One of the most prestigious awards for young talent trying to get a foothold in the data and marketing industry has been won by Jez Carr and Alex Schotten from Edinburgh Napier University.
The campaign ‘Conscious Cup-ling’ won this year’s DMA Breakthrough Award, sponsored by PwC. The winners of the award was revealed during the DMA Awards night.
Each year aspiring creatives battle it out for the chance to impress some of the biggest names in marketing by working on a live creative brief, for a real client or business.
The Breakthrough Award is highly competitive, with the winner walking away with a cash prize of £1000, not to mention industry recognition at the highly anticipated ceremony and, of course, the award.
As part of the challenge, PwC invited students across the UK to develop a multi-channel marketing campaign to help build responsible growth in the food and beverage sector. The Bright Goldfish team presented an imaginative idea worthy of an experienced creative team. It made an emotional connection with the audience to encourage them to reconnect with reusable drinks cups. It also considered how to deliver responsible business growth, while supporting small businesses and changing consumer behaviour.
“Following a very challenging couple of years for many businesses, we wanted the students to think of a way to support sales growth, whilst considering the environmental impact of increasing consumption. This campaign achieved this with an idea that was truly innovative, emotive and environmentally friendly. We were incredibly happy to support this award and help to champion the future stars of the UK data and marketing industry,” said Tom Adams, Partner at PwC. “We were hugely impressed with the calibre of the pitches and the levels of creativity the teams brought to us and it was very hard to choose between the three shortlisted teams.”
Dozens of budding creatives across the UK responded to the brief, presenting their original ideas, but in the end, it was two students from Edinburgh Napier University who take home Gold.
Students from the University of Westminster, with ‘The Pret Juicebox’ campaign, took the Silver Award and students from the University of Gloucestershire, with the ‘For the Forgetful’ campaign, took the Bronze – winning a £500 and £250 prize each respectively.
Kate Burnett, General Manager of DMA Talent, said: “The Breakthrough Award is a great way for young people to learn about the industry while working on a meaningful project for a leading international business. We’re seeing so much interest from students across the UK in the award, so it is testament to the calibre of work delivered by the students based in Edinburgh to secure Gold this year. The data and marketing industry is for anyone who is creative, strategic and determined – we are certainly observing these qualities from the talent entering campaigns into this award.”
The DMA Breakthrough Award is one of the data and marketing industry’s leading awards celebrating the next generation of talent coming into the industry.
