WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the American Advertising Federation (AAF) announced Pizza Hut as the 2015 sponsor of the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC).
According to Oracle, annual spending power among millennials will have eclipsed that of the boomers by 2018. Their ever-increasing influence, coupled with their extensive first-hand knowledge of social media and usage of mobile technology, has attracted Pizza Hut to sign on as a corporate sponsor for the AAF’s 2015 National Student Advertising Competition.
Each year, a few thousand students across 150 college campuses compete to solve a marketing challenge for a corporate sponsor through the NSAC, allowing brands like Pizza Hut to get marketing insights directly from students trained in the art and science of advertising. Pizza Hut previously sponsored the NSAC in 1997, and the AAF team is thrilled to partner with the brand once again.
“Pizza Hut is in position for another wave of tremendous growth and we’re looking forward to partnering with the American Advertising Federation and being the focus assignment of more than 2000 students across 150 college campuses,” states Doug Terfehr, Director, Public Relations, Pizza Hut. “The pizza landscape continues to evolve and Pizza Hut has a track record of leading evolutions like this. We can’t wait to see what ideas and solutions the students come up with to help us better serve our customers in 2015 and beyond.”
The 2015 NSAC will require AAF college chapter teams to develop a written integrated marketing campaign proposal and a 20-minute presentation in response to a real-world case study, co-authored by Pizza Hut and the AAF Education Services department. Each student team will first compete virtually or in person at the district level in one of the AAF’s 15 districts or the virtual district. Following the semi-finals in May, the top eight teams will advance to the national level where each will pitch their campaign in front of client judges to win the national title during the AAF’s National Conference, ADMERICA!, at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 10-13, 2015.
“Both the advertising landscape and the consumers have changed dramatically over the past 17 years since we last worked with Pizza Hut on the National Student Advertising Competition, and the AAF is equally as excited to see what new innovative ideas the students have in store for this iconic fast food brand,“ said Constance Cannon Frazier, Chief Operating Officer, American Advertising Federation. “I want to thank Pizza Hut for supporting the future of the advertising industry by providing our students with yet another exciting marketing challenge.”
To learn more about AAF college chapters and how to participate in the NSAC, please visit www.aaf.org/education.
About the American Advertising Federation
The American Advertising Federation (AAF), the nation’s oldest national advertising trade association, and the only association representing all facets of the advertising industry, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and acts as the “Unifying Voice for Advertising”. The AAF’s membership is comprised of nearly 100 blue chip corporate members comprising the nation’s leading advertisers, advertising agencies, and media companies; a national network of nearly 200 local clubs representing 40,000 advertising professionals; and more than 200 AAF college chapters with over 5,000 student members. The AAF operates a host of programs and initiatives including the Advertising Hall of Fame, the American Advertising Awards, the National Student Advertising Competition, the Mosaic Center on Multiculturalism, and summer Ad Camps for high school students. For more information on the full range of AAF programming, visit www.aaf.org.
Pizza Hut, Inc.
Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), delivers more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant in the world. In 2014, Pizza Hut was named the Harris Poll Equitrend® Pizza Brand of the Year and was the recipient of the Innovation and Leadership in Advertising Award from the American Advertising Federation, 10th District. The only pizza company to be named a top ten franchise in 2013 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Pizza Hut began 56 years ago in Wichita, Kansas, and today operates more than 14,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. Pizza Hut also is the proprietor of the BOOK IT!® Program, which is a long-standing children’s literacy program used in more than 620,000 classrooms nationwide. To order online from Pizza Hut, visit PizzaHut.com.