Novum Features CCNY's 170th Anniversary Branding

10/28/2017 Unknown 0 Comments


This month’s issue of novum features the amazing branding work that celebrates The City College of New York's 170th anniversary. Inspired by BICsters Marta Mugica, Rocío Rivera Iglesias, and Namrata Kupte-Jadhav  (BIC '17) and designed by BIC Professor Gerardo Blumenkrantz and BIC Board Member Gustavo Stecher along with his team at menos es mas, the comprehensive effort was unveiled at the annual Presidential Awards Gala which took place in May 2017 in The Great Hall. 

The article highlights the way in which the branding reflects City College’s unique heritage and visionary mission: 

“Since its very beginnings, CCNY has stood for open access to education and equal opportunities. The college, nicknamed the ‘poor man’s Harvard’ is proud to have ten Nobel Prize winners among its graduates who, like many students today, were children from humble family backgrounds and the first in their families to attend university. The old visual identity however did not suitably convey the core values of progress, inclusion and innovation and so the college leadership, on the occasion of the college’s 170th anniversary, decided to rebrand. Students and faculty of CCNY’s Branding + Integrated Communications Graduate Program (BIC) joined together with the menos es mЗs design bureau to create a visual identity that would unite values, tradition and progressivity. Together with the students, the Buenos Aires-based designers set off in search of a symbol that might suitably represent the college...”


First published in 1924, novum is known around the globe as a leading and influential design magazine. Each month this bilingual journal presents the very best in graphic design, illustration, photo-design, corporate design, paper, packaging, advertising and typography. novum also spotlights new talents and the latest trends. For over 90 years novum has been providing professionals with an inspiring mix of international graphic design and advertising, and it also delivers a unique haptic experience in terms of an exciting array of cover materials and treatments.


BIC is proud to be recognized by novum, especially for this project which spotlights CCNY as well as BIC’s cross-disciplinary and collaborative approach to projects. We applaud the combined efforts of BIC students and faculty along with the brilliance of BIC Board Member Gustavo Stecher and his entire team at menos es mas. Thanks also to the vision of CCNY President Vince Boudreau and Senior Advisor Dee Dee Mozeleski.


To see the full project, link HERE to the menos es mas site. Watch the logo come to life in this video.


BICster on Winning Team in Nestle Skin Health SHIELD Hackathon

10/10/2017 Unknown 0 Comments


This semester, the Zahn Innovation Center teamed up with Nestle Skin Health SHIELD to bring together different departments and programs across the City College campus (from BIC to the CUNY Medical School) to form interdisciplinary teams and compete in a one day Hackathon. Competitors got serious at a Design Sprint on September 8th and then came together for an all-day Hackathon on October 6th at Nestle Skin Health SHIELD headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

Teams were tasked to come up with design solutions -- from apps or wearables, to skincare products, to marketing campaigns or multi-media projects -- that address some aspect of skin health. Students interested healthcare, technology, dermatology, engineering, research, business, or just in healthy skin, joined forces to build something innovative.

One BICster was among the 13 teams to physically pitch  their ideas on Friday evening. Guess which team won? The one with the BICster!! Surabhi Govindarajan (BIC '18) and her team “Skin the Know” won first prize for creating an app that recognizes the ingredients in skincare products and helps consumer to understand their efficacy. First prize included a $3,000 award.

The Hackathon is the culmination of a partnership between Lindsay Siegel, Director of the Zahn Center, and CCNY alum Dr. Warren Winkelman, Senior Medical Director and Head of Medical Innovation at SHIELD. As he’s stated about the Hackathon approach: “Events like this represent what SHIELD is about: multi-disciplinary and multi-generational collaboration to advance skin wellness through innovation, both low tech and high tech.” BIC Program Director Nancy R. Tag and CUNY School of Public Health Professor Chris Palmedo joined Dr. Winkelman and Aaron Windfield as judges of the pitch.

About Nestlé Skin Health SHIELD
Nestlé Skin Health SHIELD is a global network of innovation and education hubs gathering today’s most creative and visionary thinkers from diverse disciplines to generate, develop, and incubate ideas to advance skin health for tomorrow. SHIELD explores creative partnerships, new concepts, and technologies to help preserve lifelong skin health; mitigate the emergence of skin conditions; and integrate the skin dimension into the public consciousness, discourses on policy, and the organization of age-friendly spaces.

Zontee Hou is among 50 Influential Women in Content Marketing

10/10/2017 Unknown 0 Comments


In advance of the Fall 2017 Content Marketing World conference, TopRank Marketing founder Lee Odden reviewed the influence of so many accomplished marketing professionals and created a list of influential content marketing speakers. He went one step further and took into account those who have presented at Content Marketing World over the past 3 years. That’s over 390 speakers. 
We're thrilled (but not surprised) to see BIC Professor Zontee Hou on the list. Zontee is a passionate advisor and teacher of communications. She’s the founder of Brooklyn-based consultancy Media Volery and co-lead of the respected Convince & Convert consulting team. As a founding faculty in the BIC program, Zontee teaches Consumer Behavior and Persuasion to first year students. 
TopRank Marketing is a digital marketing agency founded by Lee Odden and Susan Misukanis that helps companies increase sales, brand visibility online and develop better customer engagement. It specializes in content based customer acquisition and relationship programs that emphasize content marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing. search engine optimization and email marketing.

  

Y&R M+M Celebrates BIC's 5th

10/06/2017 Unknown 0 Comments


To celebrate our FIFTH class, BIC held its annual Mix+Mentor networking event where we launched back in 2013: Y&R Headquarters on Columbus Circle. On Wednesday night, September 27th, a crowd of over 150 guests mixed, mingled, and promised to mentor the 38 students in BIC's Class of 2019.

Industry professionals, consultants, and recruiters from agencies such as Y&R, Ketchum, FutureBrand, VaynerMedia, Droga5, Samsung, True North, MBooth, VML, NYTimes TBrand Studio, McCann, Horizon Media, DirectTV, Citizen Relations, BBDO, ARF, Publicis, Rooney Partners, Berlin Rosen, ABW Solutions, HA Roth, Silicon Harlem, DigitasLBi, and Saatchi Wellness offered encouragement, exchanged business cards, and made a commitment to be a mentor. Colleagues from City College including MCA Chair Jerry Carlson and Humanities and the Arts Dean Erec Koch were in attendance. Honored guest CCNY President Vince Boudreau was also there to celebrate this landmark occasion.



BIC Program Director Nancy R. Tag was introduced by Y&R’s Global Chief Client Officer Shelley Diamond who hosted the evening in Y&R’s spectacular event space overlooking Central Park. The crowd included several “mentor-worthy” BIC alums who have gone on to professional brilliance at such places as Y&R, Droga5, BBDO, the NAACP, RooneyPartners, The New York Times’ TBrand Studio, BerlinRosen, NBCUniversal, Samsung, SAP, and McGarryBowen — to name a few.


Professor Tag thanked all the guests for exhibiting such great commitment to the industry by agreeing to mentor the BIC Class of 2019 as they move through the program and graduate to become our future leaders. “By being here tonight, you surround yourselves with actively engaged students who are dedicating two years of their lives to getting a master’s degree – not a certificate or a refresher course. But a master’s degree. Tonight, you’re surrounded by students who work by day and walk that hill at night to take courses in our BIC program. These are committed, passionate people. Passionate about knowledge. Passionate about this industry. Passionately eager to shape the future."



Special thanks to our amazing friends at Y&R who brought this lovely evening to life, especially Belle Frank, Dot Giannone, Raysa Figueroa, and Stephanie Bernardi. Past sponsors of the BIC Mix+Mentor have been Ketchum, McCann, GREY and R/GA — and we are grateful to them all.


More photos in our GALLERY.