University students scoop advertising award
28th Jun 2024
A group of students from Ulster University mentored by Belfast agency Genesis have been named winners of a creative and strategic advertising competition for their campaign on behalf of local charity Belfast Storehouse.
The students, who hail from across the region, created a brand-new advertising campaign ‘Donate Dignity’ which focused on increasing monetary donations as well food, clothes and furniture whilst also promoting the inclusive and sensitive approach Belfast Storehouse proudly adopts.
The competition, which was run by Publicity Association of Northern Ireland (PANI) in conjunction with the Ulster University, saw six groups made up of students from both the Communication, Advertising & Marketing and Graphic Design & Illustration courses compete, creating advertising campaigns based around the same client brief and mentored by local advertising agencies. Genesis, the mentors of the winning group aided the students in analysing the creative brief provided by Storehouse, identifying insights, key messages and developing campaign concepts and assets.
The Belfast Storehouse aims to support individuals by providing food and household essentials and address issues of isolation and self-worth by building communities and forging positive relationships.
Jane Burns, a PANI Student participant from the winning team said: “It was great getting the chance to work with a leading specialist advertising and communications agency and the team at Genesis were really welcoming and helpful. Learning more about Storehouse and their services was also very interesting to us and getting the chance to work on a real client brief was a great experience.”
“For those studying marketing, communications advertising or design I would, without a doubt, recommend taking advantage of the opportunities available through university partnerships with PANI. I feel that the specialist mentoring I’ve received from those working in the industry will really aid me in the rest of my academic study.”
PANI Mentor and Copy & Content Writer at Genesis, Karissa Moutray commented: “Developing and encouraging new talent in the field of advertising and communications is very important to the Genesis team. We are passionate about helping create impactful and effective campaigns, so it was really rewarding to work with this year’s crop of PANI students. They were keen to learn and discuss from the get-go and showed great commitment to working together as a team to create a really strong advertising concept. We had members of the group travelling from as far as Cavan to the Genesis office in Belfast every week to take part. The hard work has clearly paid off. Well done guys!”
Matt Orme, Partnership Manager, Belfast Storehouse said: “It was fantastic to see and hear so many brilliant ideas from the students as part of this PANI student programme initiative. It has been great for Storehouse to see different perspectives on how we as charity can get our message out there. Congratulations to our winners ‘Team Fusion’ who we felt really grasped the essence of what we’re all about as a charity.”
