Tombras School dominates the American Academy of Advertising Awards at the 2024 Conference
Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations faculty and two Ph.D. students were recognized for their work at this year’s American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Conference in Portland, Oregon. The AAA is a global organization of advertising scholars and professionals that is widely recognized as the world’s foremost platform for advertising scholarship and education. It provides a space for advertising professionals to exchange ideas and share research findings.
At the conference, Tombras School had five members who received four separate honors. Assistant Professor Minjie Li won Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference Paper, and Assistant Professor Matthew Pittman, along with Professor Eric Haley, won Best Article 2023 for the Journal of Interactive Advertising. PhD Candidate Kibum Youn was honored as the best student reviewer for the Journal of Advertising after being accepted into the student reviewer training program last year, and PhD Candidate Minjeong Kim won an AAA conference scholarship for travel.
As a former AAA president, Haley said, “The Tombras School was well represented at this year’s conference. We received many compliments from our peers about the work we are doing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.”
Haley and Pittman’s winning article, Cognitive Load and Social Media Advertising, focuses on social media engagement and its impact on consumers.
“It feels good to have your work validated by your peers,” Pitman said.
Assistant Professor Minjie Li’s research paper, which won the Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference Paper award, investigates how brands that serve as social justice educators in their social media brand activism strategy can influence consumers’ psychological responses.
As the inaugural winner, Li said, “Personally, being recognized by my peer scholars at my academic home, AAA, for research tackling brand activism and transgender issues—which has been oftentimes overlooked and trivialized in many other spaces—means a lot to me.”
Along with receiving these recognitions, Tombras Professor and Interim Director for the School of Journalism and Media Courtney Childers finished her term as AAA secretary. Meanwhile, Pittman is continuing his term as AAA Chair of the Communications Committee.
Childers and Haley were able to lead a panel with two representatives from Nike, one from Google, Tombras Chief Purpose Officer Lindsay Harris, and four academics who do research in the purpose area.
The AAA conference for 2025 has already been scheduled and is March 6-9 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Tombras School dominates the American Academy of Advertising Awards at the 2024 Conference written by Hillary Tune and originally published on the College of Communication & Information site.