MSU Ad Creative Senior, Alva Nguyen, Takes Top Prizes at the 2024 AAF Lansing ADDY Awards
By: Jim Braun
For MSU senior Alva Nguyen, the 2024 American Advertising Federal ADDY Awards were more than a competition – they were a stage to shine a spotlight on the heart of Lansing’s Old Town district. The organization recognized his campaign, a promotional video series for small businesses in the Old Town district of Lansing, at its annual awards summit for the Lansing branch of the AAF, where Nguyen took home both a gold ADDY and the Judge’s Choice Award. Each year, the organization welcomes entries from students and advertising professionals statewide for its annual advertising competition.
Nguyen was tasked with building a promotional tourism campaign for Lansing’s Old Town district – a historic downtown and boutique district filled with Victorian-era buildings and shops. His series focused on Old Town small businesses, highlighting one business per video by sitting down with its owner and asking them to explain the culture and community of Old Town. The campaign highlighted the history of each store and allowed the store owners to answer questions about their store’s history, and what Old Town means to them.
“We spent three weekends going into Old Town just dropping by businesses we thought were really cool, and had a cool story to tell,” Nguyen said. “We actually had no script. When we got there, we simply talked with the business owner. The very cool thing about Old Town is because it’s very small, every store usually has an owner that will be there.”
The ADDY Awards is the annual awards program of the AAF, America’s oldest national advertising industry trade association, which bills itself as an advertising organization that protects and promotes advertising through “a unique, nationally coordinated grassroots network of brands, agencies, media companies, local advertising clubs, and college chapters.” For its ADDY Awards, entrants from 140 affiliate chapters across America compete in a variety of mediums, such as Online, Print, Ambient Media, Interactive, and in Nguyen’s case, Film, Video & Sound.
Nguyen currently serves as the co-president of the MSU AAF, and after school he plans to apply the lessons he’s learned from the ADDY Awards in his future work, focusing on creating impactful and accessible content that resonates with his audience.
For students looking to work with the AAF and the ADDY Awards, check out the MSU Advertising Association.