Ithaca College was named the champion of American Advertising Federation (AAF)’s 2019 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) by this year’s corporate sponsor and world’s largest hot dog chain, Wienerschnitzel. 

The national competition took place during AAF’s national conference in June in Florida.

Capitol Communicator was told that instead of asking students “to promote the next Chili Cheese Dog, Wienerschnitzel challenged students to change public perceptions of the hot dog, benefiting the whole industry. The teams were asked to submit their original integrated, $20-million hot dog advertising campaign, and pitched their campaign in front of industry judges who selected the semi-finalists, finalists, and finally selecting one national champion – Ithaca!

“Ithaca College was selected out of over 120 teams and over 2,000 advertising and marketing college students nationwide. The second-place award went to Liberty University, and third-place to Syracuse University. This is the competition’s 46^thyear and gives students “real-life” marketing and advertising experience that they will take to future careers in the industry.

“As a result of the many months of research and dedication, Wienerschnitzel plans to utilize Ithaca College’s outstanding campaign into their future marketing plans. Ithaca College clearly understood that consumers have false information on the quality of hot dogs and did a great job communicating that hot dogs are actually made with great cuts of meat, just like any other sandwich you would buy at your favorite deli.”

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