Leila Ksiyer C’24 and Preethi Rao C’24 receive a nod from the preeminent advertising award
May 2024 – Drew University Marketing Theory and Practice capstone course students Leila Ksiyer C’24 and Preethi Rao C’24 were selected as semi-finalists in the national 2024 Effie Collegiate program.
The annual competition engages marketing students to research, ideate, and develop comprehensive marketing plans to address real world business challenges. The program is modeled after the global Effie Awards, the preeminent advertising industry award that recognizes all forms of marketing contributing to a brand’s success.
Ally Financial collaborated with the Effie Collegiate program. Together, they challenged students to build a disruptive, integrated marketing campaign. All teams were provided a target audience, budget, and marketing challenge for the program.
Drew’s Marketing Theory and Practice capstone course, led by Assistant Professor of Business and Anthropology Yuliya Grinberg, provides students with the opportunity to work together in small groups to design a marketing strategy for an organization. The campaign submission by Ksiyer and Rao was a product of this required coursework.
All entries were reviewed by a jury of marketers, representing agencies, brands, and media, who had high praises for the Drew team’s “Achieve Harmony With Ally” campaign.
“The strategic idea is really, really good. It’s so well-crafted and truly gets to the heart of who they [the target audience] are, what they need, and how Ally can help,” said one judge of Drew’s entry. “It feels real and engaging—a great setup for creativity.”
