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Helen Liang Memorial Secondary School (Shatin)

Student Advertising Geniuses

5D Carol Au Sin

Recently, I was invited to be one of the judges of a student advertising
competition. The competition received over a thousand entries from more than 250
secondary schools. Students could choose a product or service available in Hong
Kong and design an advertisement for
it. I was genuinely amazed by the high
standards of the entries. Some entries
were in fact the best design I have ever
seen in all the competitions I have ever
judged on.
It was hard for me to choose the winners as
all the entries were great. In the end, we selected
three of the best entries. Two of them are print
advertisements and one is a TV commercial. The
two print ads are for milk and shoes while the TV
commercial is for a digital camera. These entries
show how thoughtful and attentive to details the
contestants are. Nowadays, people focus on the
quality of food and the health-related theme of
the ad for milk catches the eyes of the audience
very easily. Also, the designs are clean, modern and able to offer a great visual
impact. Particularly for the digital camera ad, it shows that if you use this camera, it
can add special effects that make you look like a celebrity. The aim of this ad is very
clear with the message being conveyed very directly.
Among all the other entries, one common mistake I have found is that students
put too much information into the advertisement.
My 20 years of experience in advertising tells
me that the main principle is ‘less is more’. At the
very beginning of my career, my boss seldom
selected my designs because I put too much
information in the ads, where many would find
overwhelming. After someone pointed out my

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