Nine students from the Faculty of Communication and Media Arts (FCMA) bring home awards from the first student advertising fest held August 16 at Srey Dim Conference Hall.

Eighteen participating FCMA students enrolled in advertising class formed three groups that functioned as ad agencies during the entire term. These groups are Thoughts & Co, Creative Alliance and Excellence Advertising. Each member of the group performs position relative to what exactly the ad industry does. They wrote, designed and produced their own advertisements based on their chosen products. They were exposed to rigorous market study, barnstorming and in producing original advertisements based on initial study of their market. The outputs are total ad campaigns rendered in digital format.

The groups competed for categories in Best in Print Ad, TV Advertising, Outdoor Ad, Transit Ad and the Campaign of the Year Award. Special Awards were also given to the best art director, copywriter and media planner. More than 40 creatively executed entries were submitted to compete in the categories.

Thoughts and Co. Advertising bagged the Campaign of year award for their Adidas Total Ad Campaign along with Best in Art Direction, Copywriting, Transit and Print. Excellence Advertising won the Best TV Commercial, Outdoor Ad and Media Effectiveness Award while Creative Alliance got the 2^nd best TV award.

Entries were judged by both professional judges from the advertising industry and the public. Seventy percent of the results came from the judges and thirty percent of the ratings are based from the public’s vote using social media poll. The event is the first to happen in Cambodia which was attended by business community, advertising agencies, marketing officers, and the academe.

Roster of Judges included Ronnie Eide, International Advertising Association of Cambodia founding member; Peter Sutherland, Executive Creative Director of Riverorchid Asia; Kay Chan, Associate Creative Director of Orange Advertising and Dr. Raymond Leos, Dean of FCMA.

Mr. Anthony Galliano, CEO of Dynamo Innovate Digital Advertising and guest speaker during the award’s night emphasized the importance of advertising and its growing demand in Cambodia. The event is the first to happen in Cambodia which was attended by business community, advertising agencies, marketing officers, and the academe.

The Student Advertising Awards program aims to recognize and reward creativity of FCMA students in the field of advertising. By honoring the competitive talents of students is part of FCMA’s mission in developing the skills of students to become global graduates in response to industrial demands and in strengthening Cambodia’s advertising industry.