bet is that this team will take TCU all the way to the top-because they are winners in every form of the word."

By comparing team plan books which detail campaign strategies, a panel of judges will decide between the second place teams in District 10 and District 5 to determine the wild card team. The TCU Campaigns team, made up of 17 students in majors such as advertising/ public relations, graphic design, business, and sociology, placed a mere 2.6 points behind Texas State University-San Marcos.

Each year, the AAF teams up with a corporate sponsor and students are asked to research the product and its competition, identify potential problem areas and devise a completely integrated communications campaign for the client.  This year, students researched, prepared and pitched a campaign for the 2008 NSAC client, AOL Instant Messenger.

For more information about the TCU Campaigns team, contact Mike Wood at m.wood@tcu.edu, and to find out more about the NSAC, visit www.aaf.org/nsac.