Salt Lake City, UT – California DECA took second place in DECA Inc.’s Pride Points competition, a national branding competition to promote state associations using statistics and data from the 2010-2011 school year. After qualifying for the final round of competition California presented at DECA’s State Association Management (SAM) Conference in Salt Lake City, site of the 2012 International Career Development Conference.
Earlier this year DECA Inc. launched a marketing competition for DECA states to showcase their success and achievements and integration of the DECA Brand in print. A group of industry marketing and branding executives reviewed the initial entries to determine the Top 10 out of DECA’s 54 associations. Entries were evaluated based on the following four criteria: championing the DECA brand, strong messaging that supports the overall mission statement and guiding principles, use of quantifiable data, and overall impression and impact. California’s entry was well received and the state made finals!

Then at the DECA SAM Conference State Director Brycen Woodley made a five minute presentation on the state, the marketing piece developed, and how to use it. After hearing presentations by the top ten finalists, and reviewing the marketing materials, SAM attendees voted for the top winners. California was thrilled to take second place!
California’s Pride Points flier was a joint collaboration between state officers and staff. It was used as a leadership and marketing skill development opportunity and the state officers rose to the challenge to create a marketing and branding piece that celebrates the success of California DECA. Ryan Underwood, California DECA’s Executive Director, said “It truly demonstrates the combined efforts of our partners, the Department of Education, our students, our teachers, and officers. We not only had great substance and information to celebrate, we have talented youth with the kind of design skill and marketing acumen to communicate in a compelling manner.” He went on to say “California DECA is DECA at its best!”
The top two winners (Minnesota DECA and California DECA) will now head to DECA’s National Advisory Board (NAB) meeting to participate in meetings and provide counsel to the NAB on the state’s marketing strategy.
You can view California DECA’s Pride Points flier here.