2014 Student Workshop

The 2014 Student Workshop was fun and very rewarding. It started out strong with a lot of interest from students in the design and marketing programs at GMU and NAIT. We were able to establish a not-for-profit client partner, the Northern Alberta YMCA aka “the Y,” in the early weeks (thank-you @margodevaney).

After meeting several times with the client, ACE President Michael Brechtel (now Past President), and I sat down to put together this year’s Project Brief. When we looked at the client’s needs and the budget available for the winning campaign, (an impressive $20K), we decided that we wanted to encourage the students to use their imaginations. Their objective was clear: create a campaign that increases awareness of the Y’s philanthropic side while promoting Student Memberships.

Two posters were required as deliverables, one that could be placed anywhere in the city and another that could be used on-campus that wouldn’t be in competition with the school’s fitness centers. The rest of the campaign was up to the students and their mentors. We encouraged students to think “outside of the box.” Our client had asked for a strong social media component to help with their online presence, aimed specifically at students. It was exciting to see the teams come up with ideas that were essentially targeting themselves.

Presentation night came and the stakes were high. After four hours of presentations, the judges deliberated and debated on which team presented the best “all-round” campaign. Everyone got their opinion in and it wasn’t easy choosing a winner…luckily, most were in agreement. The final say came down to the Y’s head of marketing team, Janet Tryhuba and Scott Hutcheon. Everyone was excited when they chose the winners, Marty Phung and Lillia Wan.

Marty and Lillia’s campaign had the best combination of the client’s requirements. They took the trend of the Nekonominations on social media that encouraged students to challenge one another to drink or do something outrageous and turned it in to a #Ynominate campaign. They pushed the Y’s “comfort zone” and encouraged students to nominate their friends to do something active at their local YMCA instead of something less positive and potentially dangerous. Their idea was solid and the posters were on brand.

Shortly after the decision was made, Marty and Lillia were invited to the YMCA’s directors meeting where they pitched their campaign to the entire Edmonton Y team. It was well received and everyone was looking forward to putting it in motion. You can see the campaign live at ynominate.ca

On behalf of ACE I would like to thank every student that participated in this year’s workshop, each of you put in a lot of time and effort and it showed. I would also like to thank Janet and Scott from the YMCA for taking a risk and being apart of the competition. Also, a big thank-you to our amazing mentors who put time, wisdom and encouragement in to their student teams, without you this would not be possible. Lastly, thank-you to Canadian Western Bank and Amanda Lemay for being an ongoing and generous supporter/sponsor of the ACE Student Workshop, we look forward to working with you again next year!

So please, spread the word and encourage your fellow students and industry members to take part in the 2015 Student Workshop.

I #Ynominate you to take part in next year’s workshop!