Ad major wins gold
By Erin Halligan
J Alumni News staff
It was the advertising industry's version of the Oscars: the ADDYS. Everyone gathered Feb. 1 at the Lied Center for a night of dinner, networking and making awards to those who have shown high achievement in the advertising industry. On hand to accept awards for outstanding achievement in the student division was Bryan Mohr, a senior advertising major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Mohr won four silvers, two golds - out of four student golds given that night - and the only student division "judges' citation of excellence" for his Yahtzee campaign. The campaign, composed of four brightly colored red and yellow print ads, was designed to primarily target college students.
"The ads themselves are fairly simple," Mohr said. Mohr created the slogan, "Yahtzee. Now you're rollin'," based on the actual Yahtzee logo.
"When I was doing research on the project, I found that everyone I talked to used to play Yahtzee when they were younger but didn't play anymore. They all had memories of playing Yahtzee with family years ago," Mohr said. In order to appeal to this youthful audience, Mohr used a retro-cool typeface and look to tell college students, "We used to play it; we should play it again."
"The headlines to these ads are meant to be catchy and funny," Mohr said. One ad states: "Most games reward you for rolling doubles. This one just laughs." Another ad says Yahtzee is "definitely not a 'bored' game." It was this creativity that took Mohr to the ADDYS.
The ADDY Awards, sponsored by the American Ad Federation, honors excellence in advertising and works to develop high level of creative standards. The ADDY awards are considered the nation's premier advertising competition.
"The ADDY awards competition is the one time during the year that both professionals and students get a chance to show off their hard work on a competitive level," said advertising professor Stacy James. "This competition is especially beneficial to students because they get a chance to have judges, from across the country, critique their work."
The Nebraska ADDYS Award is the first of a three-tiered national competition that is conducted by the AAF. The competition starts each fall at the local level with the 210 AAF member clubs around the country. Entries are submitted first in a local competition. The local winners then go to 14 regional competitions, and regional winners reach the national finals.
"It is an extremely competitive award," said Nancy Mitchell, advertising professor and UNL department of advertising chair. "The ADDYS for Bryan will validate some of the work that professors thought was good to start with. It will help to jump-start his career."
James concurs. "Bryan has worked very hard to develop his creative talent and his ADDY awards are a good testament to his efforts."
Advertising professors at the journalism college do work hard to encourage students to submit their work to the ADDYS. "I encourage and sit down with students to help them rework their project so it can be submitted," Mitchell said.
"Submitting your work to the ADDYS takes a lot of work on the part of the student."
It takes a work ethic and a lot of work to make it to the ADDYS. "The key to Bryan's success is his willingness to continually tweak his work over and over," James said. "He has learned that in order to be good in the industry, you need to keep working and going back to the drawing board to constantly try to improve your message."
Mohr, who graduated from North Platte, is much like any other student at UNL. He works 15 hours a week at an internship at Fusebox, a marketing communications firm. In addition, he works 15 hours at Play it Again Sports, all on top of taking 14 credit hours and doing homework. When he does have some free time, Mohr enjoys working out, hanging out with his girlfriend, playing sports and working on his portfolio.
However, Mohr is more than an average student; he is a person who "thinks outside the box."
Mitchell can attest to Mohr's creativity in her advertising and public relations campaigns class. "He is definitely somebody who has a different way of thinking. He has a neat sense of humor."
When asked why Mohr submits work to the ADDYS, he replied with one word: growth. "The work that Brian did was not for a class assignment," Mitchell said. "He did it on his own to specifically enter the ADDYS; it took initiative."
This was not Mohr's first entry into the competition. "There is a big difference from the first campaign I submitted to the Yahtzee campaign," Mohr said. The first campaign was a class project Mohr did for the Juice Stop and for which he won three ADDYS.
"Since that first class I have learned so much more. Winning these awards is a testament to my growth."
Mohr also uses these campaigns to compile a very impressive portfolio. "Bryan has been successful because he is willing to go above and beyond to study good creative, and refine his work over and over to the point he thinks it is ready to go to competition," James said.
The future for this COJMC student seems bright and promising due to his hard work and talent. Mohr graduated in May and planned to look for a job in Lincoln. "Lincoln is definitely a great market for advertising," he said.
As for future entries into the ADDYS, Mohr plans to continue to use his creativity to impress the industry's professionals. "I definitely plan on still entering ads," Mohr said. "I just hope that the next time it is in the professional division!"
