NEW YORK—Entertainment marketing agency AKA NYC is mentoring a team of some of New York City’s brightest and most creative high school students competing in the Advertising Futures competition associated with this year’s Advertising Week event. Students from the Academy of Finance and Enterprise in Queens will work with AKA NYC creatives, directors, designers and digital marketing experts to develop an advertising campaign. Their work, along with submissions from other teams, will be presented to a jury composed of leading New York City advertising professionals on October 1st.
Students will work with AKA NYC staff over the next several weeks to create advertising media that can include television commercials, posters, print advertising, websites and apps. AKA staff will provide advice on campaign concept and development, design and production, and digital marketing, based on their experience in creating campaigns for such Broadway shows as All the Way starring Brian Cranston, Once the Musical and Matilda the Musical. The theme of this year’s Advertising Futures competition is Pet Adoptions.
The students aren’t the only ones who gain from taking part in the competition, says AKA NYC Content Director Jamaal Parham. “We are incredibly excited to be working with these kids,” Parham observes. “It’s refreshing to see the unbridled enthusiasm they are bringing to this task. It reminds us of why we got into advertising ourselves. They are amazing.” Along with Parham, AKA NYC staff participating in the event include Interactive Marketing Specialists Crystal Chase and Ryan Greer, Director of Client Services Elizabeth Findlay and Senior Designer Rob Schnabel.
Although this is the first year that AKA NYC has taken part in the Advertising Futures competition, the agency has a history of supporting students and other emerging talent. The agency runs an annual competition in conjunction with New York’s School of Visual Arts that provides scholarships to students pursuing careers in advertising. “We love nurturing new talent,” says Parham. “The Advertising Futures competition provides another opportunity to extend our role as a teaching agency.”
Held annually in New York City, Advertising Week is the world’s premier gathering of marketing and communications leaders. With more than 250 distinct events, The Week is a hybrid of thought leadership Seminars featuring the industry’s best and brightest and engaging special events which galvanize targeted constituencies. Spawned from creative roots in 2004, Advertising Week now draws from the client, media and broader cultural communities with a laser focus on key business drivers which shape and influence the global industry.
