Oh, to be Young!

Written by: Stella Cofoid

Creative Program Director and Senior Lecturer Dr. Mark Allen Named to Young Ones Jury. 

The Young Ones Competition critiques and scores the essentials of Advertising: portfolios, briefs, and art direction. The partnership between One Club and Southern Methodist University dates back to 2005, around the same time as the groundbreaking of the Temerlin Advertising Institute. Dr. Mark Allen, an undergraduate and graduate-level professor, has been selected for the fourth year in a row to be on the Young Ones jury. He has served in several different capacities each time he has been chosen. This year, he is serving in the “Portfolio Competition,” which recognizes the world’s best student portfolios. The portfolios are examined and scored based on the entirety of their content, not just one singular campaign. When asked his thoughts on working alongside some of his former students as a juror, Dr. Mark Allen states that he feels “proud and humbled, as contradictory as that sounds.” Proud and humbled, complementary terms rather than contradictory, serve to prove the eloquence and pour of knowledge that professors at the Temerlin Advertising Institute instill into their students as the students become respected colleagues. Alumni that have also served in this capacity are Greg Peterson, Morgan Hoff, and Tanner Thompson, just to name a few. These students have gone on to lead impeccable careers and are widely respected in their fields. Through moving up in agencies, curating Super Bowl commercials, and more, their success signifies the due diligence of their own internal drive and the professors that showed them how to be passionate about their work. 

 The “Student One Show” is an exclusive exhibition of the top portfolio programs in the country. As Temerlin grew, so did the talent of the students, readily preparing them for a competition of this scale. In 2010, this sentiment proved true as the Temerlin Advertising Institutes students had more than twice as many pieces accepted into the show than a graduate-level program competitor. The competition shifted once it went to an invitation-only, international competition in 2015, to which our students still kept up and shattered undergraduate barriers and were awarded based on their creative and strategic excellence. 

This global creative competition is no walk on the yellow brick road. It is magnificently packed with the world’s most creative talent. Dr. Mark Allen, aware of the talent that this competition attracts, plays on this to get his students ready for the quest. Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm is a strong stand-out competitor year after year. Dr. Allen stated that to rile his students up to go up against the smart and creative work of Berghs in 2008-2010, he made the passwords on all of the creative studio computers “beat_the_swedes.” Witty and passion-driven, the 15 creative students selected each year earn their keep. There is no formulaic trick to the creativity that each cohort of students brings to the table. The reason and difference with the students of Temerlin? Dr. Allen declares it is because of the family atmosphere that the program promotes and maintains between students and faculty. It is the differentiating factor between TAI students and professors’ work and others that enter the competition. 

Please help congratulate Temerlin’s very own Dr. Mark Allen on his contribution to the Young Ones Competition throughout the years, being selected for the fourth time as a juror, and for his continued success in contributing to the passions and creativity of his students. 

Cheers, Dr. Mark Allen! 

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