On Wednesday, October 7, four Cairn University students representing the University’s PACE club competed in the final round of the Mindful Marketing Ethics Competition. They earned second place in the competition for their efforts.
The theme of the 2026 competition, sponsored by WebFX, was “AI in Marketing.” The competition began with each team submitting a response to a fictional case regarding how a business could effectively and ethically use AI in the workplace. Based on their 1,500-word submitted response, the top 11 teams were invited to present their position at the final event at Messiah University.
In their written response, the Cairn team addressed the benefits of using AI to analyze and better target customers as well as to perform minor edits. They also created a decision matrix for the company to use so that there would be standardization for client data privacy and authenticity of work product.
“I was impressed by their dynamic and engaging presentation, their ideas, and their desire to network with the judges after the event,” said Professor Janelle Curtis-Beaman, faculty advisor for PACE. “Their hard work paid off! It was a notable honor to be a finalist and a great opportunity to interact with other students who are navigating the tricky balance of marketing and ethics.”
