The University of Tampa’s Advertising Club is gearing up for this year with their goals set high. With a new president and faculty advisor, the club is taking a more aggressive approach with activities and events.
This year the club will be competing in both local and national competitions. They participate in the events hosted by the American Advertising Federation monthly.
The Ad Club president Verner D’Souza is a senior advertising major and writing and communications minor who has been in the club since his freshman year. He is excited about the future of the club.
“Last year the club kind of fell apart. I feel like people lost faith in the club,” said D’Souza. “We’re working this year to rebuild its reputation.”
During weekly meetings, members will do activities that will test and exercise their creativity.
Each member of the club will be paired up with another member (like a creative writer or designer) to work on advertising campaigns that were unsuccessful, and turn them in to successful campaigns.
“This will be a great portfolio-building exercise,” D’Souza said.
The Ad Club will be competing locally in the Ad 2 Tampa Bay competitions. AD 2 Tampa Bay is Tampa’s association for young advertising professionals.
One program they offer allows students to pair-up with a mentor from the company: a professional in the advertising business.
This program is meant to help students decide what job they would like to have in the advertising field.
“We want to connect more students with professionals,” said D’Souza. Gracieli Scremin, assistant professor of communication at UT, is the club’s faculty advisor. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in advertising at the University of Texas in Austin. Prior to joining UT (Tampa)’s faculty, Scremin taught advertising courses at UT in Austin and worked at advertising agencies in Brazil, and was a web analyst in marketing.
This is Scremin’s first year as the club’s advisor. Members are excited to have her on staff.
“She’s an amazing mentor,” said D’Souza. “She’s really passionate about advertising.”
Scremin’s goals for the Ad Club this semester are to strengthen membership and to grow together as a club.
“The club is a great way for passionate members to have experience in leadership roles,” said Scremin.
The Ad Club is currently working to join with UT’s Public Relations Organization to work together on projects.
“I want the club to become involved on campus and help with advertising with other organizations on campus,” said Scremin. “And I really want the club to become more involved with the Tampa ad community.”
This year, they will be competing in the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) for the first time. NSAC, hosted by the American Advertising Federation, is a competition where students come up with an advertising campaign for a specific brand or company that the NSAC picks. This year, the company is JCPenny.
“I want to assemble a strong team for the competition,” said D’Souza. “This would get recognition for the school and be a great experience for all who compete in it.”
No matter what students’ majors are, the Ad Club is a great way to get involved.
“A lot of students think they have until senior year to get involved, then during senior year they wished they joined earlier,” said D’Souza.
The club itself is free to join, but the Ad 2 and the AAF combined memberships cost about $50.
“How much time you put into the club is how much you’ll get back,” said D’Souza.
For more information or to join the Advertising Club, contact Verner D’Souza at vdsouza@spartans.ut.edu.
Cara Fetzer can be reached at cmfetzer@spartans.ut.edu.
I’ve never heard of this club. It sounds really neat. Keep up the good work!