As dynamic duos go, history has provided us with many: Paul McCartney and John Lennon; Holmes and Watson; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. And Brooke Lazor and Jacqueline Solc.

While Lazor and Solc are not well-known names like the others, they do have something the others don't - a spot in Canada's Next Top Ad Exec competition. The third-year Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta students are one of 10 teams in the competition that will be held on March 30 in Toronto.

Hosted by McMaster University's deGroote School of Business, the Next Top Ad Exec is an annual competition in which marketing and advertising students submit campaign pitches that are judged by a panel of industry experts. The competition is the first time both U of A students have worked together on a project, but, as fate would have it, it's not the last time they will be working together.

They share a major in entrepreneurship and are executives in the same student business club. Both have one semester remaining for which they had both applied to participate in an exchange to the Copenhagen Business School. But, as Jacqueline explains, they paired up quite by accident. Brooke was reviewing the contest online and a discussion began around Jacqueline offering to partner up with her to enter the competition.

"From there, we got in really deep really quickly," added Brooke.

Their proposal was one of almost 200 that were submitted by teams across Canada. They made it to the first round, which was comprised of 25 teams. The second phase of the competition required them to submit a more detailed proposal of their idea, a project that became a research-intensive 15 page document. That submission led them to this final phase of the campaign, which, if they win, will reward them each with a car, internship possibilities and more.

"We'll give our 30-minute presentation to a panel of academics, industry professionals and General Motors executives to sell them our idea," said Jacqueline. "If we win, we actually get to run our campaign. After all the planning that we put into it, we'd actually get to see it through. So, it's really exciting that way."

Lazor notes that they have received an overwhelming amount of support from Kyle Murray, director of the School of Retailing and one of their professors, and from their family and friends.

Aside from the thrill of competition, both women underline the importance of this exercise in terms of its practical value and the experience it provides them as they prepare to transition into the workforce. Real-world issues such as time management, filtering the creative process and working in a team environment put all of the theoretical classroom knowledge to the test. It's a strength they now recognize as possibly giving them an edge when competing against other graduates for employment.

"It's a different experience to take all of those things that you've learned and implement them. Working through the problems that come up, you have to find the way around it on your own," said Brooke. "The advantage this contest gives us is having a practical application for the skills that we have learned."

Win or lose, the partnership process has forged a strong friendship that has provided them both with experiences, skills and memories that will stay with them long after the final decision is made. For now, they say they're channelling their energies towards the big presentation. But, every once in a while, the reality of what they have accomplished in such a short period of sets in, bringing on both nervousness and excitement.

"I'm getting nervous,'" said Jacqueline. "It's been phenomenal. I think even now when I look at the website and we see our photos, it's like, 'how did we get here?' It's so surreal, it's crazy."

For further information, contact:

Monica Wegner
Communications Strategist
University of Alberta
Alberta School of Business
780.492.7996
monica.wegner@ualberta.ca