We are happy to announce that this year’s Ad Venture jury will bring together 24 leading agencies and 13 academic institutions from across Europe, enriching both the competition and the experience for young talents.
The Ad Venture Competition 2025-2026, in collaboration with Kraft Heinz, one of the world’s leading food companies, allows students to tackle real-life marketing challenges and showcase their creativity, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills.
This year’s jury will review and evaluate the submitted projects based on creativity, strategic thinking, and overall effectiveness. Their combined expertise ensures a rigorous, fair, and inspiring evaluation process for all participants.
We are proud to collaborate with such accomplished professionals and look forward to their valuable insights and contributions throughout this year’s edition of Ad Venture.
Meet the agencies and academic institutions joining this year’s Ad Venture jury:
Agencies:
Meet the agencies and academic partners joining this year’s Ad Venture jury:
Agencies:
180HB — Poland
All Channels Group — Bulgaria
BetterSvit — Ukraine
dentsu — Italy
EssenceMediacom Poland — Poland
HeimatTBWA — Germany
Hvita used — Iceland
Innocean — Germany
Kantar
McCann Worldgroup Romania — Romania
McCann Manchester — United Kingdom
McCann Worldgroup Spain — Spain
Media First Ukraine — Ukraine
Next Different — Italy
Pastel— Romania
REBORNN — Greece
Robert Boison & Likeminded — Denmark
SEK — Finland
TBWA\Italy — Italy
TBWA\Warsaw — Poland
THIS IS LOCCO — Slovakia
WOPA — Romania
White Label — Latvia
Academic Institutions:
Deree – The American College of Greece
FSPAC – College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences
Howest – University College West Flanders
ISCOM Paris
King’s College London
New Bulgarian University
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens
Pantheon-Assas University, Paris
The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium
Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Czechia
University for the Creative Arts, UK
University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria
The December Edcom Members’ Meeting took place on 9 December at the WPP Campus in Brussels, gathering educators and industry partners for an afternoon of constructive discussion and collaboration. A warm thank you to all who joined and contributed to another successful edition.
Updates from the Secretariat
The Secretariat shared the latest developments across the network. While edcom continues to attract interest from institutions, recent departures and persistent regional gaps highlight the need to strengthen recruitment efforts, particularly in Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe. Members were encouraged to invite potential partners and to engage with their National Associations (NACs), which can support mobility and membership processes.
Highlights from the Presentations
The agenda featured three insightful presentations. • The Public Affairs update offered an overview of major EU digital and media regulations, including the AI Act, the Democracy Shield, and new rules on political advertising. Access to the presentation is exclusive to EACA/edcom members. Please email anna.fanchini@eaca.eu or francesco.bottegal@eaca.eu to receive the materials.
• The Ad Net Zero update reflected on this year competition’s judging process, shared survey results, and outlined opportunities for deeper collaboration on sustainability.
•The AI & Immersive Technologies in Education presentation highlighted the importance of a structured approach to integrating AI and immersive technologies in education. It also emphasized fostering student creativity by encouraging them to start projects without AI.
Key Themes and Strategic Directions
Discussions throughout the meeting centred on edcom’s future strategy. Members reviewed the development of the Value Proposition, which will help articulate what edcom offers to students, programme leaders, universities, industry partners, and alumni. Strengthening industry collaboration, enhancing alumni visibility, and supporting student employability were identified as central priorities.
AI and immersive technologies were also key themes, with members underscoring the importance of building AI literacy while encouraging students to begin the creative process independently before using AI tools.
Want to learn more about the meeting? Click here and access the full report.
Showcasing the Next Generation of Creative Talent at Effie Europe Day
On 10 December, during Effie Europe Day, edcom celebrated student excellence at the All Hands Meeting held at the Art & History Museum in Brussels. The 2025 Ad Venture winners, Charlotte van Roessel and Giulia Wolf, presented their project, which scooped first place at this year’s edcom Adventure Student Competition, organised in partnership with Taylor of Harrogate. The session also featured the Ad Net Zero winners, Lélia Bterraniand Rory Harrison, who presented their sustainability‑driven project: a short creative video designed to educate and inspire audiences about Action 5 of the Ad Net Zero framework, which promotes sustainable consumer behaviour. Their compelling approach further reinforced edcom’s commitment to responsible creativity. Watch their winning project now.
Looking Ahead
Preparations are underway for the March 2026 Members’ Meeting, which will include expanded training elements. Members also expressed strong interest in organising an all-day online Green Conference during Black Friday week next year.
Brussels, 26 November 2025: The European Institute for Commercial Communications Education (edcom) and the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) are delighted to announce the winners of the Ad Net Zero x edcom Student Competition, created to empower students across Europe to imagine bold, creative solutions driving the advertising industry’s journey to net zero.
The Ad Net Zero Student x edcom Competition invites students to respond to a real sustainability-focused brief connected to the Ad Net Zero Action Plan, challenging them to develop innovative ideas that inspire behavioural change and demonstrate how advertising can support the transition to a low-carbon future. By merging creativity, strategic insight and environmental responsibility, the competition aims to nurture a new generation of purpose-driven communicators.
The competition is rooted in the structure of the Ad Net Zero Action Plan, made up of five core pillars known as Actions 1 to 5. These actions guide the industry in reducing carbon emissions across business operations, production, media planning and buying, awards and events, and the influence advertising has on consumer behaviour. Students were asked to reflect these principles in their creative approach, ensuring that their ideas align with real-world sustainability priorities within the advertising sector.
The team composed of Rory Harrison & Lélia Bterrani, from ISCOM: Institut de Communication et de Publicité, Paris, took first place in the 2025 edition of the competition, under the supervision of Rebecca Dry, Director of ISCOM’s International Communication Programme and Senior Professor.
Rory Harrison and Lélia Bterrani, winners of the 2025 edition, shared:
“Winning this competition has been incredibly rewarding, especially after several all-nighters on a tight deadline! We are truly proud to represent ISCOM and would like to thank Rebecca Dry, Edcom, and Ad Net Zero for giving us the opportunity to take part and put our creativity to work for such a meaningful cause. We are extremely grateful for the recognition.”
Kirstie Riedl, edcom President and Head of the Master Programme in Green Marketing at FH Wiener Neustadt, highlighted the strong level of creativity and commitment shown by the students. Mary O’Sullivan, Director European & International Markets at Ad Net Zero, noted that the exceptional quality of the submissions reflects the promising future of the industry and the importance of reinforcing sustainability as a core professional skill.
The winners of this year’s competition will have the opportunity to present and share their work at the EACA All Hands Meeting on 10 December, before regional leading industry figures and EACA Members.
The 2025 jury brought together an exceptional group of academic and industry experts from across Europe and beyond. Their combined experience ensured a well-rounded and insightful review of all submissions.
Jury members: Rosie Hand, Head of Advertising and Communications, TU Dublin Sam Hendra, Supporter Engagement Manager, Ad Net Zero (Global) Magdalena Spisak, Head of Membership & Industry Relations, Ad Net Zero Poland and SAR Kirstie Riedl, Edcom President / Head of Master Program Green Marketing, University of Applied Sciences Austria Jenn Gunn, Head of Sustainability, Ad Net Zero New Zealand Kate Goldsmith, Awards & Performance Director, IAPI Ireland Nicolas Bordas, Chairman, TBWA Europe Betty Tsakarestou, Associate Professor and Director of ADandPRLAB , Panteion University of Social and Political Science Hannah Harrison, Chief Sustainability Officer, WPP Ekin Ilyasoglu, Managing Partner, Logaritma & Ad Net Zero Turkiye Arnoud Versluis, Edcom President / Program manager Creative Business, Breda University of Applied Sciences Charley Stoney, Chief Executive Officer, EACA Mary O’Sullivan, Director of European Markets, Ad Net Zero Europe / International Markets
Ad Net Zero is the advertising industry’s global, five-point climate action program, with the European chapter determined to be the leading force for sustainable change across the region. Action 5 of the framework focuses on leveraging advertising’s influence to support more sustainable consumer choices and behaviours, ensuring the industry is part of the climate solution.
About EACA
The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) represents more than 2 500 communications agencies and agency associations from nearly 30 European countries that directly employ more than 120 000 people. EACA members include advertising, media, digital, branding and PR agencies. EACA works closely with EU institutions to ensure freedom to advertise responsibly and creatively. For more information, visit www.eaca.eu. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn.
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