PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Zoe Menendez, of Milford, is a member of the Johnson & Wales University “Adteam,” which recently was announced as the winner of the 2017 National Student Advertising Competition hosted by the American Advertising Federation in New Orleans.

This marks the best finish in JWU history, surpassing the team’s second-place finish in the national round in 2015. JWU also is the first school in New England to win the competition.

JWU’s 31-member team, made up of students in the university’s advertising and marketing communications, marketing, graphic design and media communication studies programs, placed first over seven other finalists: The University of Kentucky, Florida State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma, Webster University, Grand Valley State University and South Dakota State University.

All teams gave presentations before a judging panel that included executives from Tai Pei, this year’s NSAC corporate client.

“This year’s Adteam dove head-first into their research and developed a product and consumer-centric advertising campaign that impressed Tai Pei executives and judges from across the country,” said Oscar Chilabato, associate professor, JWU College of Business, who accepted the $3,500 grand prize as the adviser to the Adteam.

“The NSAC gives our students practical, real-world experience as they learn how to use qualitative and quantitative research methods needed to create and implement effective advertising campaigns. Our strengths this year – our research and insights – were tightly tied to our creative recommendations, and we have been rewarded for them. I am proud of this group for all that they have accomplished.”

The trip to the national round marked the sixth time in seven years that JWU competed in final round of the competition. To qualify for the nationals, the team competed in a district round, beating out schools such as Boston University, Endicott, Emerson and others. The team then moved on to the 18-team semifinal round, where it advanced in favor of institutions including Syracuse, Louisiana State University, Purdue and others.

The National Student Advertising Competition is the AAF’s annual college advertising event that provides more than 2,000 college students the real-world experience of creating a strategic advertising, marketing and media campaign for a corporate client. All college teams that competed created an advertising campaign for this year’s corporate client, Tai Pei, which offers more than 10 varieties of single-serve, takeout-style entrees, an assortment of Asian appetizers and a full line of family sized products.

The campaigns included each element of advertising: television, radio, social media and print.

Submitted by Johnson & Wales University