Winning Top Prize at Innocean Worldwide's S.O.S. Campaign for New Ideas

Son Da-hun, a Sogang University student in the Department of Art & Technology, had the honor of being awarded first prize in the Social Problem Solver (S.O.S.) campaign, a competition for new ideas.

Sponsored by Innocean Worldwide, a wide-ranging advertising company, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the S.O.S. campaign is part of the social contribution program called Talent Donation to solve social problems utilizing the advertising company's unique capabilities. The motives for this campaign include its mission to enlighten public awareness regarding COVID-19 and to create new culture.

Innocean Worldwide publicized its contest beginning in late July, targeting all university and graduate school students across the country on seven topics, including 'How to promote wearing face masks inside and outside' and 'Social distancing.' On September 22, the award ceremony was held at Innocean Worldwide's head office in Gangnam-gu. A total of 16 teams were awarded, including one team for Grand Prize and two teams for Gold Prizes. The Grand-Prize winners were given a prize of KRW 5 million, along with the Minister of Health and Welfare Award and the opportunity for an 'experience-type' internship at Innocean Worldwide.

As the winner of the Grand Prize, Son Da-hun was recognized for his idea titled 'Mask ID.' This idea was inspired by his observation that the first thing customers do after sitting down at a cafe is turn on the Wi-Fi. His suggestion was to enable Wi-Fi connection through certification using the customer's photograph wearing a face mask. To encourage face-mask wearing in closed spaces, which present higher risks of infection for the coronavirus, the campaign was meant to use a 'soft' way of encouraging face-mask usage among cafe users.

Son Da-hun said, "I was able to share my passion for advertising with friends in my circle at the university, Sogang AD. I also used what I had learned about 'How to write a briefing' from Professor Yoo Hyun-jae's course, 'Health Communication and Digital Media,' which was very helpful for creating a logical presentation of my ideas."

Son went on to express his hopes for the future, "I'd like to explore the world of creativity with an open mind. I have set my goal for what I'd like to accomplish before graduation, which is to challenge at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with a wonderful idea and to achieve a great performance."