New York City, March 22, 2016 – Vanguard’s digital agency VGD (truevgd.com) won the “Best In Education” Shorty Award for their John Jay College Insta-Challenge campaign.
Now in its eighth year, the Shorty Awards were the first awards to honor social media. By constantly evolving along with the medium it honors The Shorty’s remains the most prominent award show of its kind, engaging an online audience of millions.
Brand and organization winners were announced via Snapchat on Tuesday, March 22nd and will be celebrated at the star-studded awards ceremony on April 11th in New York City.
VGD crafted an innovative “choose your own adventure”-style game for John Jay College played exclusively on Instagram. While students are playing, they are searching for a code that is hidden throughout the game. Many of Instagram’s exclusive features were utilized in order to create a truly immersive experience. VGD recognizes the importance of social media and connecting with our audience in a unique and effective way.
“It is difficult to grab the attention of a young adult target audience in New York City,” said Robbie Szelei, Director of Strategy and Digital Advertising at VGD. “We set out on a mission to create something truly unique and engaging. This project proves that big ideas can outperform big budgets. We are excited and honored to be recognized for our efforts.”
Winners of the Shorty Awards were selected by members of the Real Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences (rtacademy.org), comprised of experts in advertising, media, entertainment and technology. The Academy includes Luanne Calvert (CMO of Virgin America), Jonathan Mildenhall (CMO of Airbnb), Kimberly Bryant (Founder, Black Girls CODE, Shiza Shahid, (Co-Founder and Global Ambassador, The Malala Fund) and Bonin Bough (Chief Media and eCommerce Officer, Mondelez International).
Learn more via the John Jay College Insta-Challenge case study video.
