Ad Dash 2020 Recap
On Saturday, February 29th, the Student Ad Club at the University of Texas at Austin hosted their 4th annual Ad Dash Competition. This year, 25 students (chosen after a rigorous application process) were told their client was Bumble, a social networking app that connects people seeking love, friendship, and networking. Students were placed into 5 teams, based on career interests and strengths, and given the challenge to develop recommendations for Bumble that would increase brand awareness, knowledge, and positive attitudes towards the brand among undergraduate UT students.
The Austin advertising community has always supported the Ad Dash Competition, with this year being no different. Each participating ad agency (GSD&M, Preacher, Third Rail Creative, T3, and McGarrah Jesse) hosted one team at their Austin location and provided students with potentially useful resources to help them in the challenge. After a full day of brainstorming, researching, and putting together presentations at the agencies, the teams reconvened at Belo Center for New Media to present their work to Bumble judges. In this year’s Ad Dash, the team working with T3 took home the win. This team consisted of Cailyn Wesstrom (creative), Amanda Mascari (media), and Morgan Adams (PR).
We at TXADPR believe the Ad Dash Competition is a great opportunity for students to get a taste of professional life and encourage students to participate next year. To hear industry and student feedback on this year’s competition, please listen to our interviews on YouTube with Howard Hill of T3 and student Morgan Adams.
Teams
Preacher - Sergio Flores (Creative); Petra O’Brien (Media); Logan Woodward (Account Planning); Giselle Garcia (PR)
T3 - Caily Wesstrom (Creative); Amanda Mascari (Media); Morgan Adams (PR)
GSD&M - Josh Rudisel (Creative); Amanda Saunders (Media)’ Wis Escher (Account Planning); Saul Romo (Account Management)
McGarrah Jesse - Luis Baca (Creative); Erica Campbell (Media); Rafael Marquez (Account Planning); Alex Zhang (Account Management)
Third Rail Creative - An Duong (Creative); Kaitlyn Trowbridge (Media); Ruoshui Bao (Account Planning); Samantha Yung (Account Management)
Bumble Judges
Naseem Scaglione (Brand Marketing Consultant)
Haley Morgan (Associate Director Brand Marketing)
Jennie Worek (Brand Marketing Coordinator)
Meredith Thomas (Brand Marketing Coordinator)
Ad Dash Interviews and Transcriptions: Zoe Georgulas
