The American Advertising Federation (AAF) hosts the annual ADDY Awards, which are the biggest and most prestigious competition in the advertising business. The competition is divided into three levels: local, district, and national. The District 10 competition took place in Dallas, Texas, back in March. Acorns campaign by Maddie Otero and Morgan Martinez won SILVER; Fender had Helena Hargraves and Kailyn Sawhny win SILVER; Skout’s Honor Pet Odor Eliminator campaign earned Helena Hargraves win GOLD; and Truth Initiative’s campaign led by Spencer Hogan, Bella Mac and Allie Weinstein win GOLD. Every student who placed Gold or Silver in the district level advances to the national competition.
Early in May, the national competition winners were revealed, and later that month, in Salt Lake City, Utah, during the AAF ADMERICA Conference, awards were presented.
At the National ADDY Awards, Truth Initiative campaign by Spencer Hogan, Bella Mac and Allie Weinstein was recognized with a SILVER ADDY. Acorns by Maddie Otero and Morgan Martinez earned a SILVER National ADDY. Helena’s campaign for Skout’s Honor Pet Odor Eliminator took home the SILVER , while Helena’s and Kailyn’s campaign for Fender took home the GOLD National ADDY Award.
We are beyond thrilled that Spencer, Bella, Allie, Morgan, Maddie, Helena and Kailyn’s campaigns received national recognition and brought four National ADDY Awards to SMU!
On April 17-19, Southern Methodist University had the honor of hosting the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) for the first time on campus in 41 years. NSAC is a collegiate advertising competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Two hundred seventy-five students participated in this year’s competition, representing 21 universities from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. These talented students developed a campaign for Proctor & Gamble’s Tide for this year’s competition and presented it to a panel of judges.
Temerlin Advertising Institute Professor Nicole Haddad directed and led this year’s team. The SMU team showcased its skills and creativity and secured a commendable fourth-place finish. Ben Perry, a student on SMU’s team, earned the impressive title of best presenter in the competition.
“Seeing myself and others be recognized for the hard work we put in not only this year but throughout our academic careers was truly invigorating. Winning best presenter was an honor that reflected not just my own efforts but especially those of my classmates and team in our pursuit of great work and determination to make each other better every day. Being a Temerlin student is a true blessing.” – Ben Perry
In conjunction with NSAC, Southern Methodist University hosted the AAF’s Mosaic Awards. Companies, agencies, and individuals from District 10 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) were recognized. Twenty-one awards were given for their commitment and work to diversity and inclusion. Our Endowed Distinguished Chair and Director of the Temerlin Advertising Institute, Joe Phua, spoke at the ceremony.
Additionally, the American Advertising Federation hosted an awards ceremony for District 10, where students and faculty members were recognized. Dr. Mark Allen was awarded the “Outstanding Educator of the Year” award, which you can read more about [here]. Scholarships, a symbol of academic excellence, were also awarded to students. We are delighted to acknowledge three of our creative students who were among the recipients. These students include Spencer Hogan who was awarded the Jim Goodnight AAF scholarship, Ethan Jones who was awarded the June Cerrato AAF scholarship, and Kailyn Sawhny who was awarded the Harry Ottman AAF scholarship.
“I’m honored and excited to receive this award! Thank you to all the people who have guided me through this journey. I am so excited to further my advertising experience!” – Kailyn Sawhny
We were thrilled to host this year’s AAF National Student Advertising Competition and are incredibly proud of the SMU’s Tide team and faculty for all their recognitions and accomplishments.
Our amazing creative students have won 14 ADDY Awards at the 2024 AAF District 10 competition. This is more awards than any other school in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana has won!
What’s even more impressive is that our students won as many awards as all the students from the University of Texas system, Texas A&M system, University of North Texas, Texas Tech University, and Texas Christian University put together!
The ADDY Awards are organized each year by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and is the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition. There are three tiers to the competition: local, district, and national. Each student who won Gold or Silver at the district level is now moving on to compete at the national level.
The winners of the national competition will be announced in early May and awards will be distributed at the AAF ADMERICA Conference in Salt Lake City later that month.
We’re so proud of our students and can’t wait to see how they do in the next round!
The full list of Student AAF District 10 Winners can be found here.
SMU AAF DISTRICT10ADDY WINNERS:
SPECIAL JUDGE’S AWARDS
Acorns (Special Judge’s Award in Copywriting) Maddie Otero & Morgan Martinez
Amtrak (Special Judge’s Award in Video) Timothy Chae and Blake Lyster
GOLD
Skout’s Honor Pet Odor Eliminator / Helena Hargraves
Truth Initiative / Spencer Hogan, Bella Mac and Allie Weinstein (Art Direction)
Truth Initiative / Spencer Hogan, Bella Mac and Allie Weinstein (Poster Campaign)
Amtrak / Timothy Chae and Blake Lyster
SILVER
Mountain House Camping Meals / Emma Clarke
Fender / Kailyn Sawhny and Helena Hargraves
Insomnia Cookies / Ross Yenerich
Seedlip / Callie Oden and Emma Clarke
FTND Pull Back From Porn / Tyler Chapman (Cinematography)
KILZ Primer / Spencer Hogan
Acorns / Maddie Otero & Morgan Martinez
HONORABLE MENTION
Venmo /Juan Silva & Kaitlyn Blan
FTND Pull Back from Porn (TV Advertising) / Tyler Chapman
“The weight and distinction of these awards are marked not only by the talents of the students, but also by the win over many large and world-renowned agencies that were also in direct competition”
Amongst the extraordinary, with an extravaganza to match, the annual ADDY’s was held on February 26, 2022. An exuberant and staggering 30 of the 38 student awards were awarded to Temerlin Advertising Institutes undergraduates at the annual symposium. Students took home twelve bronze awards, twelve silver, five gold, and the “Best of Show” award. TAI’s students, amongst professionals and other institutes of higher enrollment, was the only undergraduate program to take home a gold award. The weight and distinction of these awards are marked not only by the talents of the students, but also by the win over many large and world-renowned agencies that were also in direct competition from the Dallas-Ft-Worth metroplex.
When asked about the distinction and rigor of this competition, undergraduate professor Dr. Mark Allen stated that he was “very proud of this group of students and my TAI colleagues who have helped nurture our small-but-mighty program.” Dr. Allen pays special tribute to Willie Baronet and Cheryl Mendenhall, as it is through their creative guidance that “Temerlin continues to punch in a much heavier weight class than our size would typically allow. What other universities attempt to do with hundreds of students and dozens of faculty, we’ve been able to accomplish with a highly-skilled “special ops” group,” Dr. Allen states.
The praise won’t stop here. The winners of these awards will move to the District Ten competition, of which include all finalists from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. From there, Nationals will follow suit showcasing the best talent from across the United States on both the undergraduate and professional level.
Congratulations to the following Dallas ADDY Winners for 2022. You are a part of what gives Temerlin its astute distinction and credibility in such a subjective field.
Bravo!
DALLAS ADDY WINNERS 2022
BRONZE / Dallas Ballet Academy > Out-Of-Home Campaign
Ceci Luther and Thida Sok
BRONZE / Hearing Loss Association of America > Integrated Campaign
The Dallas program continued the popular business workshop series that the FTC has held in past years with regional partners in cities across the county. The workshop focused on trending topics in truth-in-advertising law, social media marketing, data security, business-to-business fraud, and other business basics.
Dr. Sidharth Muralidharan, served as a panelist for the session titled “Avoiding a Promotion Commotion.” The session was moderated by Tom Carter, attorney at FTC Southwest Region, and covered six main topics – e-mail marketing, free offers and negative options, children’s online privacy, customer reviews, social media and influencers, and consumer gag clauses. Other panelists included, Iris Diaz (Chief Marketing Office for the Dallas Mavericks), Edward Hynes (Attorney at FTC Southwest Region), and Lea Williams (Adjunct Professor, Thurgood Marshall School of Law).
Designed for business owners, advertising professionals, attorneys, and others who need to know how established legal principles apply in today’s fast-moving marketplace, the program offers practical insights from Texas business leaders and recognized experts in consumer protection law and cybersecurity.
The AAF American Advertising Awards is one of the industry’s largest creative competitions, attracting nearly 35,000 professional and student entries each year through local club competitions. Temerlin creative students won NINE American Advertising Awards (ADDYs) at the 2020 AAF Dallas awards show last week. “Our students represented us well in front of the Dallas advertising community tonight and with so many gold, silver and Best of Show winners advancing on, we’ll keep representing SMU at the regional and national levels” explains Professor Mark Allen.
Creative students have worked very hard over the past semester to produce several award-winning campaigns, and we couldn’t be happier to see them succeed. Professor Willie Baronet shares: “I’m so proud of all our students for killing it tonight, especially Gaelle and Anna Rose for taking home BEST OF SHOW! And kudos to the TAI team for creating space for these students to flex their creative brilliance!”
Winners Include:
BEST OF SHOW
Anna Rose Corell & Gaëlle Gachelin / P3 (Magazine Advertising)
GOLD WINNERS
Anna Rose Corell & Gaëlle Gachelin / P3 (Magazine Advertising)
Sydney Bottum & Sophie Vos / Hello Fresh! (Magazine Advertising)
SILVER WINNERS
Olivia Childs / Keurig (Magazine Advertising)
Abby Coon & Charlie O’Brien / Slip (Poster)
Sam Smith, Avery Bouch, EJ Niemczyk / Beyond Meat (Integrated Campaigns)
Sam Smith, Avery Bouch, EJ Niemczyk / Beyond Meat (Illustration)
Olivia Childs & James Klopp / Native Deodorant (Illustration)
Anna Rose Corell & Gaëlle Gachelin / Diptyque (Animation or Special Effects)
Temerlin’s Sandi Edgar wanted to know more about the AAF so she started attending events, this quickly evolved into joining the AAF Dallas Board of Directors in 2018. There she met some pretty incredible advertisers and quickly found her way as the AAF Dallas Education Chair.
A board of directors is the governing body of a nonprofit which is responsible for overseeing an organization’s activities. In this case, AAF Dallas board members meet monthly to discuss and vote on the affairs of the chapter. In addition to attending these meetings and AAF events, Edgar creates programs to engage college students and works with other board members to include educational initiatives in their planning. In 2019, AAF Dallas won second place nationally for its 17 educational programs! “Serving on a board is a really fun and rewarding way to serve our industry and community, I strongly recommend everyone connect to a non-profit and give back” Edgar explains.
Edgar has a new AAF position and recently sat down with Ray Schilens, CEO and founder of Radio Lounge, to discuss her role as the first American Advertising Federation District Education chair. As District 10 education chair, Edgar serves as a liaison between AAF national and district educational programs and initiatives. Whether it’s working with local representatives to onboard new NSAC (National Student Advertising Competition) schools, relaying information to professors in the district, or working with clubs to involve students, this role is new for the AAF and continues to evolve. Listen here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/cfae3f24
Marc Patrick entered his lecture from the middle of the audience, one of the many ways he sets the tone for a riveting performance. He led the track-and-field team as a student-athlete at SMU and has since moved on to lead global brand activations for 20+ years at The Nike World Headquarters, where Patrick served as Senior Director of Global Brand Communications. His journey began when he graduated from SMU in ’93 with degrees in Advertising and African American Studies.
On the night of November 6th, Temerlin Advertising Institute welcomed Patrick back to the Hilltop as the ExxonMobil Lecture Series guest speaker. It was a wonderful night, complete with networking, a moving lecture, and lively after-party, but this sold-out event was months in the making.
Two of my classmates (Meryn Kennedy and Susan Slaton) and I were selected to represent Temerlin Advertising Institute at The Nike World Headquarters this Summer. My preparation for the trip consisted of studying Patrick’s background in advertising, writing interview questions on conference calls with my partners, and reading Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog to better understand the origin of Nike’s brand.
Together we strolled through Nike’s campus, nestled in Beaverton, Oregon. Sprawling over 286 acres and 75 buildings, we ran (quite literally) into world-class athletes like Galen Rupp, before reaching Patrick’s office for our highly anticipated interview.
We were given a look inside the brand, his time at SMU, and how he navigated the ad industry before landing his role at Nike. This interview is featured in the Fall 2019 Meadows MPRINT Magazine, and the TAI podcast, but he saved the gems for the grand finale: his keynote at the Angelika Film Center, packed with SMU students, esteemed alumni, and advertising professionals from across the country.
Patrick’s presentation was electric: he recounted how his advertising degree led him into decades of brilliant branding opportunities. From his start as an intern at The Dallas Morning News, then to Account Coordinator at TBWA, Burrell, and DDB, all the way to Nike World Headquarters. His story served as a testament to what is on the other side of an SMU Advertising degree. My classmates and I left feeling inspired and encouraged, knowing that our hard work will soon pay off.
The night culminated with a TAI exclusive after-party at Centre. Three lucky TAI students won free Nike kicks and the unlucky bunch left with $100 gift cards.
This year I was selected as one of the 50 Most Promising Multicultural Students in the United States. This program was created by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) to immerse dedicated, multicultural students in the advertising industry before graduation. After being selected, I was invited to attend a 5-day conference in New York City. This was a unique experience for me because I visited the offices of various elite agencies and media companies including Wieden + Kennedy, Turner / CNN, Omnicom Group, Sparks and Honey, 72 and Sunny, McCann, FCB, and FCB Health, and IPG. During the visits, I spoke to advertising professionals and recruiters about agency culture, personal and professional experiences, and advocacy for multicultural talent in the industry.
Because this incredible opportunity unites hardworking students from different backgrounds across the country, I was able to connect with 49 students and learn from their experiences in advertising so far. I value these connections because together we are the future generation of advertisers and may work for the same companies someday. I am extremely grateful to have been selected for this opportunity and I encourage all multicultural students to apply next year.
To end, I wanted to share some of the pearls of wisdom that I collected from this trip:
“School is never out, keep reading and learning!”
“Fear is the indicator you are ready.”
“As you enter the professional career, choose several mentors that are not like you and learn from them.”
“Speak up. You will never regret speaking up and saying what you think.”
And the quote that struck me the most: “If you are here, you have earned it. It is not a matter of luck. Be proud of that and embrace your achievements.“
Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) faculty members Carrie La Ferle and Amber Benson were among 25 Dallas women in advertising honored with the 2018 AAF Dallas Shining Stars Award, presented by the Dallas chapter of the American Advertising Federation. The awards were presented June 21 during a dinner ceremony at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas.
Inaugurated in 2017, the Shining Stars Award recognizes Dallas advertising women who are producing thought-provoking and innovative work, breaking through barriers to create something new, or forging partnerships that drive growth. AAF noted on its website that the Shining Stars winners are “community leaders, C-suite executives, co-founders, executive VPs, strategic masterminds, media mavens and more. They are breaking glass ceilings and making the Dallas advertising community look good.”
A noted scholar, Professor La Ferle conducts research on how culture impacts advertising and consumer behavior. She also has taught undergraduate and graduate classes in international advertising and ethics for over 20 years and has won several prestigious teaching recognitions at SMU, including both the Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professor awards. Benson is an executive-in-residence at TAI and the founder of Seamripper, an insights and innovation agency focused on high-growth companies. As a marketing consultant, she has over 20 years of experience in strategy development, digital marketing, e-commerce and corporate communications.
The impetus for creating the Shining Stars Award was frustration at the lack of recognition for talented women in the field. AAF wrote, “Last year, inspired after attending the Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame event, we googled ‘top women in Dallas advertising’ and the result was ‘The 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas.’ We thought … Dallas, we can do better than that! After a successful first year, we are proud to say when you google ‘the top women in Dallas advertising’ you will find our inaugural list of Shining Stars from 2017.”
“I commend Dallas AAF for being a leader in developing this award to highlight the many talented women in our field,” said Steve Edwards, chair of TAI. “I am delighted for our Temerlin Advertising Institute to have not one, but two women in advertising selected for this year’s Shining Stars Award. We do great work in Dallas and this award not only celebrates these talented 25 Dallas women, but also our entire Dallas advertising industry.”
Pictured left to right at the 2018 AAF Shining StarS Awards ceremony are TAI guest Tanya Conovaloff; TAI Program Specialist Sandi Edgar, who accepted the award for Amber Benson; TAI guest Kelly Tokarczyk; and TAI professor and award recipient Carrie La Ferle.
This year I was selected as one of the 50 
