BYU students win advertising contest

PROVO — After only the second year competing, the Brigham Young University Ad Lab has won the international finals of the L'Oreal Brandstorm competition.

The team of Ad Lab students Blake Hadley, Matt Miller and Monica McGhie, led by faculty adviser and Ad Lab director Jeff Sheets, swept the competition in Paris on Tuesday with their clever campaign for a sun-care product, winning both the top prize and the "Best Communications Campaign."

"Everybody that competed had such great presentations, it was a big surprise for us to win both awards," Hadley said. "It was neat to see all of the different cultures working on the same project."

The Ad Lab beat out teams from 38 countries in the Paris finals to become the first team from the United States to win the international competition in its 16-year history.

The Ad Lab designed a sleek package for a Vichy Capital Soleil sun care product and engineered a marketing campaign retooling commonly heard anti-drug public service messages into sun-protection messages.

Besides the honor of being named the best, the Ad Lab students were awarded 10,000 euros (about $15,500) to use on a trip to any destination in the world.