KC’s Executive Creative Director Randy Rohn is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after judges of advertising competitions. He’s judged the Tellys, CREATIVITY Annual, Summit Awards, W3, Addy® Awards, and, on April 23 and 24, he was invited to judge one of the American Advertising Federation’s premier events, the National Student Advertising Competition.
The AAF Sixth District, including schools from Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, has long been deemed one of the most challenging competitions. Teams from universities in the district prepare full advertising campaigns for a real client—State Farm Insurance, in this case. The teams Randy judged represented Butler, Indiana University, University of Southern Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State University, Ball State University, DePaul University, Marian University School of Business, Central Michigan University, Southern Illinois University Grand Valley State University, Easter Michigan University, Ohio State and Loyola University.
After all the teams had presented, Randy and his fellow judges selected Butler University to represent the Sixth District at the National Competition to be held in June. “I thought the winning team, Butler, had stunning work,” Randy commented. “It was smart, strategic and very novel. They had a look that, across all media, was very distinctive. Some of the other schools had pieces that were nice for one or two media, but didn’t work as well in others. But overall, it was tough to pick a winner because there was so much good work.”
Would Randy accept if asked to judge the student competition next year? In a heartbeat. “It’s very energizing to see the ideas of young people. It’s fresh, exciting and you encounter some different perspectives that really are like a splash of cold water to help you think in a little bit different way.”
Tags: awards
