Young Advertisers

Senior Jenn Boyd says the team had an interesting task that allowed each student to excel at what each does best.
"We had to create an integrated marketing campaign involving public relations, non-traditional media, the whole mix, and just take this product to the client and pretty much build it from the ground up."

The competition: sell a campaign that would get people to buy a secure locking mailbox.
Sound easy?
Cody Salinas says it took a lot of editing.
"We had to go back to the drawing board and come up with this commercial. It's a little kid with postal vault. So, we put that together and the judges loved it."

It's a project that takes almost the entire semester and many on this team, dubbed Black Diamond, had to give up a spring break.
Shauna McCarthy says they have spent so much time together during this semester that when they're apart, they miss one another.
"We started from about 11am and go until four something and just kept pushing because our deadline was spring break to get the whole book completed."

The students are in the class by invitation only and the instructors work as coaches.
"A lot of students in the class that have been in the class in previous years have said it's the best chance they have for a real world experience. It really felt like we were part of a team or competition to accomplish this goal."

The team heads to San Francisco for the national competition next month.