During the week of 3th July 2017, nearly 70 advertising and commercial communications students and young professionals from 16 countries took part in the 8th edition of the EACA International Advertising Summer School at the University of Creative Communication in Prague, Czech Republic.
The attendees represented a mix of students in the field of commercial communications and young professionals working in media, creative and digital agencies. They were challenged to create a campaign in international, multidisciplinary teams for this year’s client McDonald’s, one of the world’s leading fast food companies. During the week, they also received workshops from leading advertising practitioners in mixed groups to gain an understanding of the advertising industry.
The client, in co-operation with creative agency DDB Prague, was looking for a campaign to turn McDonald’s restaurants into cool, trendy places for young people to be and eat at, therefore resulting in making the target audience share their experiences with their friends and online communities. The jury was also looking for a campaign that could capture a good sense of matching the price with emotional value to their products.
This year’s edition included two relevant changes compared to previous editions. Instead of having one group of Foundation students and Advanced students, participants were mixed and split into two groups. As a result, each team was composed of 4 to 5 young professionals and 1 to 2 students; creating an invaluable learning experience for students. Young professionals commented that they appreciated the sense of creativity and fresh wind the students brought into the teams. The second addition was a networking activity in which 6 participants had been asked to share a recent professional success that could be a meaningful and valuable experience to other participants to learn from.
At the end of the week, the 12 teams presented their ideas and campaigns to their peers and the jury, which consisted of Marek Hlavica (Asociace Komunikacnich Agentur (AKA), Jan Suda (McCann-Erickson Prague), Elena Chadzieva (McDonald’s), Ladislav Dolezal, (McDonald’s), Micky Denehy (EACA International Academy) and Dominic Lyle (EACA).
The winning team, Penguins, represented by Mirella Bektasevic (Switzerland), Tuur Goormans (Belgium), Tessa Gerwen (Netherlands), Sarah Dennehy (Ireland) and Michal Paulik (Czech Republic) impressed the jury with their campaign “The choice is yours”. Making a distinction between younger generations, team Penguins identified their target audience as centenials, namely boys and girls currently aged 15-18. Their idea was to fight bullying among teenagers in cooperation with Linka bezpečí, a local organisation which provides support for victims of bullying. By stepping inside a McDonald’s restaurant, consumers could make an active choice to help fight bullying among teenagers. Penguins presented a great insight, and delivered an inspiring campaign proposal based on the idea that young people have what it takes to make the right choice in their behaviour.
The jury also presented a second award to the team with the best presentation. Kasia Gluszak (Poland), Laura Berlingiere (Belgium), Jordan Brudenell (UK), Nikola Bochová (Czeck Republic) and Torsten Grünert (Germany) from team Mc5 surprised the jury with an original presentation that demonstrated dedication and hard word as well as a contagious positivism and a great team spirit by presenting their ideas on a set of hand drawn boards, leaving an impression and a smile on the jurors’ faces.
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.
The next EACA International Summer School will take place at the beginning of July 2018.
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For further information, please contact:
Pauline De Pelsmacker
Education and Training Manager
EACA
+32 2 740 07 18
pauline.depelsmacker@eaca.eu
European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), brings together the advertising, media and sales promotions agencies across Europe, enabling international experience and issues to be shared and dealt with on a pan-European basis. It provides an important link between agencies, advertisers and the advertising media in Europe and around the world and participates closely in the setting of standards in many aspects of the business across Europe.