Launch Ad Venture Student Competition 2018-2019

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) and its European Institute for Commercial Communications Education (edcom) have launched a call for entries for its eleventh annual advertising student competition, Ad Venture, in collaboration with Let Toys Be Toys.

Students in the field of commercial communications are challenged to create a campaign that will make the target audience aware, understand and care about why gender stereotyped marketing to children matters.

This year’s client, Let Toys Be Toys, is a grassroots campaign that started on social media in late 2012. Set up by concerned parents, the campaign started with a simple ask of the toy and publishing industries: stop limiting children’s interests by promoting some toys as only suitable for girls, and others only for boys.

The objective of the campaign is  to move towards a situation where offering boys and girls a free choice of playthings and interest is a social norm, by motivating parents to challenge gender stereotyped marketing aimed at children.The final goal is to make parents understand that offering the widest range of play experiences to all children irrespective of their gender ensures the best chance for boys and girls’ learning opportunities and equalities in life.

The submitted entries will be assessed in three rounds by a broad base of judges, comprised of academics, advertising professionals and client representatives from across Europe. The three finalist teams will have the opportunity to present their campaign during the edcom Member’s Meeting in May 2019. The winning team will be rewarded with travel, accommodation and a ticket to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June 2019.

On 3rd October (11am CET), the client will present the brief to students and edcom academics in a webinar format which will end with a Q&A session. Please register for the webinar here.

Students can register their teams until 14 December 2018 and should submit their campaigns by 15 March 2019. Please visit our website for more information.

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For further information, please contact:
Alexandra Nicu, Education & Training Assistant
Telephone: +32 2 740 07 16
Email: alexandra.nicu@eaca.eu

Note for editors
About Ad Venture
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. The student agencies work on an advertising campaign from October to March by incorporating everything they’ve learned in class and putting their skills to test. Click here for more information.

About EACA
EACA – the European Association of Communications Agencies – The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) represents more than 2500 communications agencies and agency associations from 30 European countries that directly employ more than 120 000 people. EACA members include advertising, media, digital, branding and PR agencies.  They create and place adverts and develop brand-building campaigns. Click here for more information.

About edcom
edcom – the European Institute for Commercial Communications Education – was launched by EACA to promote excellence in commercial communications education and research and to encourage exchanges between the European commercial communications sector and academic partners. Click here for more information.

Toys Be Toys

Let Toys Be Toys is a grassroots campaign that started on social media in late 2012. Set up by concerned parents who had met on the UK site ‘Mumsnet’, the campaign started with a simple ask of the toy and publishing industries: stop limiting children’s interests by promoting some toys and books as only suitable for girls, and others only for boys.