It took months: delving through research, finding strategic direction, creating media plans, designing advertisements, creating artwork and finally, crafting a presentation in the middle of a global pandemic.

Eventually, Chapman’s National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team submitted the complete campaign to the larger NSAC competition — and was rewarded handsomely. After intense planning and devising a strategy for business-to-business marketing, the team was selected as a national finalist, where they placed eighth in the nation out of 200 total schools. On March 30, it was announced that Chapman’s NSAC squad had won 13 ADDY Awards for the Orange County region. 

“I was genuinely shocked that we won 13 awards; we only submitted in 12 categories, but ended up winning Best of Show for the collegiate level,” said Caroline Seeley, a junior public relations and advertising major. “I am incredibly proud of this team and the work they put into the campaign — not to mention the adaptability and perseverance it took to transition to working remotely during the spring of last year, in the peak of competition crunch time.”

Sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the competition aims to give college students experience devising a marketing strategy for a real-life corporate brand. During the academic year, Chapman’s NSAC team, Circle Advertising, worked as a class to create a full-funnel advertising campaign for 2020’s client Adobe. The team then competed against other schools using this mock campaign with the hopes of being selected as one of the eight national finalists — eventually earning American Advertising Awards (ADDYs). 

“The AAF and ADDY awards are highly sought after,” said Kathy Thibault, Chapman NSAC’s faculty adviser. “It is an honor to win these awards, because it is the advertising community that judges these entries, and they are in the industry that everyone in the (Chapman) public relations and advertising program wants to get into.”

The award victories could mean big things for members of the team, considering their ties to a highly respected advertising organization in the AAF. 

“This is also an attended function by people in our area, so they are seeing our achievements and saying, ‘Hey, look at all this work Chapman students are doing,’” Thibault said. “That elevates us within the local public relations and advertising community because they realize that ‘These are students I want to have for my internships or jobs when they are graduating.’”

Beyond establishing professional connections, NSAC also connects like-minded students who are passionate about advertising, strategy and media. 

“My favorite part about NSAC is getting to work with the incredibly talented people on the team,” Seeley said. “Since we spend so much time together in and outside of class, we are very close-knit and Circle (Advertising) has become such a family to me at Chapman. I am so thankful to have the chance to work with my friends on something we all love doing.”

For those interested in joining the student-run agency, NSAC will begin recruiting new members for the 2021-2022 academic year soon. Potential applicants can follow at @Circlead on Instagram for updates. 

“NSAC is the greatest learning tool Chapman provides. For students of all types of majors, it teaches teamwork, research, application and puts you in a real-world situation,” said Carson Turbedsky, a sophomore business administration major. “I love the ability to work with these real-world brands and create amazing campaigns with the diverse skill sets of the NSAC team.”