TAI Alumna Spotlight: Jena Jessen, Designer for the Dallas Mavericks

Jena Jessen (’12) had a long-time dream realized when she was hired as a designer for the Dallas Mavericks in June. In her position, Jessen is responsible for creating graphics, collateral, presentations, infographics and logos for the team. With an average home game attendance of 20,000, and more than 65 million fans internationally, designing for the Mavericks is no small job.

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TAI alumna, Jena Jessen (’12), designs infographics, logos and other collateral for the Dallas Mavericks.

Jessen graduated from SMU’s Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) with a BA in Advertising in December 2012. During her time in TAI’s creative advertising program, she learned several valuable lessons that she has carried with her during her career:

  1. Keep pushing your work further until it is great
  2. Condition your craft
  3. Have a great portfolio site

Under the leadership of the TAI creative faculty, Jessen learned how to “push through the junk until [she] landed at a great idea.” She also learned that conditioning and self-discipline are critical to being successful in the industry. Jessen notes that conditioning is different from motivation, which is fleeting. Like the athletes she now designs for, Jessen conditions her craft through both work and freelance projects to make sure she is staying engaged in the discipline and growing as a professional. Having a great portfolio hosting platform to showcase work is helpful as well. Jessen recommends Cargo Collective, which she was introduced to at TAI.

Jena & DirkJessen’s journey to Victory Park has included stops at Dallas agencies such as MEplusYOU, where she interned, and Speck Communications, where she served as a full time Art Director. She credits her time with these agencies, as well as the knowledge and skills she learned at the Temerlin Advertising Institute, to her landing the position with the Mavericks.

Jessen also serves as the Creative Chair for Ad2Dallas, an affiliate of AAF Dallas, whose mission is to strengthen the skills and connections of Dallas advertising, marketing and public relations professionals age 32 years and younger. For more information on Ad2Dallas, including upcoming events, visit: http://aafdallas.org/ad2dallas/.

TAI Alumna Launches Startup Promoting Tourism in Developing Cities

Temerlin Advertising Institute alumna Karissa Jobman (’13) is combining her advertising acumen and love of travel through Bucket, a startup aimed to boost tourism activities in Quito, Ecuador and other developing cities. BucketLogoAbout Bucket
“Bucket started out of a vision to share the culture of Latin America with the world by making tourism more accessible to international markets” says Jobman. This vision came to her and fellow co-founder, Daniel Pino, through a serendipitous meeting while the two were working for Southwest Airlines in Dallas, Texas. In October 2014, their vision became a reality when Quito’s Tourism Bureau selected Bucket as a recipient of their tourism innovation competition.

Bucket’s purpose is to promote tourism in developing cities through partnerships with the top attractions in each city, providing technologically accessible, discounted, convenient ways to travel the world. Bucket combines entrance tickets to the top attractions in each partner city, offering one Bucket Pass with full access to each attraction at a discounted price. Travelers can purchase the pass online or by mobile device. The Bucket app also features attraction information and trips.

Bucket launches today, July 23, in Quito, Ecuador. Tickets go on sale August 10.

About Jobman
Karissa JobmanKarissa Jobman came to SMU from Omaha, Nebraska to study advertising at the Temerlin Advertising Institute. She first visited South America through the Alternative Breaks program to Ecuador, then spent a semester of her junior year studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Jobman graduated from SMU with a BA in Advertising in December 2013. After graduation she interned with Southwest Airlines in the Community Affairs and Grassroots department, where she met her Bucket co-founder. As the CPO of Bucket, Jobman uses her advertising expertise to create an enhanced digital experience, as well as manage the brand and product development of the company.

You can follow Bucket on Twitter @BucketPass and Facebook.

TAI MA Alumnus Wins at Cannes

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What do you do when a no kill Animal Shelter in DFW turns to you increase exposure for the many animals looking for a loving home? If you’re Arturo Lee (MA ’14) and the team at Dieste, you create an award-winning campaign!

About the Campaign
Adoptable Trends is a proactive campaign for Dallas Pets Alive!, a no kill shelter servicingdpa_trends_dieste-01 the DFW area. The talented team at Dieste came to the conclusion that the main reason most of these dogs don’t get adopted is due to their lack of exposure online. If people could only look at their adorable faces for even a second they might be more inclined to adopt. By redirecting the online traffic that daily trends get, Dieste was able to shine a spotlight on dogs that would otherwise stay homeless. How did they do this? By simply renaming the dogs after new trends and tagging them around social media. Dieste also created some funny films in order to push the campaign even further. This idea was engineered by Jose Benitez, Sr. Copywriter; Francisco Arranz, Sr. Art Director; and TAI MA Alumnus Arturo Lee, Jr. Art Director.

Accolades
The campaign has done well at many festivals, and has won such merits as 2 shortlists at The Wave, 2 Silvers at the USH Idea Awards, 2 Silver SOL Awards, and most recently 3 shortlists at Cannes, 1 Bronze Lion in Cyber for Best Use of Social Data & Insight, and a Silver Lion in Media for Best Use of Digital Content.

About Arturo Lee
Arturo Lee was born in Mexico City and moved to Houston, Texas at the age of 8. Hebiopic attended Texas A&M University where he received a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in Marketing. From there, Arturo attended the Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University where he received his Master’s Degree in Advertising. Upon graduation he began working for Dieste, first as an intern and then as a Junior Art Director. You can follow Arturo on Twitter @arturolee4.

TAI Global Immersion – Week 3 in Hong Kong

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Week 3 in Hong Kong found the MA in Advertising Students visiting OMG’s OMD, which won Agency of the Year in 2014.

The group also engaged in a fun night with a group of students from Queensland University (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. They first shopped in the Ladies Market and then toured the city in an Open Air Big Bus. For dinner, they headed to the ferry docks for a boat cruise with the famous light show in the Harbor.

Our month in Hong Kong was a great experience with advertising knowledge, culture and personal growth.

Stay tuned for more stories of our MA student summer experiences and news on our incoming Fall 2015 Cohort.