edcom is delighted to announce the winners of the 2020-2021 Ad Venture international student competition. This year’s competition saw 63 high-quality entries from 19 universities in 10 countries. After two rounds of judging, video presentations and a live online Q&A, Sara Perche Ti Amo from Paris University 2 Panthéon-Assas were declared the winners.
This year’s brief came from Asahi, who challenged the teams to create a communications campaign to launch a mid-strength Peroni beer in the UK, Romania and the Netherlands.
Ysé Grégoire Sainte Marie, Emmanuelle Lignon, Yanis Mahlous and Léa Meynardier impressed the jury with their brand insights and a bold proposal that used Italy’s artistic heritage to launch the new product. The winning team are awarded travel, accommodation and tickets to the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Team Kuckoo from Bournemouth University was given a special mention for their research work and Whoosh Agency from Sup de Pub in Paris for their creative ideas.
In the last stage of the competition, the finalist teams’ work was seen by jurors representing the client, industry and academia. Asahi was represnted by Grant McKenzie (CMO), Richard Ingram (Global Brands Director) and Stefan Teodorescu (Head of Marketing Capability). The other jurors were Paolo Cesarini (formerly at the European Commission), Julie Frédérickx (Senior Strategic Planner, Ogilvy Social.Lab), Heini Hussam (Marketing Strategist, SOK), Alexandre Duarte (IADE), Kirstie Riedl (FHWien), and Paul Springer (Falmouth University). The jury was chaired by Leonard Savage, Senior Creative Director at McCann Prague.
“In the last few years, marketing and advertising has become increasingly complex and multilayered. Developing marketing plans is no easy task. But the students professionalism, rigor, passion and creativity stood up to the challenging task set for them. We were delighted, surprised provoked with each idea presented, even in their raw forms. They took honest feedback and strenuous direction like seasoned pros. If these students are any indication, the future of our industry is in good hands,” said Leonard Savage.
“I enjoyed the Ad Venture experience very much from a personal and professional point of view. We gained insights and perspectives from potential consumers and were thrilled to see the passion and professionalism from the young leaders in the teams. Although my expectations were quite high, I am pleased to say that they were exceeded and my fellow judges and I were given quite a task. A few of the teams convinced me to hire them, and that’s not easy,” said Grant McKenzie.
The winners were initially rendered speechless by their victory, but we caught up with them later. Emmanuelle Lignon said: “It is quite difficult to summarise our journey, because we have experienced so many things, exchanged with different people and professionals, had the opportunity to imagine and create as a united team, competing with schools from all over the world. We are really proud to have won this great competition, but even more so because we truly enjoyed this adventure and working together on a really exciting subject!” Léa Meynadier added: “I learned two important things, the first one is to believe in a creative idea anyway and the second is to have a great team to make it happen. Many thanks to edcom and Asahi!”
Jack Donaldson from Team Kuckoo said: “This is not an opportunity to be overlooked. It has been great to see so of the amazing talent across Europe with their incredible campaigns.”
Teammate Francesca Smith added: “I will always remember this experience and make use of the advice given to enhance my future career.”
Team Whoosh said: “This competition was the highlight of our year, such a challenging and stimulating opportunity! This experience taught us to stick together and stay motivated even though the road was sometimes bumpy.”
The organisers, edcom and the European Association of Communications Agencies would like to thank all the student teams and the jurors who took part in this year’s Ad Venture competition.
Notes to Editors
About Ad Venture
Organised by European Institute for Commercial Communications Education (edcom) and the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), Ad Venture is the first Pan-European competition which gives students the opportunity to experience what it is like to work in advertising by creating their own campaign in response to a brief from a real client.
About edcom
edcom is the European Institute for Commercial Communications Education. It strives to promote excellence in commercial communications education and research and to further exchanges between the European commercial communications sector and academic partners. Edcom was founded by EACA together with the founding academic partners in 2007. Find us on Twitter.
About EACA
The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) represents more than 2500 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.
