TAI First-Year Graduate Students Present Campaign Proposal to Dude, Sweet Chocolate

First row (left to right): Jing Jin, Colleen O’Brien, Erica Chiarello, Snow Wang, Chef Katherine Clapner, Emily Mize, Marin Berardi, Diana Herrera, April Yu, Dr. Sidharth Muralidharan. Second Row: Robert Keeler, Preston Barrett.

As a final project for the Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship (ADV 6372) class, two teams of Temerlin Advertising Institute graduate students— Legendary and AMP’D, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Sidharth Muralidharan—created advertising campaign proposals with a social responsibility focus for Dude, Sweet Chocolate (DSC). The primary emphases were to create awareness of the brand and its’ offerings of quality chocolates and to highlight how the brand is giving back to the community.

The presentations were judged by Chef Katherine Clapner (Co-founder & Co-owner), Emily Mize (Corporate and Wholesale Accounts), and Robert Keeler (Chief Operating Officer). Keeler was very impressed and pleased with both proposals saying “We were very surprised by their insights to our business and their creativity.”

Legendary
Legendary Group: Snow Wang, Colleen O’Brien, Jing Jin, Erica Chiarello

For the group, ‘Legendary’, Chef Clapner goes on to mention “the wedding charity, the sampling truck, contacting SMU catering, the contest, and ad design. They were some really good ideas.” According to Clapner, AMP’D ‘got’ their primary target audience and “understood we are trying to create an experience for our customers when they come into our stores.”

AMPD
AMP’D: April Yu, Diana Herrera, Marin Berardi, Preston Barrett

Dr. Sid commented on the presentations, noting “I am really proud of both teams as they were able to effectively use advertising to strategically market the socially responsible initiatives of DSC but without making it come across as standoffish. Combining the ideas from both proposals can open up even more opportunities for the Dude, Sweet Chocolate brand.

Social responsibility is a cornerstone of the Temerlin Advertising Institute’s Masters in Advertising program. ADV 6372: Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship is just one of several courses with a focus on social responsibility that students in the Institute’s MA in Advertising program are required to take. These courses, and the experiences gained through working with real clients, equip graduates to become leaders in the advertising industry by helping them recognize their responsibility to their brands, their consumers, their industry and their society.

Rachel Peng’s Thesis Defense

Congratulations to Rachel Peng! 
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Rachel Peng defending her thesis.
Second year MA in Advertising student, Rachel Peng, successfully defended her thesis research titled, “The Interaction between Music and Message Frame: A Congruity Approach.”
She has been working on this experimental research for the past year and her results show that when the valence of the mood created by the music and the message frame is congruent, effectiveness of the public service advertisements may increase. She examined this using local animal shelter support as the issue featured in the PSAs.
TAI congratulates Rachel on her successful defense and cheers her on in her exciting journeys ahead!

Erin Hedrick’s Thesis Defense

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Congratulations to Erin Hedrick! 
Yesterday, Friday May 1, 2015, second year MA in Advertising student, Erin Hedrick, successfully defended her thesis research titled, “Building Brand Value: Movie Theaters as Products that Advertise the Experience.” Her adviser was 2015-05-01 10.01.43Dr. Carrie La Ferle.
She has been working on this research for the past year and her results show that people do enjoy going to the movies but that the value of the experience can be enhanced if theaters paid more attention to convenience factors, loyalty programs and highlighting the social companionship with friends opportunities. Price was not the key factor in decisions to attend or not.
TAI congratulates Erin on her successful defense and cheers her as she joins The Richards Group Advertising Agency in Account Management where she has spent the past few months undertaking her Executive Internship!
Congratulations again, from your TAI Family.