Department of Communication Studies’ Team Wins in AWF 2023

Yogyakarta, February 21st 2023─A team of communication science students won third place at the national level at the 2023 Advertising Week Festival (AWF) held by the University of Indonesia, Jakarta. The team, which consists of Aunur Ikmal, Carina Aditya Wijaya, and R.A. Aishalda, was a finalist in the digital campaign video advertising competition category which was held from January 20th to February 17th 2023.

In general, the advertising competition asks participants to solve problems given through digital campaigns in the form of videos. “Initially we were given a fictitious product and a brief challenge with conditions, and we were told to educate the audience through videos. Starting from there, we will break down the problem to turn it into a campaign,” said Ikmal. The fictitious product in question is a beauty product in the form of sunscreen, in which Ikmal and the team are trying to provide education regarding the importance of using sunscreen for both women and men.

“We started looking for the idea on February 8th. First, we try to find the root cause of the product. The issue is about the stigma of girls who use skin care. We emphasize that everyone needs to take care of themselves, not just girls,” said Alda. They claim to get the idea based on data and observations of the surrounding environment.

The production process for the campaign video only took one day, but it was the brainstorming and video designing process that took a long time. They divide work based on specified social media, namely Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. The rest, claim to have received very helpful support from campus friends. “In our opinion, the time between one stage and another is very short. Starting from the formation of the theme, and problems, until the execution time of the video, we are only given three days each. So that’s why support from friends also means a lot,” said Ikmal.

Even though their work has won third place, according to them, there are still many things that need to be improved from the work. “According to the jury’s comments on the pitch deck, our project is still too simple and not detailed enough. Educational messages should be more comprehensive and complex. But maybe because of limited time and tools, we haven’t been able to maximize it,” said Carina. The entire production process that they carry out from the preliminary stage to leaving for Jakarta is carried out independently. In fact, they made the video using only a smartphone, not a camera.

The success of Carina and the team proves that as long as there is determination, there will always be results from the efforts made. They also advised that conducting the learning process is not only about the material in class, but getting various experiences out there is far more valuable.