June 10, 2008—Another year, another top-notch performance: Students in Professor Jack Lindgren’s “Campaigns” class captured the third-place spot in the American Advertising Federation’s highly competitive national competition, held June 8, 2008, in Atlanta. This year’s presenting team was made up of students Katie Chapin (McIntire ’08), Angela Johnson (McIntire ’08), Kevin Knickerbocker (McIntire ’08), Carrie Petersik (McIntire ’08), and Kristine Salm (McIntire ’08).

The team’s strong showing in Atlanta followed a first-place finish in the competition’s regional round—the sixth year in a row that Lindgren’s students have done so.

In addition, this year Getty Images presented the University of Virginia with an award for the best use of imagery in an advertising campaign. The team received a $1,500 grant, and each of the team’s presenters will receive a framed image from the Getty Images collection. Getty Images provided use of images for the teams, and their materials were featured in the winning campaign.

The students’ campaign focused on building a presence for AOL’s instant messaging service, AIM, and AOL’s social media products in the 18- to 24-year-old demographic.

“The students did a wonderful job of positioning the AIM product in the marketplace,” Lindgren says. “They realized they couldn’t go head to head with products like Facebook and MySpace, so they had to find a new niche for AIM.”
 
The National Student Advertising Competition, in which more than 200 colleges participate, is the “premier college advertising competition,” according to the AAF.

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