Roberto Clemente, a senior at CCNY and one of two Ad/PR students named Merit winners in the 2011 One Show College Competition for creativity in advertising.
Roberto Clemente, a senior majoring in advertising and public relations at The City College of New York, was named a Merit winner in the One Show College Competition for creativity in advertising. Simeon Coker, a CUNY Baccalaureate student, who was mentored and taught by CCNY advertising faculty, also received a Merit award. The winners were announced at a reception May 11 in New York.
“The One Show is the Academy Awards of our industry,” said Nancy R. Tag, associate professor of advertising and deputy chair of CCNY’s Media & Communication Arts Department. “It’s probably the most prestigious award in advertising in terms of creativity and conceptual thinking.”
Professors Tag and Gerardo Blumenkrantz advised Mr. Clemente and Mr. Coker. The winning campaigns are included in the One Show Annual, “which will sit on the shelf of nearly every art director and copywriter in the world,” she noted.
Sponsored by The One Club, the world’s foremost non-profit organization devoted to excellence in advertising creativity, the competition received nearly 3,000 entries from around the world. Students compete in print, integrated branding, non-traditional, design, corporate identity and online advertising categories.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Mr. Clemente of his win. “I hope it will be a stepping stone to a career in advertising. This is a great honor and I feel truly energized by this recognition.” An aspiring copywriter who lives in Manhattan, he won for his campaign, “Harvest Rated,” in the print category. He created an innovative twist on the popular Zagat restaurant survey for City Harvest, a food rescue organization that was this year’s competition client.
“My campaign mimicked typical Zagat reviews of high-end restaurants. But my ads featured reviews by hungry people thankful for each restaurant’s food donation to City Harvest. I based my survey on the ratings of lower income class or poor people,” he said.
Mr. Coker, a senior CUNY Baccalaureate student registered at New York City College of Technology, was honored in the integrated branding campaign category. His campaign, “City Harvest Gears in Motion,” was developed to encourage city residents to work together to end hunger. Using synergistic newspaper ads, store stickers, and innovative alternative media, Coker’s concept encourages New Yorkers to donate 25 cents to City Harvest for every meal they consume at participating New York restaurants.