The following is an article published in The Mass Communicator, one of VCU’s newsletters.
VCU Continues to Accrue Advertising Awards
If the Addys are the Oscars of advertising, The One Show is the industry’s Golden Globes event. Recently, advertising students in School of Mass Communications have earned red-carpet treatment at both award ceremonies.
VCU has won at least one Addy or One Show award each year since 2006. In 2008, VCU ad students won both. The Addy awards are hosted by the American Advertising Association and hold professional as well as collegiate competitions.
In March of 2009, ad students Jenna Weidner and Karen Khouth competed with more than 60,000 students and professionals from across the country and took home a Silver Addy. The campaign – which they designed for the Itty Bitty Booklight – delivered their message wordlessly with images of famous literary characters like Sherlock Holmes and Dracula.
“It’s very difficult to pull off these kinds of ads,” said Bridget Camden, Khouth and Weidner’s professor. “You have to create three visual executions that function on their own but also engage with the brand. They did a great job.”
In addition to these kinds of national awards, the undergraduate advertising students have acquired scores of regional and local awards, totaling 110 awards in four years. The regional awards include a gold medal at The Richmond Show which involves local schools and advertising agencies, and a Best in Show and two gold medals in regional Addy awards.
The Brandcenter – VCU’s advertising graduate school – recently won the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ O’Toole Award for Creative Excellence. With award winning undergraduate and master’s programs and a deep connection with the venerable Martin Agency, VCU is quickly asserting itself as one of the premier advertising schools in the nation.
The Martin Agency Connection
Betsy Guzik and Joshua Carlton, educators in the strategic advertising track, are account planners for The Martin Agency. Martin is famous for award winning work like the Geico Cavemen, UPS Whiteboard and Freecreditreport.com jingles. Other clients include NASCAR, The American Cancer Society, and Walmart, which is arguably the biggest account in the world.
Advertising Age, a leading industry journal, voted Martin the number three agency in the United States in 2008.
“I feel like we’re get a different kind of education here,” said Christina Dick, a senior in the strategic advertising program. “We’re learning from people who are still working in the field, and are really good at what they do. We’re being taught by professionals, not just professors.”
Britt Sebastian, a student in the creative advertising track, is a big fan of the program. “I love it,” he said. “All of the advertising teachers have real world experience. Their knowledge is built less on theory and more on what works.”
That real world experience has translated into real world awards.
Students in Will Sims’ Style classes are currently working towards their next prize, this time international, by participating in D&AD Student Awards Annual 2010 in London. D&AD is a British educational charity that promotes design and advertising.
“Those bloody Brits are going to regret entering their own contest,” said Allison Jones, a particularly fervent creative advertising student.
Technical and Otherwise 