Proving Creativity and Planning Skills on the International Stage
A university student-led team from Ajou University has won awards at several international advertising festivals, including the New York Festivals, which is considered one of the world's top three advertising festivals.
On June 19, Ajou University announced that a joint team of 24 students from 14 universities, led by Park Changmin, a fourth-year student in the Department of Cultural Contents at Ajou University, and supervised by Professor Jang Yebit, had won multiple awards at various international advertising festivals.
According to the recently announced results of the New York Festivals, the joint team received a total of nine awards: four Bronze awards and five Finalist honors in categories such as PR and Branded Content. The entry "JUST DANCPR," which received awards in two categories, is content designed to help children learn CPR in an easy and enjoyable way, based on the idea that the compression rate for actual CPR is similar to the rhythm of K-pop music. The idea originated from the fact that 80% of cardiac arrests occur at home, and children may sometimes be the only rescuers in emergency situations.
At the Young Ones Awards section of the One Show 2025, held in the United States and announced in May, the joint team also won five awards (three Merit and two Bronze). With these five awards, the Ajou University team earned 30 points and ranked 38th globally, the highest ranking among Korean universities. The Young Ones One Show, which has been held since 1986, tallies the points earned by participating universities and announces a global ranking.
The students' award-winning entry for this competition was a campaign to solve a problem faced by the "Philadelphia Cream Cheese" brand. The team proposed an idea to use the delivery truck as both a certification mark and a moving billboard, capitalizing on the importance of freshness for cream cheese. The concept was based on the belief that the presence of the delivery truck itself could serve as an indicator of a restaurant's high quality.
Previously, at the Golden Award of Montreux 2025 in Switzerland, announced in April, the team also won awards in three categories. They planned a public interest advertising campaign for a clothing brand that uses reptiles as its symbol, aiming to raise awareness of the cruel reality of reptile smuggling, and won an award in the design category.
In the Digital/Social category of the same competition, the team was praised for a social project that repurposed discarded coffee grounds as a resource while also providing new job opportunities for elderly workers who collect and sell waste paper. In the Print/Poster category, they were honored for a campaign that connected a ketchup brand with the daily lives of the MZ generation, who are interested in stock investment.
The joint team consisted of 24 students currently enrolled at 14 universities: Ajou University (with Park Changmin as team leader), Gachon University, Kyungsung University, Dankook University, Sangmyung University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, Inha University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hallym University, Hanyang University, Hongik University, and KAIST.
Driven by their passion and interest in advertising, the joint team has been striving for over a year to win awards at international advertising festivals. Under the guidance of Professor Jang Yebit from the Department of Cultural Contents at Ajou University, the students held monthly seminars to develop and refine their ideas. As a result of these efforts, they submitted a total of nine works to global advertising festivals, with seven of them winning a combined total of 17 awards.
Park Changmin, the Ajou University student who led the organization of the joint team and their participation in the festivals, said, "Because my colleagues and I, who came together through our passion for advertising, managed every step of the process ourselves, including raising the entry fees, this achievement feels even more valuable. My goal is to continue developing my skills as a professional advertiser and, in the future, to participate in international advertising festivals not as a contestant, but as a judge."
Professor Jang Yebit of Ajou University, who supervised the students, commented, "I offer my wholehearted praise for the students' challenges and outstanding achievements. It has been a wonderful journey working with students who possess exceptional creativity, deep insight, and a warm perspective on the world. I sincerely want to thank the students who have worked together for such a long time since last year."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
