Welcome to morganton.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

Morganton.com - Morganton - The News Herald

HomeNewsEntertainmentSportsLifestylesOpinionCommunityWeather Online Tools Jobs | Real Estate | Shopping | Classified

Hickory AppState students named finalists in national advertising competition

From left to right: Professor Laura Brittain and students David James, Richard Carlton, Chris Sisk and Carlton Henderson.

Press Release

Appalachian State University

Published: April 27, 2009

HICKORY - An advertising campaign created by a team of four first-year advertising students from Appalachian State University's Hickory campus has been announced as a finalist in one of the most acclaimed advertising student competitions is the nation.

The annual One Show College Competition, a tradition dating back to 1975, receives more than 900 entries from around the world in the categories of print, design, TV, innovative marketing and interactive media. The 2009 One Show College Competition challenged students to create an advertising campaign and/or designing corporate branding for an unestablished brand: Long's Horseradish, a family-owned company from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

David James of Morganton, Richard Carlton and Carlton Henderson of Lincolnton, and Christopher Sisk of Hickory, all juniors at Appalachian State University, combined their talents to create a campaign as part of a first-year design course taught by lecturer Laura Brittain. Brittain assigned the project to the four-man team as part of their semester curriculum. The team had only one week to create and submit a video pitch of their project to Professor Brittain and then another week to submit it to the One Show for consideration. The team's entry was announced as a finalist for the One Show's Client Pitch Competition in mid-April.

The team based its campaign on the history of the Long's Horseradish brand, which was established in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1901. The campaign's marketing objective was to position the "simple and ugly" horseradish root as a beautiful symbol of quality. The creative campaign centered on the tagline, "Grab the spice by the root," and spanned everything from print and radio ads to packaging. Each advertising vehicle in the campaign evoked the simple, organic elegance the team felt was central to Long's brand identity and regional character.

Supporting the creative was a comprehensive marketing strategy to take the product into more grocery stores and health food stores, where it would be set aside in a special section in the produce department of local markets, rather than be displayed with other condiments of lesser quality. They also devised a marketing strategy to promote the Long's brand by arranging for it to be served in restaurants across the country, where consumers can experience its excellence firsthand.

The team from ASU will compete against nine other finalist teams from across the nation in The One Show Client Pitch Competition, which is being held the afternoon of May 7, 2009, at the Helen Mills Theater in New York City. The nine other teams of finalists represent the University of Oregon, California State University - Long Beach, VCU Brandcenter, Southern Methodist University, Academy of Art University, Texas A&M University, Commerce Berghs School of Communications, Roxxan Rendon and the University of Texas – Austin.

The One Show Client Pitch Competition is judged by the ability to create and articulate a focused strategy and the persuasiveness of the marketing pitch. Each team will be given 15 minutes to articulate a focused strategy and persuasive marketing pitch for Long's Horseradish to a Long's representative and several senior level advertising creative professionals, who will serve as judges of this year's competition. The winning team will be announced and awarded $2,000 at the One Show Education Festival Awards Party on the evening of May 7, 2009.

While in New York, students will also have the opportunity to have their advertising and design portfolios reviewed by advertising industry professionals, tour New-York-area agencies, attend presentations by leading agencies including R/GA and TBWA/Chiat/Day, and attend The One Show Student, Interactive and Awards ceremonies May 5 through 8, 2009.