Marketeer Association: Student Daze
The winning work of the first MPA Roses Student Advertising Awards to be powered by members of The Marketeer Association was designed around the theme of blending in, but, as our judges discovered, it really stood out from the crowd.
With more than 400 individual entries from students at colleges, universities and art schools right across the UK, it was Worcester College’s Steven Fessey who turned the judges’ eyes, and those of the agency folk who turned out for the final stages of the judging in the evening, with his response to a brief set by the Imperial War Museum.
The first stage of the judging process took place during the afternoon and the judging panel, which was made up of Marketeer Association members Rob Taylor of Like A River, Greg Clarke of The Source, Joseph Hughes of Propaganda, Rachel Morgan of Viv-id, Simon Reason of MDA, Pete Martin and Paul Monaghan of Citigate Smarts, Dave Simpson of Love Creative and Ian Davies of Nexus, trimmed the initial entries down to a shortlist of 12.
Then, during the evening event, which more than 70 students attended to pick the brains of the The Marketeer Association’s members, the agencies voted on which of the 12 they thought fulfilled their briefs the best.
Three pieces of work came to the fore after this process, most notably the piece for the Imperial War Museum, for which Steven Fessey picked up a gold award at The Roses Advertising Awards event in Manchester on Thursday 1 May.
Scooping silver awards were two runner-up entries. Taking the stage on the night was Kim Clarke of Doncaster College, for her creative response to a brief set by charity client Fairbridge. The creative team of Alex Main and Mark Brewis, both of whom study at Newcastle College, also picked up a silver award for their winning ‘I Love Mondays’ response to a brief set by Britannia.
Rob Taylor of Like A River, said: “The best news for me was that my favourite piece of the whole show was home grown and I'm sure it’ll go on to be the worthy winner. The good news for the student in question is that I would be happy if we'd done that piece of work here and I would like to see if the rest of their work is just as good. Well thought out, well executed, well done.”
The success of the judging event at Urbis in Manchester on 17 April proved that if the Northern creative industry shows an interest in the student population then they will turn out in their droves to find out more about life in the creative industries.
As Taylor says: “Growing the talent seems to be possible but keeping it at home or attracting it to the region seems to be a bit tricky against the lure of London. I think it's events like this that can start to change perceptions amongst both students and tutors.”