BYU Adlab program gives students real-world experience

PROVO — Two Utahns are finalists in a $5 million contest to get their Doritos ad to run during the Super Bowl. One of them is a student at the BYU Adlab.

Over the years, the Adlab has pumped out several award-winning campaigns that have received national and international attention. The students work has been shown on TV, the Internet, radio and print.

The BYU Adlab first made a name for itself when it did a campaign for the government in 2003 for the Office of the National Drug Control Policy, which showed pictures of teenager who made the choice themselves to say no to drugs.

Jeff Sheets, the director of BYU Adlab, said it was a big success and it got him thinking.

"We didn't have to teach only out of case studies and fake assignments," he said, "we knew we could do something in reality that would make an impact."

The students in the program come up with ideas themselves and all work together.

"One idea someone has, someone adds to it and it just morphs to this great idea," said Hawken Vance, a junior in the program.

The Adlab receives no funding from the university, but pays its own way with the money it makes from clients.

"Part of our goal is we charge a fee," explained Sheets, "so what will happen, that's a mini grant back to the university."

National clients include Nike, Nestle, Verizon, Burger King and, just recently, Gatorade.

An ad Adlab came up with for Nike shows how teams can customize their shoes. There's a picture of a line of football players in the "ready" position, each with customized colored shoes in that teams colors.

The Adlab also made a popular video on YouTube for Holiday Inn. It's a music video, shot on the BYU campus during the World's Largest Water Balloon Fight.

"We have the Guinness Book of World Record certificate to prove it," Sheets proudly said. It's been viewed by 1.2 million people.

There are about 120 students in the program, all under graduates, and it can be hard to get into but worth it, said one student.

"It's real world experience," said Rebei Groesbeck, a senior.

"The goal is to create a message that has a lasting impact on the audience," Sheets said.

Sheets said when his students graduate, they are in demand.

"When students leave the program, they are a full year ahead of any of their peers," he said. "They hit the ground running. They literally get better jobs higher pay and compete with graduate schools."

One graduate of the program was the master mind of the popular Old Spice commercials called "The man your man could smell like," which shows a handsome, muscular man in the shower, then on a boat, with different gifts to pamper his girlfriend.

And because it comes from BYU, the Adlab campaigns are always clean and all in good fun.

"There's a ton of students that have a lot of creativity and it's finally being recognized," said Vance.

e-mail: abutterfield@desnews.com