VCU students honored with Future Lions award

By Sarah Retchin
VCU Communications and Public Relations

Three VCU Brandcenter students exhibited advertising campaigns this summer at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival after receiving prestigious awards for their work.

Mollie Partesotti, Jeremy Claud and J.D. Humphreys were invited to the festival in Cannes, France, after their campaigns were selected from more than 500 entries from around the world. Partesotti and Claud, who worked as a team, and Humphreys were two of just five groups worldwide selected as Future Lions award winners, earning the right to travel to Cannes to exhibit their work for the advertising industry’s leading agencies. The festival took place June 15-21.

The directions for the Future Lions competition were to advertise a product from a global brand in a way that was not possible five years ago. The applicants were allowed to choose their targeted audience. The idea was to, “Shake up the advertising world by literally redefining the medium and the message.” The competition was sponsored by AKQA, a company that specializes in interactive marketing.

Partesotti (communications strategy) and Claud (art direction) created a campaign promoting the brand Sharpie. Their idea was to create a motion-sensitive media allowing users to create digital messages in their own handwriting through means of interactive billboards, iPhones and blogs.

Humphreys (art direction) created a campaign promoting the brand Boblbe-e. The main concept was to create a GPS system in backpacks that allows travelers’ friends to track their adventures online as they unfold. The idea would be carried out through a Google Earth-enabled micro site that showed the traveler’s path, travelogue and photographs.