About the Texas Advertising Group

The Origins of Texas Advertising Group

(Special thanks to Dr. Murphy)

1. When was TAG/AdClub formed, and by whom? What was its original purpose? When was the name changed to TAG?

     When I joined the department in July of 1975, Don Vance was the most active and enthusiastic  Faculty Advisor. The group has always been somewhat unusual unique versus other university AAF chapters in that it has an active club in terms of guest speakers, field trips, social stuff and more plus a somewhat separate group frequently tackles the NSAC project (National Student Advertising Competition).

     Under Don's sponsorship UT student AAF members entered the NSAC in 1972 and competed successfully. They won the district 10 competition in 1974 (American Motors) and 1975 (Warner Chilcott). Don passed the torch to me in 1975 (Toyota) and my team won the district and national title that year. Beginner's luck as a coach I guess. (Don died last spring -- it was pretty simple with Don and John, we respected each other and had fun together. I miss him.)

      Although other faculty members (Ernest Sharpe, Len Rubin, and Jef Richards) have occasionally sponsored a team, I have done it 10 times. Actually eleven, but one team never got off the ground and had to be destroyed. So, my teams were 1976 Toyota (district and national champ), 1977 Rold Gold Pretzels, 1982 Corning Glassworks, 1985 Burger King (district champ), 1995 Dodge Neon (district champ), 1997 Pizza Hut, 1998 Hallmark (district champ), 2000 New York Times (district champ), 2002 Bank of America, and 2007 Coca-Cola Classic (wild card champ).

     The original purpose was and is to help further students' knowledge about the advertising and integrated brand promotion industry.

     I do not remember when the name was changed to the Texas Advertising Group. I will guess in the 1980s. It is a handy and positive acronym that works well.


2. What did AdClub consist of (meetings, agency visits, etc)? Approximately how many members were in the first year of AdClub?

     Please contact Monika Ellis at AAF (mellis@aaf.org) to see if they can help with dates and membership levels. I know that in general we have had a large and active group since 1972. That was also roughly the time that the advertising department was created and moved out of journalism. We became a separate department in 1973 or 1974 under Bill Mindak's leadership.


3. How has TAG developed since its beginning?

     Speakers, trips, social gatherings, workshops, etc. In my judgment, TAG has always been a student driven organization and, hence, it waxes-and-wanes from year to year depending on the president. This is natural and is encouraged. One critical change was electing officers at mid-year so the club can get off to a fast start each fall. That is an organizational procedure that makes wonderful sense.