The student Ad Team from the Providence Campus made headlines in the advertising world when Ilya Vedrashko, emerging media strategist at Hill Holliday, a national ad agency based in Boston, Mass., wrote “Binge Meets Nudge” on “AD LAB.” “This presentation by a group of Johnson & Wales University ad students showcases some of the smartest thinking I’ve ever seen coming from persuasion pros of any age and caliber.” With more than 10,000 readers, the blog tracks the future of advertising.

The 14-member student team put in hundreds of hours creating a unique social marketing campaign that it presented during the American Advertising Federation’s 2009 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). The team placed first at the regional level in Boston in May, beating five other schools including Emerson and Boston University. In June they competed on the national level in Washington, D.C. and came in 13th out of 18 — an impressive feat among 140 teams at the start. “Their performance was tremendous … They did the university proud,” said Assistant Professor Oscar Chilabato, co-faculty advisor for the team along with Assistant Professor Christine Ure and Tom Monahan, creative advertising director, all from the Providence Campus College of Business.

The task for all was to address binge drinking on college campuses, for NSAC’s 2009 sponsor and client, the Century Council, a national nonprofit fighting drunk driving and underage drinking. JWU’s team focused on preventing excess drinking by changing or “nudging” students’ behavior. The proactive plan included enlisting college administrators to provide interactive, low-cost social activities to steer them away from situations (i.e. clubs and parties) that invite binges.

Ad Team members included Abigail Agress ’09, Juan Alavarado ’09, Sierra Barter ’09, Andrew Childers ’09, Yousef Khory ’09, Audrey Kushner ’09, Jonathan Vega ’09, Nicholas Verrochi ’09; juniors, Ginelle DeAntonis, Victoria Deetz, Evan Dunn and Bruce Millard; sophomore, Joseph Russomono and freshman, Foluso Akinkuotu.

Design Driven by Entrepreneurial Spirit
As a high school sophomore, Bryan Veloso ’05 knew two things: He wanted to major in entrepreneurship in college and he had a strong affinity for Web design. He’s succeeded in both areas.

With a degree in entrepreneurship from JWU, Veloso started “five or six” businesses — three that still keep him busy. As CEO at Revyver Inc., Veloso and his fiancée, Jen Verduzco, do everything from designing for the Web to staging corporate training workshops and networking events. Veloso and three friends co-founded Sidebar Creative, offering higher-level products than they can through their individual businesses — books, tutorials, interfaces, Web applications and content management. And his longest-running vocation, begun in 2000, is his blog, “Avalonstar.”

“Did I think I would start this many businesses? No. I think it just goes with my personality,” says Veloso. “I will always be a startup person. It aligns perfectly with entrepreneurship … I got the degree first and then learned through working that my personality matched the degree … Entrepreneurship is who I am.”

His instincts also led him to leave a job others would envy. Veloso worked for Facebook for one year, first as interaction designer and then as creative director. Self-described as “sensitive to the corporate environment,” he left in May 2006 when the company grew to more than 150 people. Having once worked closely with founder, Mark Zuckerberg, he began having to go through others to speak to him. “When I reminisce about Facebook, I tell people … I loved the startup experience. I came in fairly early … I believe I was employee number 27 — what they used to call the original Facebook mafia.”

Based in Los Angeles, Calif., Veloso now charts his own creative and entrepreneurial course. “Revyver and Sidebar Creative are ever-evolving. We sort of take it as our mood changes,” he says. “It all revolves around a desire to seek happiness … through my designs and making sure people have good experiences.” Online > bryan@revyver.com avalonstar.com sidebarcreative.com