The University of South Florida’s Be Bold campaign has received the top honor in the 2025 Hermes Creative Awards, an international competition honoring creative excellence in traditional and emerging media. USF was chosen as a platinum award winner, among thousands of entries, in the Strategic Campaigns – Marketing category.
Behind the scenes capturing the Be Bold campaign
Step into their stories by visiting BeBold.usf.edu
Photos by: Andres Faza, University Communications and Marketing
The Be Bold brand campaign was relaunched in March with a video-first approach and a new focus: its people. The refreshed campaign centers around the authentic stories of five USF students, faculty and staff who represent the heart of the university. Each was asked the question “What does ‘be bold’ mean to you?” Their answers guided all assets of the campaign including a TV commercial, individual feature stories, billboards, a website landing page and digital and social ads.
“The heart of our Be Bold campaign is our people. These individual and collective stories truly showcase the incredible impact that our USF community leaders have on Tampa Bay, our state, and around the world,” said Dan Caterinicchia, vice president and chief marketing officer. “President Law continues to encourage Bulls everywhere to ‘Be Bold,’ and this recognition only happens because we embrace innovation, creativity, collaboration and the joy that comes from having the privilege of telling meaningful stories every day. I could not be prouder of our team.”
The platinum Hermes Creative Award comes on the heels of USF winning a gold Telly Award for the Be Bold 30-second TV commercial.
According to the Hermes Creative Awards, this year’s competition attracted more than 6,000 entries from the United States and more than 30 countries. Hermes Creative Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP).