Friday, 5/2/97 Students market regional advertising win Limited
budget, lack of major won’t stop UCLA club en route to
nationals
By Jennifer Mukai Daily Bruin Contributor At a university often
dubbed huge and impersonal, how do you find your niche, make your
mark? "Just do it," was the mantra of 21 UCLA undergraduate
students. Initiative, enthusiasm and determination can work
miracles, as members of the fledgling Advertising and Marketing
Club have learned in a groundbreaking year for Bruins interested in
marketing careers. In a mere nine months, the 21-student team has
managed to establish the club, develop an award-winning advertising
campaign for a major national corporation, and stir interest in
shaping future UCLA curriculum around their project. And all this
without the help of a single textbook course. UCLA currently has no
advertising major, and very little in the way of undergraduate
courses specifically focused on marketing and advertising. This may
soon change, now that the UCLA Advertising and Marketing Club has
won top honors at the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF)
District 15 National Student Advertising Competition. With the
regional title under its belt, the club is headed for the national
competition in Kansas City, Mo. come June. Pizza Hut, this year’s
sponsor of the AAF competition, challenged students to develop a
marketing campaign to accompany its $2-billion renovation plan. The
April 19 regional competition consisted of a 20-minute audio-visual
presentation before a panel of judges, followed by a 10-minute
question and answer session. Simplicity and consistency were the
keys, according to club student advisor Steve Young. Seizing on the
old Pizza Hut slogan "Makin’ it great," the UCLA team focused on
hitting consumers in "short and powerful ways" so that "greatness"
became synonymous with Pizza Hut in their minds. Changing slogans
and sending different messages only confuses people, explained
Young, a second-year MBA student. The club’s strategy included such
promotional ideas as a "Great Opening" for the restaurant, and
"Great Escapes" sweepstakes to attract dine-in customers. The club
even shot a low-budget commercial on and around campus centered
around the theme of "makin’ it better … better …" and finally
"great." Communications Studies department Chair Neil Malamuth said
he was impressed with the professionalism of the final
presentation. "We were clearly the underdog," he said of the UCLA
team and its shoestring budget. Unlike other schools with
established advertising and marketing programs for undergraduates,
he explained, UCLA’s communications department was unable to
provide much funding for the event. "But the students kept each
other alive through many difficult steps," continued Malamuth, and
"really took initiative in being the driving force in getting UCLA
involved." Calling on "every favor ever owed us" saved the team
many times, remarked creative director Kim Bayley with a laugh. The
fifth-year political science student went on to relate how a club
member’s mother – who happened to be an executive of the Sir Speedy
printing company – saved the club about $2,000 in printing costs.
Account supervisor Michael Monagle recounted similar stories of
"divine intervention," in which friends helped shoot and edit the
club’s presentation commercial and provided computer animation,
among other tasks. The national AAF competition in June promises to
provide great networking opportunities for participants, according
to UCLA club advisor Young, who won the national title in 1992 as
an undergraduate at the University of Montana. This factor, as well
as simple dedication, seems to have generated extraordinary
excitement within the team. Bayley and another senior member, sales
promotion director Jamey Balousek, are even foregoing their
commencement ceremonies to attend the competition, which fall on
the same day. Still, commented Monagle, whether or not UCLA places
at the national AAF competition in June is really a secondary
concern. What is important to him is ensuring that the groundwork
laid this year leads to further development of the program in
future years. "We’re hoping to build something that will remain
after we’re gone," said the fourth-year communications studies
student. Bayley expressed similar hopes, seeming happy at just
having "raised a few eyebrows." Students this year received class
credit during Winter Quarter on a pass/no pass basis while
preparing for the AAF competition. Monagle said he hopes the
specially-designed course, titled "The Communications Paradigm,"
will be offered again next year on a letter grade basis. While
enthusiastic about the Advertising and Marketing Club’s successes,
Malamuth made no promises of how the project will be integrated
into the Communications Studies curriculum. He stated that he sees
"a potential place for it" within the major, but only "as part of a
much larger set of courses." As a liberal arts school, Malamuth
explained, UCLA is more focused on teaching theory and analysis
than on teaching applications of particular skills. Bayley noted
the diverse majors of the club members, which ranged from sociology
to English to art design. "It is all vaguely relevant (to marketing
and advertising)," she said. Account supervisor Ryan Takeuchi
agreed that the diversity of students within this year’s "dream
team" had been a major factor of the club’s success. "We come from
so many walks of life," said Takeuchi, that everyone’s combined
ideas created a "more buyable, feasible product. Advertising is not
all academics; (what counts is) what sells at the end of the
day."