UAO talent wins gold and silver at the Effie Colombia Academy College 2025

August 19, 2025

For the fifth consecutive year, students from the Digital Media Advertising and Graphic Communication Design programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) won awards at the Effie Colombia Academy College 2025. This initiative seeks to incentivize the talent of young advertising and marketing students, giving them the opportunity to work with real cases from companies in the country.

Absolute Gold for "¡Oh Mai Gat!"

The team formed by Andrés Cadavid, María José Méndez Salazar, Sebastián González Lenis, María Camila González España and Paula Andrea Peña Carrillo took first place with their campaign for ¡Oh Mai Gat!, by Alimentos Polar. The main challenge was to achieve a strategic, creative, and effective solution to position the brand in the competitive premium category of cat food.

María José Méndez, a teammate, highlighted that "the support of the professors made the process much more manageable and allowed us to achieve the project's goals of repositioning the brand".

Silver for other UAO talents

In addition to the Gold achieved by the team, UAO is proud of other recognitions. A second distinction of Silver went to the Corona team, who developed an outstanding solution to make the brand the first choice for Colombians when buying. The third recognition, another Silver, was won by the team that developed the proposal "Con McDonald's siempre sí", positioning little-known features of the McDonald's app.

Innovation that transforms and impacts

The Effie Awards highlight campaigns that achieve measurable results in social, economic, and environmental terms. These awards ratify the university's ability to train professionals, like Paula Peña, who apply creativity and innovation to projects with real impact on the commercial market.

The consistency of five consecutive years reaching the podium at the Effie Colombia Academy College demonstrates an academic culture that drives talent, fosters strategic thinking, and connects classroom learning and art direction with the demanding real world of advertising in the country.