The Dukes School of Finance and the College of Business Administration competed last month at the National Collegiate Digital Marketing Championship in Nashville, Tennessee, and won COBA’s second national case competition of the academic year.

Students had two teams compete against more than 100 students from 20 different universities, including Louisiana State University, University of Florida, Baylor University and Ohio State University. One ACU team earned first place overall, making them National Champions in Collegiate Digital Marketing.

Cameron Cronin was the overall champion, earning first place. Trey Newhouse finished in the top 10, while Elisabeth Wilson and six ACU students ranked among the top 50 nationally. The university also received the first-place Outstanding Teaching Award, recognizing the faculty and staff who mentor and coach students. 

Newhouse, senior finance major from Rockwall, said it was a great experience.

“I wasn’t there to show off marketing skills because I don’t have much background in that,” Newhouse said. “I saw it more as an opportunity to develop my soft skills, like presentation and sales skills, which I can use in the future.”

Newhouse said it was an opportunity to compete against schools that the university does not typically play in sports.

“We competed against a lot of big schools like Florida and LSU, schools you don’t usually see ACU competing with in sports,” Newhouse said. “So it was definitely exciting to beat those well-known programs.”

Newhouse said the team worked well together.

“As a team, we really came together and used each person’s unique skill set, which helped us come out on top,” Newhouse said.

Wilson, senior management major from Fort Worth, previously competed in the fall at the National Collegiate Consulting Championship.

“That one was smaller, and it was kind of our first introduction to competitions like this,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she was initially unsure about competing in the digital marketing competition since she was still learning the subject in class, but the experience pushed her to adapt quickly.

“I didn’t really know what I was getting into,” Wilson said. “It really tested how well we could think on our feet and communicate our ideas.”

Wilson said her team, which included both finance and marketing majors, benefited from having different perspectives.

“We all thought differently, and that diversity is what helped us succeed,” she said.

Wilson encouraged other students to take similar opportunities.

“If the opportunity comes up, just go for it,” she said. “You’ll surprise yourself with what you can do.”