VCU Brandcenter Students, Alumni Win at Cannes Festival

By Tom Gresham

Students from the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter were among the winners of the AKQA Future Lions competition at the Cannes Lions 59^th International Festival of Creativity held last week in Cannes, France. A number of Brandcenter alumni also picked up prizes in the general competitions.

Christopher Sheldon, Marybeth Ledesma, Nadia Hyder, Matthew Runde and Nick Maschmeyer were honored in the Future Lions contest at the festival, which attracts thousands of members of the global creative communications industries. Cannes is the largest international award show in the advertising industry. The Future Lions competition honors the best advertising work from students. Entrants were required to advertise a product from a global brand in a way that could not have been done five years ago.

The VCU Brandcenter team created an innovative video advertising Microsoft’s “Bing Automatic,” an organic search tool. The video can be viewed at http://www.brandcenter.vcu.edu/11.aspx. The winning piece involved contributions from students from each of the VCU Brandcenter’s five tracks – art direction (Ledesma), copywriting (Sheldon), communications strategy (Maschmeyer), creative technology (Runde) and creative brand management (Hyder).

In addition to the current students’ winning entry, several VCU Brandcenter alumni were winners in Cannes competitions. They included:

• Daniel Burke (art direction, 2006). Award: Direct Grand Prix, Cyber Gold Lion. Agency: CP+B Boulder, for American Express, “Small Business Gets an Official Day” -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/interactive/entry.cfm?entryid=32630&award=2
  
  
• Mathieu Dauner (communications strategy, 2005). Award: Cannes Effectiveness Award. Agency: Leo Burnett Sydney, for Diageo Australia, Bundeberg Rum, “Watermark” -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/effectiveness/entry.cfm?entryid=1494&award=31
  
  
• Marika Wiggan (communications strategy, 2010). Award: Mobile Gold Lion. Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, for Chevrolet, “Chevy Game Time” -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/mobile/entry.cfm?entryid=11229&award=2
  
  
• John McClaire (creative technology, 2011) and Rob Thiemann (copywriting, 2010). Awards: Direct Gold Lion, PR Gold Lion, Direct Bronze Lion, PR Bronze Lion. Agency: Leo Burnett Detroit, for Troy Public Library, “Book Burning Party” -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/direct/entry.cfm?entryid=13273&award=2
  
  
• Jeff Gillette (copywriting, 2006) and Heather Ryder (copywriting, 2010). Award: Direct Gold Lion. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, for the Coca-Cola Company, “Coca-Cola Polar Bowl” -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/direct/entry.cfm?entryid=26943&award=2
  
• Joey Ianno (art direction, 2010) and Matty Smith (copywriting, 2011). Award: Film Silver Lion. Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000, for Kayak, "Brain Surgery" -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/film/entry.cfm?entryid=5618&award=3
  
• Eric Dennis (art direction, 2011), Molly Jamison (art direction, 2011), Joey Ianno (art direction, 2010) and Matty Smith (copywriting, 2010). Award: Film Silver Lion. Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000, for Kayak, "How To" campaign -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/film/entry.cfm?entryid=8898&award=3
  
• Julie Matheny (copywriting, 2010). Award: Mobile Grand Prix. Agency: Johannes Leonardo, for Google, "Hilltop Re-Imagined for Coca-Cola" -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/mobile/
  
  
• Jared Higgins (creative technology, 2010). Award: Titanium and Integrated Silver Lion, two Cyber Bronze Lions. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, for Old Spice, "Mano a Mano in El Bãno" and "Manta Claus" -- http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/integrated/entry.cfm?entryid=26977&award=101&order=0&direction=1&keywords=old%2Cspice
  
  http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/interactive/entry.cfm?entryid=32706&award=101&order=0&direction=1&keywords=old%2Cspice
  
  http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/interactive/entry.cfm?entryid=32705&award=101&order=0&direction=1&keywords=old%2Cspice