The American Advertising Federation is on the fast track, researching the Toyota Matrix XR this year for a competition in April. AAF is working on an advertising campaign promoting the Toyota Matrix XR. Each year, a major corporation creates a bid for several universities to provide advertising promotions, treasurer Stacy Hammond, said.The district convention, in April, will be in Little Rock, Arkansas. Schools all over Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas will create an advertising campaign for the vehicle. Universities will come up with magazine and newspaper advertisements, producing commercials and writing out press releases and promoting the car to individuals, president Julie Nguyen said.AAF was supposed to conduct a poll to determine which car was more popular at the Homecoming Tailgate party but it was cancelled due to the rain. A Mazda Protg, a Ford Focus and the Matrix were among the two other cars to be voted on, Nguyen, said. Hammond said that AAF is a good way to get hands-on experience in the marketing field. “The experience is unexplainable,” she said. “The experience our members are going to gain is the experience that they are going to use in the corporate world,” said Hammond.Dr. John Newbold, a marketing professor is the co-sponsor helping the students find research and creating special projects for the car.If AAF makes a certain percentile, the members will be heading to Los Angeles, for a national competition in June. If it wins the it will receive a trophy andat least $3,000 in award money, Nguyen said .”The members not only gain knowledge of the creative side of advertising, but also dealing with finding research.”