Advertising students win big at D&AD New Blood Awards 2019

Students from both BA (Hons) Advertising and MA Advertising at London College of Communication have been recognised with prestigious awards at D&AD's annual New Blood festival of up-and-coming talent.

D&AD New Blood, which took place in July 2019, is one of the world’s largest student competitions, with winners representing the best emerging young talent on design and advertising from around the globe.

Six students from London College of Communication were recognised for both individual and collaborative projects, winning a Yellow Pencil, Graphite Pencil, and Wood Pencil between them

Yellow Pencil winners: Işık Ege Ülgenalp, Sibel Shakir and Zeos James Green – BA (Hons) Advertising

Işık Ege Ülgenalp said that he had the project idea for two years, ever since Microsoft Hololens was announced. He imagined a child virtually conducting an entire orchestra, making adjustments on the fly and controlling hundreds of people on stage. To develop his vision, Işık approached Sibel Shakir, who became responsible of the storyboarding, and Zeos to work on sound.

He chose Max Richter, and his recomposition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons because it is considered one of the best classical albums of recent years. He pictured how a little Max might've seized the opportunity to conduct his own orchestra and choreograph his own ballet at the age of 8.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons Recomposed by Max (D&AD New Blood 2019 Yellow Pencil Winner) from Işık Ülgenalp on Vimeo.

Marion Bloch and Xiaotian Xiong, students of MA Advertising, won a Graphite Pencil for their brief ‘Lament of the Employee' set by Burger King.

In a context of widespread scepticism and with the rise of "health conscious" attitudes, the challenge for the participants was to show the younger generation (16 to 24 year olds) that "the Whopper is not crap" and change the concern and criticism about the general and nutritional qualities of their food.

"We decided to base our campaign on fictional employees to find a fresh angle to demonstrate the Whopper's key attributes [including] fresh ingredients and preparation. Indeed, we wanted to create an original campaign that would match Burger King's core values and tone of voice" said one of the participants.

This enabled them to bring humour and irony to appeal to the young audience they were asked to communicate with.

Wood pencil winner: Alice Fortuna – BA (Hons) Advertising

BA (Hons) Advertising student Alice Fortuna’s set by Adnams won a Wood Pencil for her brief ‘In 100 Years’ Time' for Burger King.

She built up her brief from the idea that sustainability means treating our planet as if we planned to stay, and Adnams plans to stay.

The result is a campaign which looks at how Adnams will be enjoyed in 100 years’ time with optimism and humour, because only those who operate with respect towards our planet and its inhabitants can have the privilege to think 100 years in advance.

D&AD New Blood Festival

New Blood is one of the world’s largest student competitions and the winners represent the best emerging young talent from around the globe.

Hand-picked by industry-leading luminaries from design and advertising, the winners impressed the judges with their creative thinking and practical skills and were each awarded one of the industry’s most prestigious creative accolades: a New Blood Pencil.

Paul Drake, foundation director commented, “the festival is a graduate showcase that brings emerging creatives and the industry together over 3 days of talks, fringe events and an exhibition from UK universities’ top talent”.