James Gadsby and Gemma Skelding came first in the 2023 DMA Breakthrough Award
Two Edinburgh Napier MSc Creative Advertising students have claimed a prestigious industry prize for their innovative campaign encouraging young adults to avoid falling into debt.
James Gadsby and Gemma Skelding came first in the 2023 DMA Breakthrough Award, part of the annual DMA Awards.
Run by the Data & Marketing Association, the category gives aspiring creatives the opportunity to work on a brief for a well-known brand.
This year’s brief was set by Barclays, asking entrants to encourage a Gen Z target audience to start using Barclaycard as an alternative to online ‘buy now pay later’ schemes.
James and Gemma’s submission, ‘Dodge the Debt Trap’ emerged successful following regional heats and a final pitch in London this week. The pair came up with a financial education experience based around obstacle courses to teach people about the pitfalls of payment options which leave people in arrears.
They were presented with the award at a ceremony on Tuesday – which was attended by some of the most successful advertising and marketing agencies in the country.
Reacting to the win, Gemma said: “The whole experience has been incredibly valuable from start to finish.
“Once we won the heat, the panel kindly provided feedback to strengthen our presentation in prep for the final in London.
“It was a whirlwind to pitch to Barclays at their head office in Canary Wharf, followed by the glitzy DMA Awards night.
“We loved every second – and are very grateful for the support and opportunity from DMA, along with our tutors, Multiply, The Lane, The Union and the Barclays Communications team."
George Shepherd, Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Arts and Creative Industries said: “Winning the UK DMA Breakthrough Award in London is a massive achievement for Gemma and James, who are one of the top creative teams in our MSc Creative Advertising program here at ENU.
“They beat off tough competition from their classmates in the Scottish Regional final two weeks ago, and now they have also beaten the best of the rest of the UK.
“In fact, their win makes this makes it a hat trick of consecutive wins for students from our class in this competition. If this was the World Cup, we would now be retaining the trophy and the DMA would have to make a new one!”