Brussels 15 May 2009:-An advertising campaign by four Austrian students, which encourages young people to buy eco-friendlier cars, has won the 2009 Ad Venture student competition organised by EACA through its European Foundation for Commercial Communications Education (EFCCE).

The “Ad hoc” team from the Werbe Akademie in Vienna, Marlies Auchet, Kathrin Hahnekamp, Kerstin Holzer and Pia Pemmer, beat over 60 other teams from 12 countries to win first place, answering a brief to get European consumers to consider environmental performance as a key factor in car purchase alongside traditional selection factors such as price, size, reliability, safety, comfort and performance.

The three highest-scoring teams from the initial online judging round were invited to present their campaigns to the second round jury and delegates during the EFCCE Annual Conference on the 15th of May at Werbe Akademie in Vienna.

The second round jury was chaired by Michael Kapfer-Giuliani, Managing Director at Lowe GGK and comprised John Delacruz, Senior Lecturer at Stafforshire University; Peter Drössler, President of the Austrian Association of Communications Agencies; Malgorzata Golebiwska, Policy Officer; DG Environment, European Commission; Jean-Claude Hamilius, Lecturer, Hoschschule Mannheim; Frances Illingworth, Global Recruitment Director, WPP Group; Karin Schäffer, Advertising Manager for Renault; Diane Slade, IAA Vice President Education and Guillaume Van Der Stighelen, Copywriter and Creative Partner, Duval Guillaume, Belgium.

The winning campaign, “Not on every backseat”, based its campaign on a parallel between building a strong relationship and buying a car. The starting point is that being a couple is a tough job as it implies living up to your partner’s expectations and the campaign encourages young people to be just as demanding with their car.

Ad hoc’s campaign is structured around 3 TV spots that showcase 3 young people in their mid-twenties who talk about their first car purchase. The spots create the impression that these youngsters are talking about their first love. Only the last sentence reveals that the stories are actually about their first car.

Says Michael Kapfer-Giuliani from Lowe GGK: “It proved to be a difficult exercise to pick the winner but we managed to reach a consensus and decided that the Austrian campaign wasn’t only lovable at first sight, but well thought out and effective”.

In recognition of their achievement, the Austrian team will attend the student programme of the International Advertising Festival in Cannes.