
December 6, 2024
The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) Media Arts and Technology department—as part of the CUNY Inclusive Economy Initiative (CIE), and through a partnership with the Omnicom Health Group (OHG)—sent a student team to participate in the third annual Health of Advertising: Brand Challenge, a five-week program led by OHG and designed to introduce exceptional college students of diverse backgrounds to the healthcare communications industry.
The BMCC team—Multimedia Programming and Design majors Hennessy Baran and Serg Gonzalez, and Video Arts and Technology majors Joffy Gayman and Jeshua Solomon—were introduced to concepts they put into practice as they problem-solved around an assigned, real-life business challenge for an existing client.
In this year’s challenge, the assignment was to influence people under 60 to consult their doctor about osteopenia and osteoporosis.
On November 13, during week five, the BMCC team presented their pitch to a panel of industry professionals and came in First Place.
The BMCC team was closely mentored by BMCC Associate Professor of Media Arts and Technology Janet E. Esquirol.
“As a faculty mentor with over two decades of experience in NYC’s creative industries and design higher education, I’m thrilled by our ongoing work with OHG and the chance to guide our hard-working students to real-world learning opportunities in fields like healthcare advertising—where creativity meets purpose and career growth,” says Professor Esquirol.
“This extracurricular project allows me to bring the pace and excitement of the advertising world directly to high achieving students on campus; if they like what they experience in this challenge it will push them to dig deeper into their coursework and prepare for careers with family-sustaining wages in industries that thrive in New York City.”
Shari Rothfarb Mekonen, Professor and Chair, BMCC Media Arts and Technology Department adds that those in the Media Arts & Technology Department “are extremely proud of the amazing work by our brilliant and talented student and professor team at the Omnicom Health Group (OHG) ‘The Health of Advertising’ competition for ‘ad curious students.”
The CIE initiative has been a game changer, she says, for bringing employment-readiness as well as internship and job opportunities to CUNY students.
“The triumph of Prof. Esquirol’s team promises to be a huge win in bringing awareness of our skilled and competitive students to employers across the region. We are also deeply grateful for all the work that our wonderful CIE team Hybrid Advisor Alex Vasquez and Industry Specialist Susan Stratton have been doing, including their collaborative work with our full-time and adjunct faculty, to support and connect our students to opportunities such as this OHG design competition.”

Industry mentors who coached the student teams included Kiyana Stoutt (at DDB Health New York), Morgan Hsueh (atWildtype Health), Husani Barnwell (at DDB Health New York), Bridget Stevens MPH (at Snow Companies), Eric Niederman (at Biolumina), and Jon Ransom (at TBWA\Health Collective).
Each member of the winning BMCC team will be awarded an educational support scholarship by OHG along with a guaranteed spot in the OHG 2025 internship program.
They competed with student teams from the University of Illinois Urbana – Champagne, the New York City College of Technology (CUNY), Rutgers University, Fordham University and Tennessee State University.
Edward Frankel, OHG Chief Talent Officer shared, “We are thrilled to partner with BMCC and the CUNY Inclusive Economy Initiative to empower the next generation of creative talent. Watching these students tackle a real-world healthcare advertising challenge with such passion and ingenuity was inspiring. This program exemplifies how education and industry can come together to create meaningful opportunities for diverse students, helping them to not only build their careers but also make a positive impact in the world. We couldn’t be prouder of the BMCC team’s success and look forward to welcoming them into our 2025 internship program.”
“Try to stand out”—build a story, and care about what you do.
The five-week process that resulted in BMCC’s win involved a collaboration that reflects what a professional team in a marketing and advertising workplace might experience.
Each team’s final pitch was eight minutes in length including all creative work. The BMCC team’s presentation of their campaign concept included a two-minute commercial the team collaborated in creating, along with brand standards and design mockups for the campaign. The team collaborated in crafting their campaign’s social media presence, out of home advertising (billboards, posters), and more.
Team member Multimedia Programming and Design major Serg Gonzalez says one takeaway from the competition is this: “Try to stand out, be as unique and original as you can.”
He acknowledges that the students’ challenge, to create an ad campaign around osteoporosis awareness, doesn’t necessarily lend itself to humor.
Nonetheless, “We started with funny scenes which was a great way to build a story and break the ice,” says Gonzalez. “We were up against some impressive universities and that made us give 110 percent.”
As a returning student, he says, “It really helped me, to win this thing. We all pitched in and my contribution was writing a couple of stories regarding osteoporosis. Then we made a two-minute video that involved more research, so I put together a lot of facts.”
Before enrolling at BMCC, Gonzalez worked in the restaurant industry and is now working as a manager at Whole Foods.
“What I really want is to do graphic design,” he says. “I would love to do movie poster design or package design or continue with pharmaceutical advertising.”
Besides providing creative inspiration, the OHG Health of Advertising: Brand Challenge immersed the students in a general understanding of the healthcare marketing and advertising industry, which sometimes includes pharmaceutical.
“When you dive in, there’s a lot you can do creatively,” says Gonzalez. “Maybe I could write commercial scripts. I used to do comedy shows and was a writer for eight years doing that. So, I do love both the writing and the design side of things.”
He said another benefit of participating in the OHG Challenge was getting to know executives who work in the healthcare advertising industry.
“One of the judges told me, ‘It’s cool to design packaging and advertising for a candy bar and the money’s good—but if you design something for a drug that can help people, you feel good about that.’ And I need to care about what I do.”
ABOUT BMCC
BMCC is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) and enrolls 20,000 degree-seeking and 10,000 continuing education students a year, awarding associate degrees in over 60 fields. It is the largest CUNY community college and ranked among the top community colleges nationwide in granting associate degrees to minority students, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. BMCC is a diverse teaching and learning community committed to advancing equity and the intellectual and personal growth of students. The faculty and staff of BMCC share a passion for learning with students from around the world, and strive to increase degree completion, successful transfer, career achievement, service and leadership within the BMCC community, New York City and beyond. Visit: http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu.
ABOUT OMNICOM HEALTH GROUP
Omnicom Health Group (omnicomhealthgroup.com) is a global collective of communications companies with over 4,500 dedicated healthcare communications specialists serving more than 100 clients worldwide. It provides marketing services to the health and life sciences industries through a combination of specialized agencies, customized client solutions and collaborations with other Omnicom network agencies. Omnicom Health Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc., and a global group of marketing services companies with over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: healthcare, public relations, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding, research and advertising.
ABOUT OMNICOM GROUP INC.
Omnicom Group (omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations, and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 70 countries.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
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The BMCC Media Arts and Technology department—as part of the CUNY Inclusive Economy Initiative (CIE), and through a partnership with the Omnicom Health Group (OHG)—sent a student team to participate in the third annual Health of Advertising: Brand Challenge
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The Brand Challenge, a five-week program led by OHG, is designed to introduce exceptional college students of diverse backgrounds to the healthcare communications industry
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On November 13, the BMCC team presented their pitch to a panel of industry professionals and came in First Place