By Sarah Martinez

CommUniverCity-initiated projects led by Advertising Associate Professor John Delacruz won several awards at the Silicon Valley American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards.  The ADDYs are awards given to the advertising industry at both professional and student levels — SJSU students are judged alongside industry professionals. SJSU students took home nine awards ranging from Silver to Best of Show for campaigns to rebrand Burnett Middle School and to reinvigorate interest in careers in public service for the City of San Jose.

The campaign for the City of San Jose was a collaborative effort between CommUniverCity as well as with SJSU. This collaborative class project compelled SJSU students to explore their community and experience the process of a real advertising campaign. Projects like these offer SJSU students a chance to gain career experience, benefit the community, and gain recognition nationwide.

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The two campaigns for the City of San Jose won multiple awards in various categories. Arturo Castaneda, Adriel Trejo, Edwin Lopez, and Daniel Casadesus are all part of the team that created and designed the campaign ‘SOMOS for City of San Jose HR’. Together, they earned two awards in silver and two in gold.

“When I found out I won, I was surprised and very grateful that all the time and effort that I put into the project and in my designs were recognized and appreciated,” Arturo said.  

Arturo’s team based their overall designs on the simplistic, geometric Art Deco style from the 1920’s and 1930’s.

“I wanted to create something that was broad enough to reach everyone, yet felt personable to each and every person who sees it because I wanted everyone to be able to envision themselves in any one of the careers available,” Arturo said.

The second campaign for the City of San Jose won a silver, gold, and ADDY award as well as Best of Show for their poster and video campaign ‘Vision for City of San Jose HR’. SJSU student Levalle Beloney served as account planner, while Will Houcheime served as account manager for their team.

“This was a four month long project for our campaign management class. [I was] extremely happy our team was considered for the ADDY Award and proud to have been part of this amazing project,” said Levalle.

This project provided Will with team experience he never would have encountered without the collaboration of all these organizations.

“I learned that when you have a plan in mind and you’re working with a tea, regardless of what each person’s title or role is, work needs to be done regardless. Each of us took on each other’s roles to execute this project instead of waiting on someone to do their part,” Will said.

Other members of the team included Dani Ogier, Mathias Ingerslev Loft, and Kieu-Kelly Tran.

The projects CommUniverCity pioneers, brings together the whole community from the students, to the City of San Jose, and the residents.