LONDON, Ont. — 3M Canada held a contest for third year students of Fanshawe College’s graphic design program to create an ad for 3M’s Scotchlite Reflective Material used in fleet advertising.

The contest, a part of the program curriculum, produced advertisements encouraging fleet graphic users to include reflective graphics in their advertising mix.

The joint project offered the students a chance to work on a “real world” assignment with the possibility of getting their submission published as an ad, poster, direct mail piece or on 3M’s Web site.

3M received some “fresh idea” advertising from the students and has plans to incorporate the students’ work into future communications.

3M judged each of the ads and five winning students were awarded cash prizes.

“I always ask my students to look out the window and think of what it will be like in the real world,” says Robert Chilvers, Fanshawe College Graphic Design program coordinator. “3M brought the real world into the classroom and the students benefited tremendously from that experience.”