Category: News

During the week of 4 th July 2016, over 60 advertising & commercial communications students and young professionals from 15 countries took part in the 7 th edition of the EACA International Advertising Summer School at edcom member Design Akademie Berlin in Germany.

The participants attended two workshops a day while being challenged to create a campaign in international multidisciplinary teams for this year’s client Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies.

University students took part in the Foundation Programme, where they were trained in the main disciplines of advertising, such as strategic planning, the future of digital creativity, interactive video and mobile advertising, presentation skills, and understanding the relationship between agencies and clients. Young professionals participated in the Advanced Programme, which focused on workshops such as effective communication, applying behavioural economics to brands, connecting your content to an audience and a digital boot camp.

Inspired by these workshops delivered by leading industry professionals, the participants created a campaign in response to a brief they received from the client in co-operation with creative agency DDB Berlin. The challenge was to increase brand preference and brand advocacy by creating an emotional relationship with consumers that goes far beyond rational matters like products and prices.

The jury consisted of Tamas Kovacs (Marketing Communications Expert, Deutsche Telekom), Matthias Rech (Senior Planner, DDB Berlin), Ralf Nöcker (Director General, GWA), Dörte SchultzeSeehof (Rectrice of Design Akademie Berlin), Micky Denehy (Principal, EACA International School of Advertising and Communications) and Dominic Lyle (Director General, EACA).

The winning Foundation team ‘Columbus Creative’ impressed the jury with their campaign #europeisforsharing. Being millennials themselves from all over Europe and beyond, the team focused on the strengths of a united Europe instead of having barriers between countries. Next to a strong creative idea, the campaign also laid out a well-developed strategy which combined both traditional and innovative advertising and marketing techniques. When interviewed about their experiences, the team commented that: “It was such a great experience and we made really good friends here. It helped that we were split into multidisciplinary teams from different backgrounds because it inspired us to come up with the creative idea of our campaign that Europe is for sharing.”

The winning Advanced team ‘The Fab Four’ had an impressive campaign called #sharelifessimpletruths which carried a powerful message. The idea behind the campaign is that millennials should share true moments in life, even if they don’t look great on social media. The winning team said: “We’re very proud of ourselves, we had an amazing week and we made some great friends in the process. The summer school was 100% relevant for our day to day jobs, so it truly was an amazing experience.”

All teams impressed the judging panel with their creative ideas, their vitality when delivering the pitches and their passion for the advertising industry in general. According to Micky Denehy, Principal of the EACA International School of Advertising and Communications, the jury was very impressed with the energy of the participants and the quality of the presentations given the short amount of time that they had to work on the brief. “The Foundation teams just blew us away with how they went for it and the Advanced teams really thought through the problems that needed solving, they were just fantastic presentations”, he commented.

Matthias Rech, Senior Planner at DDB Berlin said: “It’s always inspiring to see how young people deal with the challenges we face every day and it was fantastic to be overwhelmed with the new, fresh and unexpected ideas the teams came up with. Working in the advertising industry, we realise it is crucial to retain the potential that we have witnessed here today.” Tamas Kovacs, Marketing Communications Expert at Deutsche Telekom, added: “We’ll definitely take back some of the ideas and out-of-the-box thinking that the participants have shared with us, especially considering that they came from our target audience, the millennials. The EACA International Advertising Summer School has truly been a wonderful experience and an opportunity to gain new insights, and that’s why Deutsche Telekom is very keen to show its support.”

Ralf Nöcker, Director of GWA (Gesamtverband Kommunikationsagenturen), noted that: “The industry needs people like these students and young professionals whose great work we have witnessed today. All participants showed so much enthusiasm and passion. Moreover, they demonstrated that they were able not only to think of brilliant ideas, but most importantly, they were able to sell them to us.”

EACA Director General, Dominic Lyle, summarised: “I think this is one of the best summer schools we have had in terms of the commitment of people and the level of excitement and fun that the participants had. One of the great things about the summer school is that it brings people together from different countries and cultures and that they learn how to work together as teams”.

The next EACA International Summer School will take place at the beginning of July 2017.

Nearly 200 young professionals in the European advertising industry have completed the 2016 European Advertising Certificate exam with 95% achieving passes, continuing the success of previous years. Since its launch in 2003, over 13,000 people have achieved the foundation qualification in over 60 countries.

The European Advertising Certificate offers a qualification in foundational learning on the advertising industry to young agency employees with at least two years experience. The programme is available to members of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) for a fee of €250 per delegate. Non-members are also encouraged to participate.

The Certificate provides students with a broad understanding of the advertising industry, offering them a comprehensive overview of industry practices and brand communication processes. It is the first panEuropean qualification that builds on professional experiences while focusing on future careers. The programme was designed with a European audience in mind with help from the European Union Leonardo programme and is based on the proven IPA Foundation Certificate.

The online programme consists of 7 learning paths or modules: Advertising and Communication in Context; Understanding Client Business; The Strategic Planner’s Toolkit; Client, Creative and Media Briefs; Understanding Media Channels; Creativity and Creative Development; and Effectiveness. The programme includes a combination of videos, key readers, e-lessons, assignments, quizzes and discussion groups to assist the students in the learning process.

According to Dominic Lyle, Director General of the EACA, the results of the EAC were very positive: “The EAC is a valuable learning tool for our young professionals, who come from agencies across Europe. Developing the knowledge of young professionals is essential for the industry as a whole, and the EAC focuses on giving those professionals the tools they need to succeed in an ever-changing field. We are thrilled with this year’s results as our students once again showed an exceptional ability to grasp the intricacies of the industry.”

Registration for the next generation of EAC young professionals opens early next year, and the exam will take place in April 2017.

The jury of the third round of the Ad Venture Student Competition, organised by the European Institute for Commercial Communications Education (edcom) and EACA, has announced that team Aedion from King’s College London (UK) has won the Ad Venture Competition with their campaign “Your Web Vote”.

Students in advertising and commercial communications from across Europe were asked to create a campaign to raise awareness of the consequences of the use of ad blocking technology. The topic is creating much debate in the industry and has been top of mind to advertisers and publishers, to whom it causes a real threat. The brief was to make internet users aware of how ad blocking technology restricts publishers’ ability to display high quality online content.

The winning team Aedion, represented by Wayne D’Cruz, Mu You, Chi Zhang and Petya Karagyozova competed against 75 other teams from 14 countries answering a brief developed in collaboration with a consortium of European media associations covering television, press and digital.

The three finalists – Aedion (King’s College London, UK), Xense (University of Leeds, UK) and What do you mean Agency (Pantheon University, France) – were selected during two initial judging rounds and were given the opportunity to present their campaign to the final jury and the edcom members during the 9th edcom May meeting at the College of Agora in Zagreb, Croatia.

Team Aedion’s campaign “Your Web Vote” is centered around an online vote wherein users have to pick between two options: ‘free internet with advertising’ or ‘paid internet with no advertising’. The campaign presents two fictional figureheads in Jack LeftSide and Max RightSide who lead their respective campaigns.

The King’s College London students were rewarded for their hard work with travel, accommodation and a ticket to the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity which will take place in June 2016.

“The experience of participating in a competition of this scale was both challenging and rewarding. The opportunity to not only meet some of the most esteemed names from the industry but also more importantly to pitch our ideas before them and receive elaborate feedback has been immensely valuable. Furthermore, it was quite enlightening and inspiring to see how other teams approached the same brief. Our biggest takeaway is definitely the ‘can-do’ attitude that this competition empowers you with which has truly motivated us for the future!” commented winning team Aedion.

The final jury, chaired by Marina Vnučec (Degordian), was composed of Townsend Feehan (IAB Europe), Angela Mills Wade (EPC), Luka Dubokovic (BBDO Zagreb), Jan Binar (McCann Prague), Arnoud Versluis (NHTV University) and Nenad Bogdanovic (College of Agora).

Jury chair Marina Vnučec stated that “it was a privilege to be a part of the Ad Venture competition and to be among so many creative young minds. The jury was really impressed by all three top final solutions since each one of them was outstanding in its own way. Congratulations to all the teams, especially to the winner, King’s College London!”

From the client’s side, EPC Executive Director Angela Mills Wade said: “I found the experience very inspiring, to see such talented young people working together to produce very high quality work. The brief was challenging but they got behind this controversial issue of ad blocking with highly imaginative ideas and workable executions. Their commitment and professionalism is to be commended.” Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe, added that “it was particularly encouraging to see with what conviction the group embraced the brief, although they are all right in the “millennials” age group that is leading in ad blocking usage. Seeing how they would motivate their peers to think twice was enlightening and shows that young people today can see the strategic stakes involved in supporting media independence.” Registrations for the next Ad Venture Student Competition will open in autumn 2016.