Senior integrated marketing communication major Jesslyn Ham won an individual silver
prize for her app design and promotion in the student category.
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA - Several Winthrop University students represented their
school well at the 2017 American Advertising Federation (AAF) Charlotte's Awards Gala.
Senior integrated marketing communication major Jesslyn Ham, of Effingham, South Carolina, took home an individual silver prize for her app design
and promotion in the student category.
Ham created her app concept, called "Envision," for her consumer behavior class. She describes it as a mix of Pinterest and Instagram and would encourage millennials to visit department stores in person. It works like this: a person sees a piece of clothing they like; they scan it with the Envision app; the app pulls together all public online images of someone wearing the exact same item.
"It allows you to see the piece styled different ways on regular people and become
inspired for how you can wear it yourself," she said. "It's curated exactly for the
piece you're looking for rather than items that are only kind of similar."
The AAF also recognized three other current students-Mount Pleasant's Alina Abedin and Jami Bunton of Yonges Island, both integrated marketing majors; and Elli Barnette, a digital
information design major from Rock Hill-for their proposed promotion plan for the
AAF.
Each semester in her Integrated Marketing Communication Capstone course, Professor of Mass Communication Padmini Patwardhan looks for interesting clients
in all sectors, from non-profits to multicultural organizations to healthcare providers,
and asks students to create marketing proposals for that client. The project brings
real-world experience for students, allowing them to bring together everything they've
learned and apply it.
AAF served as the fall 2016 client, with six student teams creating proposals with
components such as: research and understanding that particular industry-what the trends
are, etc.; consumer research-determining the audience; focusing on the audience; and
putting the messaging together to create an integrated branding and marketing strategy.
The team of Abedin, Bunton and Barnette won top place in the class competition after
their work was evaluated by industry professionals, earning them free tickets to the
gala and a mention from the AAF president. Patwardhan and Sabrina Habib, an assistant
professor of mass communication, team-taught the capstone course and encouraged students
to enter their work.
The AAF Charlotte recognizes the year's best projects in both the professional and student industry
with the annual gala.
For more information contact Nicole Chisari, communications coordinator, at 803/323-2236 or chisarin@winthrop.edu.
