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A study examined American Advertising Federation (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team faculty advisor beliefs regarding the value of the competition for themselves and students. The value for the advisors is assessed according to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, career goals, and tenure, promotion, and/or merit prospects. The value for students is assessed according to the educational, experiential, and career-orientation benefits afforded students who participate in the competition. A survey of 121 faculty advisors from all AAF districts contained 15 statements with responses to those statements arranged on a continuum interval scale from "strongly disagree to strongly agree," plus 4 open-ended questions regarding issues of, for instance, benefits and drawbacks for student competition. Results indicated that advisors believe an equitable extrinsic reward structure does not exist for them and suggest faculty advisor dissatisfaction or skepticism regarding extrinsic rewards attached to career advancement. Findings also suggest the strength of intrinsic rewards for both students and advisors. (Contains 5 tables of data and 12 references.) (Author/CR)

A study explored advertising students' beliefs and attitudes about their learning and motivations within the context of the American Advertising Federation's (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). One hundred twenty-one students from 13 NSAC teams were surveyed in a 3-part questionnaire. Results indicated that students relished their competition experience generally. Results also indicated that students learned a great deal, and that they participated because of assumed job or career prospects and the lure of working within a team. They also participated because they expected to win, additionally believing that winning would increase their prospects for jobs, including exceptional jobs. Finally, students believed that their participation in the competition meant missed classes, missed class work, and lower grade point averages (GPAs) overall. Future research might seek to find out whether or not the competition experience actually helped ex-students with a job or career in advertising. (Ten notes and four tables of data are included) (Author/NKA)

After an introduction by James L. Marra explaining the Intellectual Heritage Program at the College of Art and Sciences at Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), this paper presents four brief faculty essays describing various techniques that the writers use in their classes in the program. The techniques discussed in the paper are tailored to the text-heavy and writing-intensive nature of the courses, and tend to abbreviate the writing process in many ways, while at the same time paying close attention to the need for students to write often and under the specific guidance of faculty. Essays in the paper are: "Impromptus, Journals, and Essays" (Neil Big); "Assuming Standpoints" (Tania M. Calvimontes); "Using Summary/Paraphrase Exercises To Improve Reading/Writing Skills" (Paul Marasa); and "The One-Page Paper" (Dianne Perkins). (RS)

One of the best forums for teaching creativity in advertising is the student-run advertising agency. It is organized like a typical advertising agency with a creative department, a media department, a research department and an account service department, and has a pyramidic structure. Student-run advertising agencies exist for two primary reasons: (1) they help to give the student experience; and (2) they provide a service to the community. Comments from former participants in student-run advertising agencies who are now employed in advertising show that experience in on-campus agencies gives students a competitive edge in their job searches. The teaching environment in a student-run advertising agency is more like the professional world and less like the academic world because it teaches by doing, in a hands-on environment. (Nineteen examples of student work are attached.) (SR)

An exploratory study examined student perspectives and beliefs about involvement in the American Advertising Federation's (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition. Subjects, 34 students from 7 of the 15 winning regional teams in the 1991 AAF competition, completed a single-page, 2-part questionnaire. Multiple correlations were run on students' responses. Results indicated that: (1) the composite profile of competitors suggested that the student was a senior lacking in experience in the AAF competition; (2) students believed their involvement in the competition was very valuable; (3) responses to statements on what was valuable about the competition were less convincing or enthusiastic; (4) students were not vigorous or enthusiastic in their beliefs about how the competition confirmed their desire to enter the profession, how it advanced their professional preparation, or even that it might lead to a job; (5) students seemed quite realistic and a bit pessimistic about the potential value of the competition; and (6) student involvement in the AAF competition impinged to an extent on their work in other classes. Findings suggest that the subjects were very positive overall about their involvement but also realized that the competition would not be their automatic gateway to employment. (Three tables of data are included.) (RS)

Current advertising courses and educational practices reflect advertising education's allegiance to the real world, particularly the real world as defined by large advertising agencies. A student-run ad agency provides students with a total learning experience on a small advertising agency scale in line with what they are likely to experience in their first jobs. As a course, such an agency yields benefits for both students and instructors. One such course, called "Creative Services Workshop," functions as part of an advertising sequence within a journalism department in a major northeastern university. To enroll in this elective course, typically taken during the senior year, students must receive the instructor's permission. The workshop has its own three-room space which looks and functions like an agency. The majority of clients come from the Small Business Development Center, a division of the School of Business. Students are assigned to specific jobs within the agency and organized into teams of three to five people. The first third of the semester is usually taken up with organizational start-up activities, and the remaining two-thirds are devoted to getting the work done by the semester's end. Grading is accomplished by instructor/graduate assistant evaluations and by peer evaluations. Working in the context of a small agency allows students the opportunity to witness and experience the various functions and roles inherent to the advertising agency business, provides students with portfolio material, and holds them accountable for their work in a real-world situation. (Appendixes contain three forms used in the course.) (SR)

One of the major problems in advertising courses is that students are expected to generate original, exciting advertising ideas, but often are not taught how to go about the process. Idea generation techniques can help students generate quantities of creative ideas more quickly and fluently. By looking at ads and recreating the workings of the creative minds behind them, ways in which ideas are produced can be highlighted. The beginning of idea generation is a matter of isolating themes as they are derived from features, selling points, and benefits. If a theme is the "matter" of an ad, an idea is the "manner" of the ad. An idea bank, consisting of layout pages where seeds of ideas are sketched and including a grid logging key features, selling points and benefits, is a means of keeping track of one's creative consciousness. Idea generation techniques include: (1) associations (again based on features, selling points, and benefits); (2) opposites, including list opposites, media opposites, expectation opposites, and competition opposites; (3) verbal plays, including onomatopoeia, rhyme, alliteration, and multiple meanings; and (4) clocks and calendars (referring to time, seasons, etc.). (Thirteen photocopies of ads illustrating the techniques discussed are attached.) (SR)