PR Student: Ellen Huish
This article was produced in cooperation with the COMMS 425 lab.
A group of BYU Advertising students reaped the rewards of a semester of hard work in New York City last May. The students took home a series of awards at The One Show— an advertising industry awards show put on by The One Club.
Each year, The One Club puts out two prompts, or briefs, that students then create an advertising campaign for. This year, it put out one client brief for BMW and one social cause brief for Partners for Peace. Students were instructed to create an idea for
“Technology With a Brain” winners with their bronze pencil awards
each of these briefs and the winners would be awarded with a “pencil,” the awards given by The One Club.
The group who worked on the client brief came up with a whimsical idea for their BMW campaign. The students created a TV spot called “Technology with a Brain,” which was set to the tune of “If I Only Had a Brain” from “The Wizard of Oz.” This spot is meant to highlight the simplicity of the BMW experience that can be accessed through the BMW Connected app.
The second group of students created a campaign for Partners for Peace, titled “Emoji Extinction.” They partnered with the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and Apple to raise awareness of endangered animals. During the week leading up to Earth Day, each of the animals on WWF’s list of endangered species will disappear from the Emoji keyboard that exists on all Apple iPhones. This strategy forces users to notice how threatened the species are. On Earth day, Apple will provide an option, in place of the emoji, for donations to help save the animals. To promote the campaign, the advertising students created a video.
“Emoji Extinction” winners with their bronze pencil awards
In March, the students received word that both briefs would be awarded bronze pencils. They ended up being awarded two of the 28 pencils that The One Club awarded internationally in 2017. On top of that, The One Club ranked the BYU AdLab in the top 10 for university advertising programs.
BYU advertising student Jason Murray was thoroughly involved in both projects. From developing the concepts and designing the stories, to filming, animating and editing both videos; Murray did it all. In addition to winning the bronze pencils, Murray and fellow student Scott James were recognized in an elite group of twelve students for “best portfolio” work.
“ makes you part of a network whose goal is to help you out in your career,” Murray said. “They help to facilitate interviews with companies and help you with job searching.”
Best student portfolio winners Scott James and Jason Murray with faculty mentor Jeff Sheets
Murray said that without BYU’s extensive resources, he never would have known about the awards. He said his professors have been crucial in the success of his advertising career and helped him accomplish things that he never would have been able to do on his own. He also attributes much of his success to the AdLab.
“The one thing that makes our program so special is the AdLab,” Murray said. “It allows for the things you learn in the classroom to be applied right away.”