Category: News

Adobe x Ad Venture: The Brief is Ready

Posted on by Anna Fanchini

This year’s Ad Venture Competition is taking shape, and the wait is over. With Adobe confirmed as this year’s client, the official competition brief is now ready to be discovered by students and academics across the Edcom network.

Meet This Year’s Client

This year, Adobe joins Ad Venture as the competition’s client, bringing its expertise in creativity, digital experiences, and innovative technology to the challenge.

Known for empowering people and organisations to create, communicate, and transform ideas through digital tools, Adobe offers students the opportunity to work on a brief connected to the rapidly evolving world of creativity and technology.

Participants will respond to a real-world challenge, combining strategic thinking, creativity, and communication skills to develop an innovative solution for a leading global brand. This is a unique opportunity to gain insight into the expectations of an international client while exploring how technology can shape the future of creative communication.

Join the Briefing Webinar

To officially launch this year’s competition, Edcom will host a dedicated online webinar on 19 October, from 10:00 to 11:30.

The Adobe team will introduce the brief, explain the competition challenge, and provide further guidance on the expected submissions and key considerations.

The webinar will also include a dedicated Q&A session, giving students and professors the opportunity to ask questions directly to the client.

Whether you would like clarification on the brief, the challenge, or the competition process, this is the chance to hear the answers directly from the Adobe team and prepare your students for the next stage of Ad Venture.

Students and academics interested in participating are warmly invited to join the webinar and begin exploring this year’s creative challenge.

The next Ad Venture journey starts here – don’t miss the opportunity to meet the client, discover the brief, and find out what Adobe is looking for!

Register here for the Webinar

If you haven’t received the brief yet, please contact the edcom team:

francesco.bottegal@eaca.eu, anna.fanchini@eaca.eu

edcom at the EMOK conference in Hungary

Posted on by Anna Fanchini

edcom takes the stage at Hungary’s EMOK conference

edcom is on a continuous mission to spread its value across Europe – connecting universities, educators, and industry professionals to shape the future of commercial communications education. On 24 August, that mission took a significant step forward in Hungary, as edcom was presented at the EMOK International Conference. Integrated into one of the conference’s workshops, organized by the Consumer Behaviour Research Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the session brought together around 30 professors and researchers representing all 10 major Hungarian universities.

A Prize Beyond the Competition

The presentation was delivered by Szabolcs Pronay, Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley and Associate Professor at the University of Szeged, who has been actively championing edcom’s presence in Central Europe. Speaking to the audience, Szabolcs highlighted the network’s unique collaborative model:

“edcom offers a unique opportunity for collaboration in Europe, bringing together not only different countries, but also industry professionals, university lecturers, and students. It is already present at 46 universities across 16 countries, but Hungary is still missing from the map. Let’s make sure that changes in 2027!”


His presentation concluded with an open invitation for interested academics to connect directly, creating a clear pathway for Hungarian institutions to join the edcom network.

Be edcom’s voice in your country

Stories like Szabolcs’ show how a single advocate can open doors for an entire academic community. If you’ve been a spokesperson for edcom – whether through a conference talk, a university event, or a local partnership – and you have an interesting story to share, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us and help us map the next chapter of edcom’s growth across Europe!

francesco.bottegal@eaca.eu
anna.fanchini@eaca.eu

From Ad Venture to Cannes Lions: The Oven’s unforgettable creative journey

Posted on by Anna Fanchini

Summary

The winners of the 2026 Ad Venture competition, The Oven, experienced one of the most inspiring weeks of their creative journey at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. From celebrating world-class campaigns to connecting with industry leaders and fellow creatives, the team shares how this unforgettable prize marked the perfect conclusion to their university years.

A Prize Beyond the Competition

Winning Ad Venture is more than taking home the trophy. Every year, the winning team receives one of the competition’s most exciting prizes: complimentary passes to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where they join thousands of creative minds from around the world for a week dedicated to inspiration, learning, and innovation.

A Week That Left a Mark

For The Oven the experience became much more than attending a festival. It was an opportunity to discover new perspectives, celebrate creativity, and imagine what their own future in the industry could look like.

As Aurora puts it, “Cannes Lions is the celebration of creativity,” while watching the awards ceremony made her feel “like a child”, thinking, “one day, it will be me!”

For Chinouk, the week was a reminder that “hard work truly pays off”, while also bringing “lifelong friendships and memories we will cherish forever.” Looking back, she described the experience as “the perfect ending for our college years.”

Kamil found inspiration in the people around him, saying that “going to Cannes Lions for the first time feels like finding a second home.” Surrounded by creatives who shared the same passion, he felt encouraged to “think bigger, look at things differently, and ultimately strive to create work that leaves a lasting, positive impact on culture and society.”

Natalia captured the feeling in just four words: “Feels like a fever dream.”

For Xhesiana, the week completely changed her perspective. “This week changed the way I see creativity in real life,” she shared, explaining that “ideas were not just presented on stage, they were everywhere, in conversations, people, and unexpected moments.” She left Cannes “inspired, grateful, and ready to think bigger about my own future in marketing and communication.”

Discover Their Stories

The journey from Ad Venture to Cannes Lions is more than a prize – it is an opportunity for young creatives to immerse themselves in the industry’s biggest celebration of creativity, connect with inspiring people, and return home with fresh ideas, lasting memories, and even bigger ambitions.

Read the full reflections below and discover the Cannes Lions experience through the participants’ own words:

“Cannes Lions is the celebration of creativity, and I felt privileged to be there. Watching the awards was my favourite part: you could see the tears of the winners, and the joy of the presenters. I felt like a child and I thought “one day, it will be me!”

– Aurora

“Moments like these are a powerful reminder of why we push our limits. Hard work truly pays off. Beyond the incredible experience of attending Cannes Lions, we’ve walked away with lifelong friendships and memories we will cherish forever.”

– Chinouk

“Going to Cannes Lions for the first time feels like finding a second home. You’re surrounded by incredible talent who share the same passion for creativity as you do, while watching extraordinary work that inspires you to the core. This environment challenges us students to think bigger, look at things differently, and ultimately strive to create work that leaves a lasting, positive impact on culture and society.”

– Kamil

“Feels like a fever dream”

– Natalia

“This week changed the way I see creativity in real life. At Cannes Lions, ideas were not just presented on stage, they were everywhere, in conversations, people, and unexpected moments. Being surrounded by such inspiring energy made me realize how powerful this industry is when passion and purpose come together. I leave feeling inspired, grateful, and ready to think bigger about my own future in marketing and communication.”

– Xhesiana

To the next Ad Venture!