[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/mitsubishi2 edited.jpg” caption=”Larry Futers (back left), director of national marketing at Mitsubishi Motors, Mandeep Malik (back right), lecturer at DeGroote, and students from the DeGroote School of Business pose with a 2008 Mitsubishi vehicle that will be awarded to the winner of Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec competition. Photo by Susan Bubak.”]

McMaster's DeGroote School of Business and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada Inc. launched a nationwide competition that challenges savvy undergraduate business students across Canada to develop an innovative experiential marketing campaign for the new 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer and compete for the title of Canada's Next Top Ad Exec.

Business school students across the country will go head-to-head, and entrants will get unprecedented interaction with Canada's brightest marketing minds. At the end of it all, one person will walk away with the title and keys to a new 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse or Lancer valued at more than $30,000.

“The DeGroote School of Business focuses on experiential learning for our students,” says Mandeep Malik, lecturer at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. “Canada's Next Top Ad Exec will give students from DeGroote and other schools extraordinary opportunities to test out their marketing talents on a real business project that has very real rewards.”

Interested students have 30 days to submit their entry beginning Jan. 1, 2007. Competition details and rules and regulations can be found at www.topadexec.com.

Canada's Next Top Ad Exec culminates on Monday, March 19, 2007 at Way More About Advertising Day @ DeGroote, where a judging panel of industry experts, including representatives from title sponsor Mitsubishi Motors, OMD, and Strategy Magazine, will determine the winner.

“Partnering with the DeGroote School of Business fits with our focus of taking an innovative approach to building the Mitsubishi brand in Canada,” says Larry Futers, the director of national marketing at Mitsubishi Motors. “Our tagline is 'Go Far' — and this competition will challenge students to do just that.”