Whitney Delgado’s Journey from Art to Shinola

5/14/2016 Unknown 0 Comments


On May 2nd, guest lecturer Whitney Delgado not only spoke about how store design, merchandising, and product development impacts brand perception and experience, but took students in Brian Crooks' Brand Experience class on her own career journey.  It has been an evolution from art, to set design, to merchandising, to retail design, to now leading new product development at Shinola. Her career highlights how design and the consumers experience of a brands products, services, and retail stores have become essential to market success. Shinola, which is based in Detroit, is dedicated to producing American built products, including watches, bicycles, leather goods, and journals of the highest possible quality. 

Whitney previously did Brand Experience and Creative Direction at Nike Stadium BHDLN Rogan Loomstate and Edun. Before that she was Set Designer for photographer Gregory Crewdson on Beneath the Roses and Anne Leibovitz on Lavazza Coffee campaign. She is passionate about the role design plays in business. Her work is a manifestation of deep exploration and research paired with a clear aesthetic sensibility that brings out the essential character of the brands she works with.

Experiencing Data — as Explained by Will Sandwick

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In the communications world, most people think about data and analytics as metrics that come into play at the end of a campaign to sell its success. But when Will Sandwick, former Director of Analytics at The Barbarian Group, walked Brian Crooks’ Brand Experience class through some case studies, it was clear that when used in the research and concept development phase, data can help identify key brand problems that may have been overlooked. In fact, data and metrics can help sharpen and focus the creative idea.

As Director of Analytics at The Barbarian Group, Will was responsible for developing a discipline that leads to data-driven insights and measures return on creativity across all clients.  After joining Barbarian in 2014, Will helped the agency implement tools and processes to enable cross-channel success tracking and rapid testing of creative hypotheses. 

Will previously served Associate Director of Data Strategy at Droga5 where he lead measurement and analytics for clients including Chobani, Coke Zero, Toyota and Jockey.  Prior to joining Droga5, Will created and implemented measurement strategies as a member of the analytics team at R/GA. He has served as a visiting speaker at Miami Ad School and had his work cited in periodicals including Adweek, Advertising Age and Forbes. He now works at the startup Blippar.

Mediating Brand Experience with Zack Green

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With the ever expanding media landscape, brands need to be more calculated in where and when they are getting their message in front of their audience. That’s where Zack Green, former Distribution Lead at The Barbarian Group, comes in. Speaking to students in Brian Crooks’ Brand Experience April 11th class, Zack explained the role of media and distribution in the planning and execution of brand experiences and campaigns.


While at The Barbarian Group, Zack worked on media distribution strategy, creative, and PR outreach for clients such as Etihad, Bacardi, IBM, and KIND Snacks. Prior to joining Barbarian, Zack worked at Attention as a digital and social strategist on Mattel, Michelin Travel & Lifestyle, and Diageo brands. Before joining the agency world, Zack was a social media consultant for a few start ups under the WeWork Labs umbrella.​ Zack just took a new position at BBH.

The ONE Club's YOUNG ONE's Gold Pencil Winner

5/13/2016 Anonymous 0 Comments


Congratulations to BICsters Megan Fullagar, Benjamin Kent, Marta Mugica, Liana Pantzari, and Karina Ramos Salce, for winning the Gold Pencil for your submission in the Empathy to Equality video category.

Zahn Center's $5,000 + Audience Choice Award Goes to Hank Lin's Start-up FRIP

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A few months ago, BICster Tung-Han Lin (Hank) joined a team that wanted to solve a problem: take the tedium out of planning educational field trips. Hank signed on as brand manager of what soon became known as FRIP and was chosen to be an elite start-up nurtured by the Zahn Innovation Center at City College. On Thursday, May 12th, Hank's team was awarded $5,000 at Zahn's FINAL Pitch. Competing against seven other finalists, FRIP also received $1,000 for winning the Audience Choice Award. He was joined by BIC Professor and all-around Zahn mentor Gerardo Blumenkrantz.


Thinking about brand value from the inside out is Hank’s expertise. But his visual brand identity has also helped FRIP stand out. He's designed T-shirts, a logo, and other branding material. According to Hank, “There are way more things you can do than things you can't do when it comes to building a brand.”

More about the Zahn Innovation Center: We are a startup incubator located at the City College of New York offering co-working space and an array of resources including: annual competitions, a startup bootcamp, mentorship and pro-bono services, networking opportunities, and rapid prototyping facilities. The Zahn inspires CCNY students to approach their education as changemakers, transforming classroom learning into real-world application. Each semester we partner with various academic departments to create curricula to cultivate the entrepreneurial mindset. We also pair students with startups and other companies in the NYC area through our robust internship program.

BIC Wins Gold Pencil at The One Club’s YOUNG ONES Competition.

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In a packed ballroom at the Metropolitan Pavilion last night, the BIC team of Megan Fullagar, Benjamin Kent, Marta Mugica, Liana Pantzari, and Karina Ramos Salce, accepted the Gold Pencil for its submission in the Empathy to Equality video category. Chosen from among submissions all over the globe (from Milan to Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro to Stockholm) by a jury of top industry professionals and educators, the BIC team bested the competition -- and were chosen to be the last team to take to the podium -- to win top honors with "Effigies to Equality," a campaign that seeks to address the shocking fact that there are no female statues among the numerous effigies in Central Park (which includes the rescue dog Balto and King WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw II JagieÅ‚Å‚o of Poland).


As the Academy Award of the branding and advertising industry, just being considered for a Pencil is ALMOST an award in itself. But actually WINNING a Pencil is a life changing honor. A BIG BIC Congrats to the entire BIC team with kudos going to the awesome guidance and support of BIC instructor Jason Stefanik and BIC Creative Track Director Gerardo Blumenkrantz. 


As a judge at this year's 2016 Young Ones Competition, BIC Program Director Nancy R. Tag noted that "the student submissions this year were absolutely AMAZING. The competition was stiff. I was so proud to see our CCNY submission 'Effigies for Equality' among the finalists and with total confidence ABSTAINED from voting on it. This win could not make me prouder.”  The ONE Club President Kevin Swanepoel extended a personal congratulations noting the impressive showing from a program that only launched a few years ago. 


More about Creative Week:  this year, it will be held from May 9-13 in New York. It is the preeminent festival showcasing the intersection of advertising, innovation and creative thinking. Home to The ONE Show, Young Ones Competition, The ONE Show Creative Summit as well as networking and learning events that highlight the power of creativity, it will attract thousands of creative types from all over the world.

More about The ONE ClubThe One Club exists to champion and promote excellence in advertising and design in all its forms. It is the world's foremost non-profit organization devoted to elevating creative work in the industry. It seeks to celebrate the legacy of creative advertising and to use that legacy to inspire future generations. The One Club is the 'keeper of the flame' for advertising creatives. The One Show remains the pinnacle of achievement by providing a showcase of the world’s best work, and by inviting collaboration among individuals who are actively developing outstanding work.  Further, The One Club exists to educate and inspire students of the business and to benefit the next generation of creatives through scholarships, portfolio reviews and annual student exhibitions and competitions. 

See more photos in our GALLERY.

Adweek Showcases BICster Castro Desroches

5/07/2016 Anonymous 0 Comments


On Thursday, May 5th, Adweek dedicated an entire article to BICster Castro Desroches' unique approach to his portfolio. The article titled "This Art Director Put His Entire Portfolio and Biography on Instagram as Two Giant Grids:  A Life and a Career, 'Frame by Frame'" garnered over a thousand shares in less two days. Feature writer Patrick Coffee included the entire length of Castro's Instagram portfolio as well as a link to the portfolio-driven BIC program.

According to Castro, his Instagram portfolio @castro.frame is "a timeline of my artistic milestones, when I was in school, certain things in my early childhood and a startup I had a while back." Most of the individual entries include additional information leading to a "Skill Acquired" conclusion. And throughout the chronology he interspersed video snippets of early computer-focused TV shows, Dragonball Z clips and software demos to better illustrate his progression.

Coffee writes: "The set Instagram layout allowed him to experiment a bit. At a specified 'Turning Point' and 'Pivotal Moment' in the story, users must physically turn their phones to view it correctly."

Read the full article here.

Post SABRE, Arun Sudhaman of The Holmes Report Visits BIC

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Arriving on campus the day after hosting the 2016 SABRE Awards at Cipriani, Arun Sudhaman, President and Editor-in-Chief at the Holmes Report, visited Shepard Hall for an informal lunch arranged by BIC PR Track Director Angela Chitkara. Still sleepy from the night’s festivities, Arun particularly perked up after seeing presentations given by soon-to-graduate BICsters Himani Gupta and Marika Bailey.

Arun oversees the Holmes Report's global content offering, including its analysis and insight into reputation, public relations and communications trends and issues. Since joining the Holmes Report in 2010, Arun has led a comprehensive relaunch of the title’s content platform, including its digital presence and new products such as the Influence 100 compendium of key global influencers, the Global Communications Report, the landmark Creativity in PR study, and the Echo Chamber podcast.

Arun has also played a pivotal role expanding the Holmes Report’s coverage into Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets, and has helped steer the company’s international events programme, particularly the Global Public Relations Summit — which has featured such luminaries as Sir Martin Sorrell, P&G’s Marc Pritchard, Chuck Porter and IBM’s Jon Iwata. 

The #SABREAwards, which attract close to 5,000 entries globally each year, provide the premier showcase for the best that public relations has to offer, celebrating winning work via our annual awards dinners (attended by more than 1,000 industry leaders every year) and via our website.

THREE BIC teams selected for ONE Show Client Pitch

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A BIG BIC Congrats to the THREE BIC teams that have been selected for The ONE Show's 2016 Client Pitch. Fewer than ten teams from around the globe were selected to pitch their work directly to the client at NOON on Monday, May 9th. That means that 3 out of 10 teams are from BIC! Could be historic. It's definitely epic. The winners will receive a $2,000 prize and will be announced at the awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 10th.

This year's Client Pitch teams will include BICsters:

Marika Bailey and Naushika Perera for their presentation of the TogetHER app; Ben Miftari, Enmanuel Vargas, and Saif Mohammad Ishtiaque for their presentation of the "22% Difference"; and Megan Fullagar, Benjamin Kent, Marta Mugica, Liana Pantzari, and Karina Ramos Salce for their presentation of "Effigies for Equality."

To help cram for the event which were to be held only a few days after students were notified,  BICsters got some "speed coaching" from 2007 Client Pitch winner and CCNY alum Sal Lombardo who's now an art director at Y&R.

ABOUT: The Client Pitch Competition offers students a chance to win an award by pitching their Young Ones Competition entries to a group of top creatives and client representatives. While the Young Ones Competition is judged solely by creative excellence and idea, the Client Pitch Competition is judged by the participants' ability to create and articulate a focused strategy and the persuasiveness of the marketing pitch.

The One Club will select the best submissions, and the finalist teams will give a 10-minute live presentation to a panel of judges in May in New York City. The winning team will then be announced and awarded with $2,000 at the One Show Young Ones Awards Ceremony.

BICsters Present at the Second International Congress

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On May 5th, Professor and BIC Creative Track Director Gerardo Blumenkrantz along with BIC students Marta Mugica and Rocío Rivera (both BIC '17) presented at The Second International Congress on "The Evolution of Creative Advertising in Spain and the US" at this year's conference on Historical Links between Spain and North America held here in New York City.


Professor Blumenkrantz was the panel coordinator who introduced the panelists and the theme “Feminism Strikes Back. Or Not: The Humorous Portrayal of Males in Contemporary Spanish and U.S. Advertising." Rocio spoke for 15 min on the evolution of advertising in the U.S and was followed by Marta who did the same for Spanish advertising. Panelists then compared commercials from both countries as they relate to male stereotyping. The event was organized by CCNY’s Division of Interdisciplinary Studies, Instituto Cervantes and The Franklin Institute of the Universidad de Alcalá. A link to the program is here.

Marta and Rocio's submissions were based on analysis that they began to formulate in BIC's foundation course in Idea Development taught by Professors Nancy Tag and Blumenkrantz.  

UJA honors Rob Norman

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At an all-star evening at The Pierre, the UJA-Federation of New York's Global Marketing Leadership Award Dinner honored Rob Norman, GroupM Chief Digital Officer and Chairman (and BIC Advisory Board member) and Carolyn Everson, Vice President, Global Marketing Solutions of Facebook on May 3rd. 

The annual event brings together professionals from these industries to pay tribute to one of their own and to support UJA-Federation. Each year two or three awards are presented, including the Mac Dane Award for Humanitarian Excellence, the Global Marketing Leadership Award, the Global Marketing Visionary Award, and the Global Marketing Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award.

Congratulations, Rob, for being recognized for your leadership and generosity -- not to mention your keen wit and prolific media musings.