Spider-Man, Sony Pictures, and the Blockbuster Brief This Summer

22 Jul 2026

8 Min Read

Cindy Poh Huay Yuet (Academic Contributor), The Taylor's Team (Editor)

IN THIS ARTICLE

Most student assignments end at the classroom door. This one ended on a shortlist judged by a global entertainment studio.

As part of SOMACFest, students from Taylor's University's Bachelor of Mass Communication (Honours) In Advertising and Brand Management (ABM) took on a live creative brief from Sony Pictures Entertainment Malaysia: design a poster for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, one of the most anticipated film releases tied to a franchise with decades of history behind it. Students worked to the expectations of a real brand, and their work was judged by the professionals behind it.

The result was five winning designs, each interpreting the same brief in a completely different way, and a clear signal of where ABM sits in the creative industry.

A Brief With A Blockbuster Attached

For the Advertising and Brand Management programme, industry collaboration is not an occasional highlight but how the programme is built. Throughout their studies, students engage with agencies, brands and industry professionals through live briefs, competitions, guest lectures, client presentations and experiential projects.

What made this collaboration different was its scale. A partnership tied to a major global film release reflects the confidence that industry partners place in both the students and the programme.

"For Sony Pictures Entertainment Malaysia to collaborate with us on a project linked to a global film release demonstrates trust in the quality of education and creative talent we are nurturing," said Cindy Poh, Programme Director of the Bachelor of Mass Communication (Hons) in Advertising & Brand Management. The collaboration, applied within students' Advertising Fundamentals module, gave them the chance to work on an authentic brief inspired by a globally recognised franchise while putting classroom principles into practice.

One Brief, Five Spider-worlds

What impressed the judges most was originality. Every student started from an identical brief, yet each submission carried its own interpretation, artistic style and story.

For Haruka Nishio, whose poster Starting again, with a single thread was inspired by the long history of Spider-Man, the goal was to build a bridge between the earlier films and Brand New Day, letting the audience look back on old memories while feeling ready for the new chapter. The hardest part was translating scattered ideas into a single clear message. "I worked to simplify them and make it straightforward and clear to the audience," she said.

Lee Enn took a deliberately different route with A new day, a new self, leaning into Spider-Man as a crafty inventor rather than an action hero. The challenge was telling a story about a film that had not yet been released. Working from a single trailer, Lee turned to Marvel fans and online sources to make educated guesses about the plot, a research process that mirrors how real campaigns are built long before any design work begins.

Tan Sher Lin drew on the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home, where the world forgets Peter Parker, to capture a hero moving forward completely alone. Her poster, When everything is gone, a hero remains, held onto that loneliness while showing that his sense of responsibility never leaves. Her biggest hurdle was a practical one that professionals know well: printing the final piece at 20x30 inches for the first time.

Zhang Jun found inspiration in Peter Parker's new beginning after losing everything, wanting to show that even heroes face real struggles and can start again stronger. His poster, Start again, stand stronger, came from experimenting with layouts, colours and typography until the design balanced emotion with the energy audiences expect from a Spider-Man release.

Zhao Xiaoyan challenged the idea that heroism means being fearless. With Reclaim Yourself, she focused on Spider-Man's emotional struggles rather than his strength, hand-drawing the initial sketch on her iPad and refining the composition until the proportions felt right.

Five posters, five points of view, all rooted in the same source material. As the Programme Director put it, the shortlisted entries showed strong visual execution alongside genuine strategic thinking.

The Work that Happens Before the Design

Ask any of the winners what surprised them most, and the answer is strikingly consistent: how much work happens before the designing starts.

"This experience taught me that the design process has a lot of steps, not just designing itself," Haruka reflected. She learned that "every poster in the real industry is based on prior research, decisions about messages and strategies."

Lee Enn described the same realisation from a different angle, learning that understanding the competitors and the wider source material mattered as much as the film itself. Tan Sher Lin found that a visually appealing design was not enough on its own, because every decision had to support the campaign strategy, the target audience and the story. Zhang Jun said the brief pushed him to think like a professional designer, staying consistent with brand identity rather than simply creating something attractive.

Beyond the recognition, this is what a real brand-driven brief offers: first-hand exposure to industry expectations, creative constraints, and work that is judged by professionals rather than graded in isolation.

What a Shortlist Changes

For students who were still unsure of their career direction, the recognition carried real weight.

Haruka, who admitted her future vision had been vague, said the recognition gave her a clearer path forward. Lee saw a competitive edge for future internships and creative roles, made more meaningful because the backing came from a company as reputable as Sony Pictures. Tan Sher Lin felt more confident in her ability to develop ideas and communicate a clear message. Zhao Xiaoyan, characteristically, took the humble view, treating the win as a reason to keep doing every task seriously and improving.

The message from the programme to its winners was direct. "Your success reflects not only your creativity, but also your dedication, perseverance and willingness to challenge yourselves," the Programme Director said, adding a reminder to the wider cohort that every assignment is an opportunity to showcase potential, and that classroom work can open doors to real industry opportunities.

What The Studio Saw

For Sony Pictures Entertainment Malaysia, the collaboration was a chance to engage with the next generation of creative talent.

"While every participant worked from the same creative brief, each poster reflected a unique interpretation and artistic style," said Catherine Chai, Marketing Director, Sony Pictures Entertainment Malaysia. "What stood out most was the students' ability to capture the spirit of Spider-Man while bringing fresh ideas and personal perspectives to their work."

The studio's message to the students was to stay curious, keep experimenting and never stop telling stories that connect with audiences, alongside a commendation for a programme that bridges classroom learning with industry practice.

A Brand New Day, Indeed

Both partners see this as a beginning rather than a one-off. The ABM programme hopes to grow the relationship into workshops, masterclasses, portfolio reviews, mentorship and collaborative campaigns, and to keep expanding its network of industry partners.

The wider aspiration is simple and ambitious in equal measure: that every student in the programme graduates with academic knowledge, meaningful industry exposure, professional connections and the confidence to contribute from day one.

For five students at SOMACFest, that future arrived a little early, with a poster, a global franchise, and a brief that was entirely real.

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