Advertising students receive awards for creativity

The Murray Kalis Award for Creativity in Advertising, established in 2020 by College of Media alumnus Murray Kalis, is given to a few select advertising students who demonstrate exceptional creative work in the classroom. 

The criteria for these awards includes: smart positioning, outstanding creative concept, strong execution, and a "wow" factor. The inaugural winners are:

  • Samantha Blanc, who won the best three-ad campaign (Claritin), as well as the best 10-ad portfolio
  • Katie Roscher, who won the best single advertisement (Popeyes)

The students created the work in ADV 452: Creative Concepts I.

“Much of advertising education is quantitative based: media, research, tracking,” Kalis said. “Yet, what can truly differentiate ad agencies is qualitative. What I learned in the ad business was creative is the great equalizer in agency pitches. No matter how big our competitors were, if we had the big idea, we won the account.”

Roscher's single ad:

Roscher best single ad

Excerpt from Blanc's three-ad campaign:

Blanc Claritin ad

Excerpt from Blanc's portfolio:

Blanc iRobot ad