And the winner is…

[attach]5685[/attach]After a months-long process, the winners of Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec for the 2012 competition were announced.

At a March 27 gala in downtown Toronto, the winners — who each received a 2013 Chevrolet Spark — were revealed as the team from McMaster University, Kailee Jamieson and Ryan Moran.

The competition featured students from across Canada who worked to deliver a five million dollar marketing campaign for a Chevrolet vehicle.

Speaking just minutes after the win, the noticeably ecstatic duo were at a loss for words.

“I’m shocked, but I’m so happy,” Jamieson said. “As soon as we finished our presentation, I said ‘win or lose, I’m so happy, we just did our absolute best.’ ”

Her teammate gave a little background on their efforts, saying the winning idea was not their first.

“We had a couple ideas we were kicking around, and over time we came up with this one,” said Moran. “The idea that we started with, we stuck with it the whole way through … and when we presented it we were just happy with the outcome and how we presented it.”

[attach]5686[/attach]The second place team, Emily Dimytosh and Elizabeth Harris from Queen’s University received $2,500 scholarships each. Though elated by their result, they were also glad the competition had ended.

“I’ve got to admit, I don’t want to know what my blood pressure was like when they were first announcing it,” Dimytosh said. “But the results were awesome.”

As well, the Queen’s team took some pleasure in the sheer representation their school had, given that three of the top 10 teams were from Queen’s, which has a curriculum missing a vital factor in Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec..

“That’s really exciting,” Harris said. “We don’t have advertising (programs).”

The third place team, UBC’s Christopher Larryant and Veronica Yeung, each received $1,000 scholarships, but were also the only team also to attain announced internships from major brands.

“I’m really happy, I sort of came here not expecting a job, but I got one so it’s icing on the cake,” said Larryant, who picked up an internship with Chevrolet. “I think we both learned lots.”

“I wouldn’t have changed anything, I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” added Yeung, who will be interning with Pepsico. “I’m definitely really happy.”

Though most of the competitors were still reeling from their victories, earlier in the night the crowd was able to hear from a second place finisher in 2007, David Sheppard, regarding what the competition meant to him.

“I really wanted to work in the auto industry and I saw this as a chance not only to make connections, but also to pass on some of the ideas I had about what makes good automotive marketing,” he said.

Competition founder and McMaster University Degroote School of Business professor Manddeep Malik said this year’s result paid off a little bit extra for him.

“I’m obviously excited because (the winners) are from my school and Kailee (Jamieson) used to be a student of mine,” he said. “So that part tells me we must have done something right and taught her right that she went all the way, so that’s gratifying.”

Though he wasn’t able to sit in on the final presentations, Malik says he heard every indication the competition was a fierce one.

“There were audience members who walked out after the UBC team presented and said to me they brought the house down and they’re going to win,” he said. “So clearly it was a tough field. So (Jamieson) earned it, and I don’t think she earned it easy.”

Director of advertising and communications at General Motors, Mike Speranzini did the honours of announcing all the winners during the gala. Afterward, he explained why the McMaster team were victorious.

“In large part, they looked at all of the information available to them, they developed insights, then based on those insights they came up with a creative theme and then carried that creative theme throughout the presentation very well,” he said. “It all made sense, it was aligned with something we would do with the brand and it was complemented by the fact they told their story really well.

“They were passionate, they were enthusiastic, they were articulate and it made sense as a presentation,” he added. “And that’s what helped them stand out.”