Bullet Ad Team
Goes to District Competition

One College of Media & Communication student won an award for “Best Presenter” in District 10 of the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition, held April 9-10 in Dallas.

Katherine Parker, a senior advertising major and business minor from Breckenridge, Texas, received the award at the competition. Parker said that she was honored to win the award and she felt that the competition as a whole was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I was so humbled and shocked to receive the special judges’ award for best presenter,” Parker said. “A few of my teammates had mentioned the possibility, but of course I didn’t want to get my hopes up. When they called my name, I was already in tears from the sweet things the judge had to say. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

CoMC’s Bullet Ad Team, which is made up of a group of select students from the student organization Tech Advertising Federation, placed fifth in the District 10 team competition.

Shannon Bichard, Ph.D., associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Advertising, has been the faculty adviser to the Ad Team since 2002. She said the students initially started working on a campaign for their client, Pizza Hut, in September.

Bichard noted that it took hours of research, creative brainstorming and production to put the campaign together, and that the team members were so dedicated, they even gave up their spring break.

“It was a fantastic team of students and I am very proud of the campaign they developed for Pizza Hut,” Bichard said.

In order to become a member of the Ad Team, students had to undergo a structured application process that included submitting content that yielded a “wow” factor, one-on-one interviews, and group projects that showed Bichard how certain groups of students worked together, and what strengths and weaknesses they possessed.

Taylor Condit, a senior advertising major from Boerne, Texas, was the Ad Team’s media director. She said she initially wanted to join the team because she knew it was an opportunity that would challenge her skills.

“Being on Ad Team has taught me more than any other experience I’ve been a part of,” Condit said. “It’s amazing to see how far you can push yourself alongside a team that is so passionate. Our challenge this year was extremely difficult, and I’m really proud of our final product.”

Condit said that in addition to learning from working with her own team, she also learned a lot from watching other teams present at the competition.

“Competition is really adrenaline-based, and it was really interesting to see what other teams came up with,” Condit said. “My experience on the team has given me the ability to objectively watch other presentations, easily recognizing good ideas and pin-pointing the holes in other campaigns.”

Parker said that although the team was disappointed when their campaign placed fifth, looking back, they wouldn’t change a thing. “We went with a campaign that we were proud of, and we are still proud of it today,” she explained. “Our team did amazing, and I am so proud that we showed up and gave it our all!”

Bichard agreed, and said that while she would love to win every year, the team gave it their all this year, and learned a lot along the way.

“The learning process is so incredible though – they truly all win, even if they don’t technically take first place at competition,” Bichard said.

The Ad Team includes Bailey Baethge, Kelly Berend, Peyton Chaney, Alyssa Chavez, Taylor Condit, Townes Donovan, Nicole Ficco, Benjamin Lambourne, Darcy LeDoux, Haley Ostrander, Katherine Parker, Jake Quintanilla, Adrianna Robertson, Amanda Rodriguez, Andrew Sellier, Samantha Serocki, Tyler Smith and Caghan Standlee.

(Rachel Blevins is a sophomore journalism major from Mineral Wells, Texas. Jay Crain is a senior electronic media and communications major from De Kalb, Texas.)