FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Highlights from ADMERICA, AAF’s National Conference: Eyes on the Future
A collection of ADMERICA photos and graphics can be found here.
AUSTIN, TX, May 31, 2026—Last week, the American Advertising Federation held their annual ADMERICA conference in Austin, Texas. This annual event serves as the organization’s national conference, connecting the grassroots members from around the country, as well as providing professional development opportunities for those in the advertising industry.
The event kicked off with an opening keynote from Oglivy AND Coca-Cola, detailing how the iconic soda brand is celebrating America 250 with their “Drink in America” campaign. This keynote and panel discussion took attendees through the process of the campaign’s development with panelists from both the agency and the brand.
The 2026 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), presented by the National Football League (NFL), began in the fall of 2025, where students were asked to build a pitch from the provided client brief with one common ask: How can the NFL get youth more involved in their various NFL youth programs?
This year, 103 collegiate teams competed in the multi-tier nationwide pitch competition, the final eight advancing to the finals hosted during ADMERICA.
“The competition is often referred to in the industry as an unbelievable real-world experience for an actual client for college students. From the work to advancing through three tiers and multiple juries, the process is intense. In their words, conducting research and building a campaign for the NFL felt like a fever dream,” said AAF Executive Vice President Dawn Reeves.
During the NSAC Luncheon, the top three teams were announced, with first place going to the University of Oregon followed by Liberty University and Texas State University.
The winning team will have the opportunity to work with the NFL’s CMO Tim Ellis, the extended NFL marketing team, and 72andSunny to bring their campaign to life over the next year.
ADMERICA is also home to the American Advertising Awards National Gala, where both professional and student advertisers are recognized for their outstanding creative campaigns on the mainstage. This year, the Professional Division Best of Show was presented to Goodby Silverstein & Partners for their Doritos/PepsiCo “Telethon for Hawkins” spot. The 2026 Student Division Best of Show was presented to Saul Birmaher of Miami Ad School for the “NPC’S for NPC” spot.
The Mosaic 10 Luncheon, where the Top 10 consumer selected multicultural advertisements from the past year are revealed and discussed by a panel of advertisers from across the industry took place Friday afternoon. This year, the panel of esteemed advertising professionals consisted of A.J. Busé of the AAF National Education Executive Committee (NEEC), Alex Lopez Negrete of Lopez Negrete Communications, Keisha Townsend Taitt of GSD&M and was moderated by Christena Pyle Kalonaros of dentsu. The full Mosaic 10 list can be found at aaf.org/Mosaic10.
Ad 2 National, the division of the American Advertising Federation of professionals under the age of 32 held the Ad 2 Public Service Competition annual public service competition during ADMERICA, where Ad 2 chapters from across the country presented their public service campaigns from the past year to a panel of judges. The winning chapter was Ad 2 Minnesota, followed by Ad 2 Orlando and Ad 2 Hawai’i.
Each year, the American Advertising Federation opens nominations for members to spotlight those who go above and beyond at all levels of the organization. Nominations are examined by a jury. Recipients are celebrated during the Salute to Achievers Breakfast.
This year, the AAF is proud to recognize David Campbell as the 2026 recipient of the Barton A. Cummings Gold Medal Award. This award was established by the AAF's board of directors in 1994 to recognize distinguished individuals for their service to advertising through volunteer work with the AAF. It is AAF’s highest volunteer service award.
The AAF is also proud to announce the 2026 recipient of the Distinguished Advertising Educator Award, Jenny Buschhorn of Texas State University. The Distinguished Advertising Educator Award honors an educator who has been a consistent mentor to students, has supported the success of the advertising industry through research, teaching and advocacy, and has been engaged in the advancement of the mission of the AAF through activism within the organization.
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