UPDATE ON APRIL 23: The University of Nevada, Reno's integrated marketing communications team finished a very close second to a team from the University of California, Berkeley in the regional portion of the National Student Advertising Competition (NASAC) held on campus Saturday. The University's team was complimented by the judges on their strong presentation style. The team is made up of strategic communications students from the Reynolds School of Journalism and marketing students from the College of Business.

The Berkeley team moves on to the the national portion of the competition scheduled for early June in Austin, Texas.

POSTED BEFORE THE REGIONAL COMPETITION: Student members of the University of Nevada, Reno Integrated Marketing Communications Competition Team have plenty to be proud of and excited for this year. With recent wins by team members in the student division of the local ADDY awards last month, the full team now has its sights on a wind this weekend during their districts' National Student Advertising Competition, hosted by the University in Reno April 21.

The competition, which is sponsored by AAF, is divided into 15 districts, each containing teams anywhere from one to five states. The University is hosting district 14, which this year is comprised of California State University, Fresno; San Jose State University; University of California, Berkeley; the University of San Francisco, and the University of Nevada, Reno.

This year, Nissan is the corporate client and has provided students in the national competition with a unique challenge. Students must research the product and its competition, identify potential problems and develop an integrated communications campaign for the client. Each student team then "pitches" its campaign to a panel of judges. Nissan has released desired campaign objectives in its selected target markets, a detailed case study of its product history as well as an outline of their current advertising history to students to prepare for the competition.

"Students have been preparing their presentation and campaign book since the fall," Bob Felten, assistant professor of advertising and public relations and the team's adviser, said. "This is the first time we have hosted the competition on campus. It has been in Reno once before, but was hosted by the local professional chapter of AAF."

The students participating in the competition are all hoping their hard work pays off. Kyle Adams is a senior studying marketing, and is one of the students who will compete.

"We have some of the brightest individuals I have ever met working on this campaign and some awesome advisers," Adams said. "I think our chances are very high in placing."

Judy Strauss, marketing professor and another team adviser, enjoys preparing students to be the best professionals they can be.

"Their involvement with an integrated marketing communications competition provides them with learning experiences for developing a plan for a national or global organization in an intensely competitive environment," Strauss said.

During the past 10 years, the University of Nevada, Reno's integrated marketing communication teams have won the regional competition three times, placed in regionals once, placed in the national competition twice and were the national champions in 2003.

The competition will begin at 9:30 a.m., April 21, in the Ansari Business Building, room 106. It is open to the public at no charge. This year's ADMerica National Conference is in Austin, Texas, June 2 through 5. Winners from each district will advance to the national competition. For more information, contact Strauss at jstrauss@unr.edu.