MTSU advertising students earn runner-up for on-deadline campaign at postal challenge

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nine Middle Tennessee State University advertising and public relations students showed off their strategic communications skills with a runner-up finish in their category at the recent 2025 USPS Direct Effect Innovation Challenge.

The invitation-only U.S. Postal Service competition took place at the National Postal Forum in Nashville on April 27-28. Overall, 18 universities competed and were instructed to build a marketing campaign revolving around postal mail and two other mediums.

Dr. Tricia Farwell, associate professor, journalism — ***Dr. Tricia Farwell***

Teams were assigned to make a campaign for fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A or insurance company Geico, with the MTSU team — for the university’s first time being invited to the event — assigned to tackle Chick-fil-A.

The team, led by School of Journalism and Strategic Media assistant professor Tricia Farwell, was picked after weighing the strengths of interested students to create a well-balanced team, Farwell said.

Students Kristin Blake, of Memphis; Jordan Henley, of Murfreesboro; Sekinat Ekunsumi, of Antioch; Raiane Costa Rodrigues, of Brazil; Clara Hasenwinkel, of Nolensville; Asia Sanders, of Jackson; Jackson Willis, of Chattanooga; Jack Wrye, of Franklin; and Kaleigh Young, of Hermitage, were selected.

Groups had 24 hours to build their campaigns, with presentations being held on April 28.

MTSU placed as the runner-up for the Chick-fil-A category with their “bring the hurd (herd) home” pitch — with “hurd” an homage to the misspellings the Chick-fil-A cow characters are known for in the company’s commercials and ads. The MTSU team planned out a full campaign including an app, mailers, and social media.

Members of an advertising and public relations student team from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., hold their runner-up certificates at the 2025 USPS Direct Effect Innovation Challenge on April 28 in Nashville, Tenn. Pictured, from left, are Raiane Costa Rodrigues, Kaleigh Young, Jackson Willis, a Chick-fil-A representative, Sekinat Ekunsumi, Kristin Blake, Asia Sanders, Clara Hasenwinkel, a Chick-fil-A representative, and Jack Wrye. Not pictured is Jordan Henley. The team of MTSU students created a full advertising campaign for fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A on deadline as part of an invitation-only event featuring 18 universities. (Submitted photo)

“We work well as a team, we just get things done,” said advertising and public relations major Ekunsumi about finishing the brunt of the campaign early on the night before the competition.

When they weren’t brainstorming ideas, they were able to connect with students from other schools.

Willis, also an advertising and public relations major, noticed the variety of disciplines that attended the competition.

“We were all ad/PR (majors), but other colleges had (computer science), one had a law (class),” said Willis. “It was interesting to see how they think of doing their campaign process versus what we had.”

Farwell encouraged the team and answered the few questions they had — but her input stopped there.

“I sat back and let them do all the work, and work through things,” said Farwell. “It was all them, all of their ideas from the ground up in less than 24 hours.”

— Jordan Reining (Jordan.Reining@mtsu.edu)