If you’re headed to the movies this summer, arrive early and you might catch a heartwarming Coca-Cola ad—directed by Destinee J. Neville (’24) and produced by Adam B. Sheets (’25), both BYU students. Their commercial, Signs of Friendship, won the 2024 Coca- Cola Refreshing Films grand prize.
Sheets and Neville are both part of the AdLab, BYU’s student-run advertising firm. Their grand-prize win, along with a 2024 Student Emmy earned by another team, only added to the AdLab’s chock-full display case of awards.
The 22-second Coca-Cola commercial, shown at select theaters, captures a story of belonging and new friendships. Neville and Sheets tapped more than 80 extras for the film and shot it close to home—at the Megaplex at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.
“Advertising can actually change the world for the better,” says Adam Sheets. “Instead of just selling products, like sneakers or chips, you can actually come up with an idea that can impact someone for good.”
In the 43rd College Television Awards—known as the Student Emmys—three BYU-made ads swept the nominations for best commercial. Remington Z. Butler (BA ’23), director of all three, says it was a “surreal feeling” finding out that a win was ensured.
“It’s been a ton of hard work, but we see the Lord’s hand has been guiding and directing and bringing great students with amazing energy and strong testimonies to BYU,” says Jeffrey A. Sheets (BA ’98), AdLab cofounder and faculty director—and Adam’s father. Jeff Sheets says the “secret sauce” is the students’ innate creativity and hard work.
“You start with the right clay, you can create and build some amazing things,” Jeff Sheets says. “But the students? They have passion, they have desire, they have eagerness, humility to want to learn.”
In 2024 the AdLab was named the No. 1 college creative advertising program in the world by The One Club for Creativity, a nonprofit advertising and design trade organization.
Yash Egami, chief operating officer of The One Club, points out that “it’s the high level and attention to craft” that sets BYU’s AdLab apart. “I think that [BYU’s] program takes it all very seriously,” he adds. “And you can see that in the work.”
Adam Sheets says he’s grateful BYU has helped him produce work that has the potential to uplift.
“If we can create a message that impacts someone for the better, then we’ve done our job.”
