May 17, 2012 7.00 am This story is over 141 months old

Students make ad for Hilton restaurant

Elevated perspective: Lincoln students win competition for creative ad for Hilton Hotel, to be used on city billboards.

An ad created by two Lincoln students will be used on a billboard on Broadgate to promote The Electric Bar and Restaurant at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.

Maria Sousa Machado, 20, and Sam Barber, 21, won a competition organised with the Lincoln School of Art & Design to create the advert.

Maria and Sam were among 38 third-year University of Lincoln Creative Advertising students who entered the competition.

To produce the advert, Maria and Sam worked with Newark-based photographer Clive Doyle, who took a photo of the view from the roof-top venue using tilt-shift photography to make it look like a miniature-scale model.

Sam Barber and Maria Sousa Machado with The Electric Bar Manager Andy Hallam

Sales & Marketing Manager Nicola Shepheard said: “We could have used any of the finalists’ proposals but Maria and Sam’s innovative use of imagery and clever strapline just gave them the edge.”

Maria said the duo brainstormed lots of ideas before settling on the winning entry: “We started off thinking about what makes the bar stand out and of different ways of looking at things through a lens.

“This translated quite literally in the end to using the tilt-shift image.

For Sam, seeing their ideas come to life was one of the most rewarding aspects of the project: “A lot of the work we have done is simply generating ideas, but actually seeing our idea come to life and turned into an ad campaign has given us invaluable experience.”

The duo, who plan to work together as a creative advertising team after graduating, hope having an ad campaign commissioned by a reputable brand will be a valuable addition to their resumé.