UCO Strategic Communications Students Compete in Adobe Advertising Contest

May 1, 2020

One of the most difficult classes offered to Strategic Communication majors calls upon students to develop a campaign for a real brand and to compete against other schools in the National Student Advertising Competition. Students who enroll must function as a real-world advertising agency, allowing them to develop vital skills for entering the advertising world. The course content demands and time pressures mirror a professional situation.

“Students must apply to take this class, and participation in the contest tells future employers that these graduates have the ‘grit’ they’re looking for. It is a strong resume builder,” said Instructor Caroline Humphreys. “It’s also a class many students take twice because of the intense experience it provides.” She and Sandy Martin work together to lead students in developing their campaign each year. UCO has won at the district level twice in the past five years—a remarkable achievement in our large, competitive district.

This year, the contest was sponsored by Adobe, and students developed a campaign for a suite of cloud-based software products called Adobe Experience Cloud for Advertising. This high-tech, business-to-business campaign provided an extra challenge due to its technical nature dealing with cutting edge programmatic advertising. This year was also challenging with classes moving online due to COVID-19 at a critical point in the preparation of the campaign. Instead of the usual convention and contest, students pre-recorded their campaigns using Zoom and participated in a virtual competition.

Although UCO did not win this year, judges praised the campaign for its strong research, insights, and overall creative theme. “We are very proud of what these students accomplished with limited time and very limited tools,” Humphreys said.