COURSE HIGHLIGHT: Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship

The Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship graduate course leads students to identify the agents of change in the industry, defines responsibility in the advertising field, and demonstrates how responsible advertising evolves into an agent of cultural change.

Dr. Sid teaches this course using the case-study method so that students learn the challenges and benefits of implementing a CSR strategy for a brand. More importantly, students apply studied concepts to a marketing problem faced by a real-world client. He explains: “personally, I enjoy teaching this class because social responsibility ties in with my research agenda (green advertising, domestic violence, etc.) as well as TAI’s mission of ‘Better Advertising, Better World.’ Furthermore, to teach students ‘strategic’ CSR and show how social responsibility can benefit the brand (not just financially), as well as its stakeholders, is truly satisfying. At one point CSR was a point-of-difference but now it has become the norm. However, the initiative’s success largely depends on how to integrate social responsibility objectives with that of the business. Trying to find that balance through unique ideas on a shoe-string budget is challenging but seeing the students’ creativity shine through the entire process is a great experience.”

Follow Dr. Sid on LinkedIn for his latest research in this field.

Click here to learn more about our graduate program.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Temerlin Students Featured in 2020 Lürzer’s Archive

It was back in the early 1980s that advertising copywriter and agency owner Walter Lürzer banged his fist down on the table and resolutely shouted out to himself: “If no one’s going to do it for me, I’m going to have to do it myself – for everyone!” What he was referring to, back in that dark pre-internet era, was the laborious process of hunting out and compiling advertising campaigns from around the world. In those days, there were not many ways of finding out how products and services were being advertised in, say, America, Asia, or individual European countries. The first issue of Lürzer’s Archive magazine was published October 1984 in Frankfurt, Germany which now has over 150,000 readers worldwide. Today, Lürzer’s Archive is the celebrated creative resource for advertising professionals worldwide which offers a full set of inspirational tools including Lürzer’s Archive magazine.

We celebrate Temerlin’s Kell Klopp and Megan Cruikshank’s Kong campaign which will be featured in the first issue of 2020! With this win, the Temerlin Advertising Institue’s overall Lürzer’s ranking is now #7 in the world and #4 in the United States.

Preview the award-winning work here: Continue reading “STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Temerlin Students Featured in 2020 Lürzer’s Archive”

INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: What’s it Like to Serve on a Board of Directors?

Temerlin’s Sandi Edgar wanted to know more about the AAF so she started attending events, this quickly evolved into joining the AAF Dallas Board of Directors in 2018. There she met some pretty incredible advertisers and quickly found her way as the AAF Dallas Education Chair.

A board of directors is the governing body of a nonprofit which is responsible for overseeing an organization’s activities. In this case, AAF Dallas board members meet monthly to discuss and vote on the affairs of the chapter. In addition to attending these meetings and AAF events, Edgar creates programs to engage college students and works with other board members to include educational initiatives in their planning. In 2019, AAF Dallas won second place nationally for its 17 educational programs! “Serving on a board is a really fun and rewarding way to serve our industry and community, I strongly recommend everyone connect to a non-profit and give back” Edgar explains.

Edgar has a new AAF position and recently sat down with Ray Schilens, CEO and founder of Radio Lounge, to discuss her role as the first American Advertising Federation District Education chair. As District 10 education chair, Edgar serves as a liaison between AAF national and district educational programs and initiatives. Whether it’s working with local representatives to onboard new NSAC (National Student Advertising Competition) schools, relaying information to professors in the district, or working with clubs to involve students, this role is new for the AAF and continues to evolve. Listen here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/cfae3f24

INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: Networking Students to Full-Time Positions

Recent Temerlin graduate Harrison Fiveash landed a full-time role as Sales Coordinator at Ampersand after graduating from SMU this past December. The opportunity arose when his professor, Peter Noble, endorsed the event in class claiming it was essential for advertising students. Looking back, Fiveash recalls, “per the norm – he was right.”

Presented by The Dallas 4A’s Council, the inaugural AdEdge program was conceived to propel graduating DFW advertising and marketing majors into their careers. Before attending the event, Fiveash researched the attending agencies and took notes on where he thought he’d be a good fit: “I had several questions and made small talk with the representatives. I also had a clear plan as to which position I was interested in. Asking, ‘Are you hiring more Sales Coordinators?’ instead of ‘Are you hiring any recent grads?”

The following Monday Fiveash followed up via email and scheduled an informational interview with a professional he met at the event. This is an assignment that students are guided through in ADV 4106- Professional Seminars, a course that teaches students how to navigate the industry and more. A week later, Fiveash received a call from Ampersand informing him of an open Sales Coordinator position and was hired, and accepted, on the spot. This position works with affiliates and agencies, ensuring advertising spots are ordered and run when scheduled. Regarding the new role, Fiveash shares “there’s room to grow vertically and horizontally. It’s a strong cultural fit, and it’s a good hybrid of my media background and potential future in sales.”

Harrison’s Advice for Students Seeking Full-Time Opportunities:

  • Always be early
  • Bring a notepad
  • Thank everyone for their time
  • Use your professors as resources- they want to help you and they know what they’re doing
  • Start looking for a job and networking now
  • Continue to learn. People hire intellectually curious people!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: How to Land Your Face in Times Square at 22

Temerlin’s own Kayla Griffis (’20) just returned from New York City as a member of the 2020 American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) Most Promising Multicultural Student (MPMS) program.

The MPMS class is comprised of exceptional advertising talent across various disciplines who will lend their creativity and voices to inspire a more inclusive workforce as they start their professional, post-college, careers. This program affords students an inside look at the advertising industry where they participate in agency immersions, professional development, The Building Bridges for Our Future Student Awards Luncheon, and an exclusive recruiter’s expo.

“Each year, I have the pleasure of personally mentoring and watching the students simply blossom into the stars that they are. This experience gives multicultural students the confidence and reassurance that they belong in all spaces. The program also shows that our partners are trying to be intentional about bringing diverse talent into the industry. Thanks to Clear Channel Outdoor, this year, the faces of all 50 students made it on to several New York City billboards. Hands down, one of my top 3 moments this year was witnessing their faces in real-time when they saw the billboards. If at any point, they did not feel like they worked hard enough to be selected as Most Promising or believed that they “belonged,” everyone in Times Square sure did! I am extremely proud of these students and always look forward to witnessing the amazing things they will soon accomplish” explains Melony Hughes, Senior Manager of the AAF Mosaic Center & Education Services.

How Do I Apply?

Opportunities like this propel students into the advertising industry and our faculty are happy to take the time to champion our students to achieve these awards. The MPMS application goes live early each Fall. It consists of a resume, two essay questions, a personal tagline, and a recommendation letter from an advisor/mentor who is an AAF Member. Griffis adds, “I highly encourage students to apply to MPMS and other programs like this to get a better understanding of where they want to end up and to become better prepared for when they enter the workforce. My biggest takeaway is learning that I still have time to decide what I want to do, and nothing is set in stone.”

Learn more about the program here.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Dr. La Ferle Attends Global CMO Growth Council Meeting

Dr. Carrie La Ferle, Marriott Endowed Professor of Ethics & Culture, participated in the Global CMO Growth Council meeting last week in NYC examining Brand Experience, Creativity, & Media. The meeting focused on putting people first to drive growth through innovation, insights, creativity, experiential, and media.

Over the past two years, the ANA, Cannes Lions, and the Global CMO Growth Council have identified four priorities for driving industry growth: 1) Data, Technology, and Measurement; 2) Talent and Marketing Organization; 3) Brand Experience, Creativity, and Media; and 4) Society and Sustainability.

Anheuser-Busch graciously hosted the event last week and several CMOs cutting across multiple companies joined from Ernst & Young and Moet Hennessy to Subway, Stoli Group and Viacom as well as from Cannes Lions. Marcel Marcondes, U.S. CMO Anheuser-Busch provided a great overview of how Anheuser-Busch is working to drive growth by learning and listening more to consumers while also diversifying their offerings. Spencer Gordon, VP, Digital for Anheuser-Busch shared some of the recent wins that were driven by starting small and local to ensure relevance, using social media, then listening to reactions, and broadening the scope when reactions were good.

Future meetings are planned over the next few months across the four priorities leading up to Cannes Lions, where the Global CMO Growth Council originated in 2018.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Can Design Help Combat Homelessness?

Evictions are a serious national issue and extreme weather events displace thousands, houselessness is one of our society’s biggest challenges. Professor Willie Baronet is excited to participate in the new exhibition Houseless where Alaska’s Anchorage Museum invites visitors to considers ways design can contribute to solutions.

Design thinking helps break down complex problems and integrate new information and opinions while acknowledging there is no one right answer. The Houseless project provides a space for awareness, education, and creative problem-solving around housing security supporting individuals and communities in problem-solving together.

Willie Baronet began WE ARE ALL HOMELESS in 1993 due to the awkwardness he felt when he pulled up to an intersection and encountered a person holding a sign, asking for help. Like many, Baronet wrestled with whether or not he was doing good by giving them money. “Mostly I struggled with my moral obligations, and how my own choices contributed in conscious or unconscious ways to the poverty I was witnessing. I struggled with the unfairness of the lives people are born into, the physical, mental and psychological handicaps. In my struggle, I avoided eye contact with those on the street, unwilling to really see them, and in doing so avoided seeing parts of myself. That began to change once I began asking them if they would sell their signs.” Baronet’s relationship to the homeless has been powerfully and permanently altered. The conversations and connections have left an indelible mark on his heart. He explains “I still wrestle with personal questions regarding generosity, goodness, compassion, and guilt. And what it means to be homeless: practically, spiritually, emotionally? Is home a physical place, a building, a structure, a house? Or is it a state of being, a sense of safety, of being provided for, of identity? I see these signs as signposts of my own journey, inward and outward, of reconciling my own life with my judgments about those experiencing homelessness.”

Opening night, WE ARE ALL HOMELESS at the Anchorage Museum

Houseless is an installation of hundreds of the signs Baronet has purchased over the past two decades. “This is the largest WE ARE ALL HOMELESS exhibit to date, and I’m honored to be a part of Houseless at the Anchorage Museum. I love how this project is integrated into the classes I teach at SMU, where many of my students have volunteered to help AND have been inspired to start their own purpose-driven projects, which contributes to our desire to teach principled advertising. I’m also very excited to be working with students from SMU’s Human Rights program led by Rick Halperin. Some of his students have volunteered to work on the WE ARE ALL HOMELESS non-profit impact campaign in order to meet their class requirements. I always love finding ways to collaborate across disciplines at SMU” explains Baronet.

To learn more about this initiative please visit http://www.weareallhomeless.org/ and watch Willie’s award-winning documentary Signs of Humanity which is available to stream on Amazon.

 

INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: Preparing Students for their Careers with StrengthsFinder

The Clifton StrenghtsFinder is a scientific 177 question assessment that measures an individual’s talents resulting in a unique “thumbprint” analysis of strengths. Understanding the sequence of these strengths is one of the keys to finding and managing a rewarding career. This week, Professor Amber Benson (right), a Gallop-Certified Strengths Coach, led Professor Sandi Edgar’s Advertising Business Communications course through a basic StrengthsFinder workshop. Here, students were guided through various exercises to understand their top strengths and how they may manifest in various aspects of their personal and professional lives. This insight provides an understating of motivations,  interactions with others, and the types of team members needed to compliment a person’s strengths. The students will use their individual strengths to explore personal branding with the ultimate goal to become more effective in interviews, networking, and the workplace. This project culminates with the Temerlin Advertising Institute career fair in March. Email to learn more: sandi@smu.edu.

FACULTY RESEARCH: Engaging Luxury Brand Consumers

Luxury brands have increased their social engagement by investing heavily in interesting brand value propositions and captive storytelling. Yet, research to understand the mechanisms of luxury content marketing in brand building is still scarce. Drawing on value perceptions, brand prestige/exclusivity, customer intimacy, and brand loyalty, Dr. Xie’s research proposes and tests the perceived values of luxury content marketing on social media (i.e., YouTube) which shapes brand loyalty among luxury consumers. Dr. Quan Xie’s research “Deconstructing Luxury Content Marketing on YouTube: The Roles of Content Values in Brand Prestige, Brand Exclusivity, Customer Intimacy and Brand Loyalty” was recently accepted by the International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference to be presented at the Gold Coast, Australia this May. The conference accepted only 44.27% of the papers and panels that were submitted this year!

INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: Students Rank Super Bowl Ads

By Kaleb Mulugeta

This Tuesday prospective and current advertising students gathered to rank and review Super Bowl LIV ads. Think of it as a Super Bowl party, two days after the Super Bowl, with no actual Super Bowl. Just commercials. An advertising student’s dream come true.

“The annual Super Bowl Ad Off is the perfect forum for both ad majors and non-ad students to discuss the most talked-about commercials of the year. One of the most important steps that someone interested in advertising can take is to expose themselves to as much work as possible. Not only that but developing a taste for what is good vs great vs what misses the mark is essential when entering this competitive field. Ad Club’s meetings provide the perfect place to discuss, learn and grow” explains Ad Club President Allie Hartman. Students gave their two cents on whether the ads were appropriate for the respective brands, how effective they were, and collectively raised an eyebrow at #BabyNut.

A poll at the end of the night crowned these spots as the best of the bunch:

  1. GoogleLoretta 
  2. AlexaBefore Alexa
  3. JeepGroundhog Day

The most disliked ad of the game goes to OlayMake Space for Women. It began as a strong empowering statement for women but they threw away everything in the last 3 seconds by using the “a woman makes a silly mistake” stereotype when an unknown button is pressed which ejects the astronauts from the space shuttle. They almost had it, too bad.

 Learn more about Ad Club and join here.