FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Distinguished Advertising Educator Award Recognition Goes to Kevin Kelly of Brigham Young University

Associate Professor Kelly will be honored as the 2020 recipient of the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) annual award for excellence in advertising education. 

WASHINGTON DC, May 19, 2020—L. Kevin Kelly, Associate Professor at Brigham Young University, has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Advertising Educator Award.

Awarded annually, the Distinguished Advertising Educator Award recognizes the best advertising professors in the country. Nominees for this award must demonstrate excellence in teaching and student advisement, a record of scholarly research, publications and professional experience, as well as active involvement in the advertising industry and its organizations, academia and the community.

Before joining the Communications Department at BYU, Kelly worked at Ogilvy & Mather as a creative director, senior partner, and operating board member. During his career, he helped Huggies become the #1 diaper in America, and also worked on American Express, Kraft, Lipton and Hershey. His professional experience, starting as a copywriter, helped restructure BYU’s advertising curriculum. Kelly added copywriters to the creative track, more than doubling its members, inspiring natural collaboration between art and copy students, and helping supply BYU’s AdLab with the creative talent necessary to function as a student-run agency. Kelly was instrumental in designing new courses that are now integral to the BYU advertising curriculum, such as Advertising Account Management, Competitions Course, Media Writing (Copywriting for Advertising), and Strategic Planning among other contributions to the overall curriculum.

“Connecting students with the professional world of advertising,” is how Kelly describes his role as a Teaching Professional Track Professor.  He has used his influence to place hundreds of students in internship positions and mentored many others, leading them through various competition programs.

A dedicated advertising educator, Kelly revitalized the BYU American Advertising Federation College Chapter in 2009 after it had shut down in 2007. Now, one of the largest chapters in the country, the BYU Chapter was recognized as the Most Improved Chapter by the AAF in 2017 under Kelly’s leadership. Dozens of Kelly’s BYU students have been nominated and recognized in the Most Promising Multicultural Student Program, where many received internship and job offers. Brigham Young University has won first place in the District 12 competition five times under Kelly’s advisement.

Kelly serves as an advertising leader both locally and nationally. In addition to his work with his AAF college chapter, Kelly works with the local AAF Ad Club to organize guest speakers and agency visits, the annual Student Expo, and the Half Show. Nationally, he serves on the AAF’s National Education Executive Committee and the Advertising Education Foundation.

Over his illustrious 25-year career in the advertising agency business, Kelly received numerous awards for creativity and advertising effectiveness at the national, regional and local levels. These awards include but are not limited to the international Clio Award: “Twins” TV commercial for American Express for Best Banking/Financial Services and Best Direction; The Gold Pencil from the One Show Awards, “Love is Something Your Grow” radio public service campaign for the LDS Church, Art Direction and Copywriting; Two Gabriel Awards, given by the Catholic Church: “Dad’s Old Desk” radio spot and “How to Talk to Your Teenager” TV Campaign, both for the LDS church.

For more information about the Distinguished Advertising Educator Award, please contact Laura Roha or visit the AAF’s website at aaf.org.

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