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PROVO — An ad for Coca-Cola made by BYU students may be showing at your local movie theater sometime soon.
The ad, made by BYU advertising students Adam Sheets and Destinee Neville and their team, received the 2024 Red Ribbon Grand Prize of the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films contest on April 11.
The ad, titled "Signs of Friendship," will be showcased at Cinemark, AMC Theatres, Megaplex, Cineplex Cinemas and Landmark Cinemas.
"Working together with Coca-Cola Refreshing Films has truly been the opportunity of a lifetime," Sheets said. "I'm incredibly grateful to be a part of the BYU AdLab, which gives us these kinds of unique, real-world opportunities to work with industry-leading brands and empowers us to follow our dreams."
The AdLab is a student-run, professionally mentored ad agency in BYU's School of Communications.
The Coca-Cola contest is for company-partnered schools to give upcoming filmmakers the chance to create content for the silver screen. The program is celebrating its 26th year of fostering talent and providing real-world opportunities for students.
The AdLab's Coca-Cola script was picked to be one of four finalists out of the 60 schools that participated in the contest. After earning a finalist spot for the script they wrote, the BYU students and the other finalist teams received a $20,000 grant to use to create their ad.
More than 50 BYU students worked overnight filming at the Thanksgiving Point Megaplex in February to bring their vision to life. The students got to work with Coca-Cola while creating the branded spot.
"You learn as much as you can from textbooks, but having a real-world experience was unlike anything I could have otherwise prepared myself for," Neville said. "There are hundreds of details I know how to address and juggle now — there is a workflow I know how to stay on top of. I know how to get in sync with a brand so we can create something together as a team."
The ad highlights love and friendship as it tells the story of a girl who is nervous to meet her friend's group of friends, but they all welcome her. All of the dialogue in the ad is in sign language.
"We hope that we can keep creating messages of light and goodness for the world through advertising over the course of our careers," Sheets said.
The BYU students are encouraging anyone who can to vote for their film in a fan favorite contest, which lasts until the end of the month. If they win, the team will earn an additional prize of $5,000.
"Film is just one of the most incredible ways to connect with people," Neville said in a behind-the-scenes video. "I remember just walking in to production and just seeing everyone working so hard and putting their time and effort and dedication, and just feeling this warmth that I got to be connected to all of that."
