This year, AAA School students took home eight student Loeries in total – the AAA School Cape Town was responsible for most of those, including radio commercial campaign gold for Mweb Uncapped Internet’s “Destination Dale, Nathan and Susan”; print and design crafts – illustration crafts gold as well as indoor poster gold for Lefty’s ‘seven deadly sins’; integrated campaign silver for Bakers’ Mini-packs’ “The AlphaBite”; publication design bronze for Phaidon’s Frere-Jones: A study of the typeface luminary book; newspaper and magazine advertising campaign bronze for Zam-buk Skin Ointment’s “Maklike tuis besoek - Vrugtekoek, Mojito, Blatjang”; as well as a campaign craft certificate in print and design crafts – writing for Zam-buk Lip moisturiser’s “No Shine - The Beach, Road Trip and The Notebook”. The AAA School Johannesburg added to the fleet with radio commercial bronze for Ithuba’s “Numbers”.

A+ design thinking at AAA School

As a result of this student award success, AAA School was ranked second in the Loeries’ ‘top educational institutions for 2016’ table. That’s a slight drop from their top ranking the year prior, due to their haul of 15 Loeries then.

Speechly with some of the AAA School's 2016 Loeries.

Maggs with some of the AAA School's 2016 Loeries.

Charles Maggs, head of graphic design at the AAA School of Advertising Cape Town since 2005 is currently developing the brand identity, marketing strategy and launch of a new amusement park in Ghana, while Mandy Speechly, graduate copywriting lecturer for a similar 12-year stretch says their final-year copywriting and art direction students recently completed an integrated campaign for Harley Davidson with Saatchi Brandsrock as well as a social responsibility campaign for their final ‘exam’ piece.

Here, Speechly and Maggs share their local inspiration, who they admire most in the industry and more…

1. Share your top three emotions linked to your Loeries’ wins and 2016 rankings.

Speechly: I was very pleased with the silver award we received for an integrated campaign as I knew how much work the student had put in with the crafting of each element. However, I have to admit it was even more satisfying for my copywriting students to be recognised with a gold Loerie for radio. I have a specific passion for radio as a medium as it allows great writing and thinking skills to be demonstrated in their purest form. It is also always rewarding for the students to see their ideas come to life in a recording studio for the first time.

Maggs: It was fantastic to win all those Loeries in 2016. I was very proud of the winning work because it challenges the status quo. It’s great to see the industry recognising the value of these projects. As for moving down from #1 to #2 in the rankings, I suppose at times we need to let other institutions have some of the glory!

2. How do you plan on keeping – if not bettering – your rankings in 2017, as last year’s winning students enter the industry?

Speechly: We always try to facilitate briefs that are relevant to what is happening in the industry. I will continue to provide them with meaningful projects for their portfolio and focus on a high level of crafting.

Maggs: We have some very dynamic work in the pipeline and are looking at being more strategic in four key entry categories for 2017.

3. Where are you displaying your Loeries?

Speechly: The Loeries are displayed at our campus in Cape Town.

Maggs: I had the gold birds in my office for the first few weeks for the feel-good factor but now they have moved over to our well-stocked trophy cabinet.

4. Tell us who you personally admire in the industry – both an established mentor figure as well as a newcomer making waves.

Speechly: I think Pete Case is an inspiring creative leader who has produced innovative work and has always been willing to share his ideas with the college and students in an unassuming way. I am proud to say that many of my ex-students are making waves in the industry, with some now working in top agencies in Hong Kong and Chicago, and others consistently collecting their own flock of Loeries locally.

Maggs: I have always admired Jenny Ehlers at King James RSVP. As for newcomers making waves I find the hybrid practice of HOICK to be very interesting, and what Dean Broadley is doing with design thinking inside ABSA is revolutionary!

Seems we’re all looking forward to seeing the creativity that’ll unfold this year. Click through to our Loeries’ special section for more, here for more on AAA School, and be sure to follow them on Twitter and Instagram.