Author: Temerlin Advertising Institute

AA-ARTS(CommArts)
Posted on

Brand Experiences Standout at SXSW Interactive

SMU graduate students Lesley Warren & Allison Farris explored brand activations at SXSW Interactive.

– A brand activation is a campaign, event, or experience to engage with consumers. They are generally interactive and at SXSW are almost uniformly over the top.

  • Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One places you in the world of the the OASIS
  • Google provides phone booths to promote Google Assistant
  • Prove It introduces new trivia app
  • Social Imprint is branded swag company with a pop-up shop on the trade floor
  • YouTube took over a building with “The Greatest Stories Retold,” in 6, 15, or 30 seconds

Ready Player One
Warner Bros is really going all in for Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One this year. In addition to a sort of creepy flash mob that’s been walking around downtown telling us they’re looking for Wade Watts (code name Parzival), they have a large activation on 4th Street that never seems to have fewer than 50 people waiting to go in.
I waited in line for about an hour. The activation featured gamer/sci-fi memorabilia from the 80s and 90s, including a ceiling-height bust of The Iron Giant and a DeLorean for photo ops. The main attraction was a seemingly very cool VR experience that puts you in the virtual reality world of the film, the OASIS, but I did not do this because, yikes, lines. The tech they’re using to capture data is particularly impressive for a pop-up experience, including lightweight wristbands containing your avatar name that you scan for each experience you participate in. To be honest, I don’t know anything about this film, and it isn’t my typical genre, but I do feel like I have to see this movie now. I’m too involved!

Google Assistant
Google’s pop up activation in the Fairmont had four different “phone booths” immersive set up to demonstrate the Google Phone’s virtual assistant. SXSW participants were guided through scenarios like “Make Google Book It” which demonstrated how you can book a trip completely through voice commands and “Make Google Order It” which demonstrated how you could order mittens for your grandma. The AI was shockingly sophisticated and responsive in real time, and there is great potential for brands to utilize voice search in their digital marketing strategies through paid search for #HeyGoogle. Most people were delighted by their interaction with the AI, but I did see one man who was frustrated by the experience. Not everyone is ready for a world run by smart computers.

HQ Competitor Prove It showed up in full force with multiple touchpoints in the downtown Austin area. Tampa-based PROVEIT is a new trivia app in direct competition with HQ. Founder Prem was handing out “Trivia Cash Cards” redeemable for $1-$1,000 cash in PROVEIT and offering smart phone users a place to charge their phones. This week they will be giving $25,000 to one player in Austin only to promote the 3-month old app. Also seen around town, a branded armor truck promoting the $25,000 prize. Users are encouraged to create and share a public selfie with the truck with the #ThisIsMoney and the funniest post of the week will receive $500 account credit.

Social Imprint, a branded swag company that hires adults who need a second chance in San Francisco, set up a pop-up shop on the trade show floor complete with an onsite screen printing press to demonstrate their process. The company was raising money for a local non-profit called The Front Porch by requesting a suggested a $5 donation for a free SXSW T-shirt. Trade show attendees could also see the full range of branded products that marketers could use for swag.

YouTube
Another interesting activation was from YouTube. The company recreated fairy tales for the modern age with help from top creative agencies and celebrities like Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch. With “The Greatest Stories Retold,” YouTube proves impactful stories can be told by a 6, 15, or 30 second clip. This pop-up was another impressive display of tech, with different video scenarios that are activated by motion and touch. My particular favorite was a shoe display that was activated when a person placed their foot in the large plastic heel. While not quite as grandiose as Ready Player One, “The Greatest Stories Retold” was entertaining and impressive.

Posted on

Beyond People in Power, Tech, and Politics: SXSW Sessions Cover Broad Topics

Temerlin Advertising students Hannah Tymochko and Lauren Cole explored sessions beyond marketing and technology at SXSW.

CNN’s Jake Trapper paired up with Bernie Sanders to cover an assortment of topics, many of which Sanders felt are not adequately covered on CNN. Some of his notable and long-time favorites include gun control, DACA, and the 1 percent. All seemed to leave with a more patriotic taste in their mouth.

Whether Democrat or a Republican, Sanders had a message for all of us. Americans should love and respect each other. In strength we are united, but divided we are weak. Every question resulted in strong messages of unity and love.

Both democrats and republicans made their presence known verbally at one point or another, but there seemed to be no disagreement on Sanders’ message of unity and collaboration.

This talk was drastically different from what I had expected to see at a technology conference, and could not have been a better start to my experience.

The Richards Group’s Chris Ferrel’s “I’ve Got No Screens: Internet’s Screenless Future” was a stark difference in content and tone. Marketing to a #screenlessfuture was educational and entertaining. Current advertising practices are built around the importance of screens in consumers’ lives, but Ferrel warns that the future will contain less and less interaction with screens and will instead rely on voice interactions (i.e. Alexa, Google Home, and Siri).

Unlike the Sanders’ session, Ferrel was filled with humor. The insertions of funny content were welcome. “OK Goo-Goo” showed a video of an 85 year old woman with a thick Italian accent interacting with her Google digital voice assistant. Important to advertisers, Ferrel predicts the rise of the screenless future.

Ferrel’s session was more of what I expected to see at SXSW. It related directly to things we have learned in the Temerlin Advertising Institute, but presented a new aspect to new-age advertising that I had not thought of before.

The different sessions speak to the diverse topics SXSW covers, and the amazing opportunity we have to make the SXSW experience our own. The ability to customize our adventure at SXSW has been incredible. The variety in sessions offered makes the SXSW experience one that attendees can personalize. While we all have the underlying commonality of being Temerlin students, we can cater our experience to our specific specialization and interests. People from all over the world who are in such different professions all come together to attend SXSW, and we are so lucky to be able to be a part of it.

Posted on

SXSW Interactive 2018: Day 1 Surprises

Maloree Malone and Dalya Romaner were teamed up to describe the first day of SXSW Interactive.

I have been to South by Southwest before, but never with an Interactive badge and my first day was really fun and interesting!” said Maloree Malone, TAI Graduate Student.

I am very interested in fashion and the business side of it, but I was always disappointed, because I never seemed to find any fashion sessions. It was great seeing all the different topics this year. Yesterday, I went to 3 sessions, and I got something out of them all.

Dalya Romaner, TAI Accelerated MA program student expressed, “SXSW perfectly encapsulates a conference experience. I started the first day with a schedule for every session I would attend, plus a few social and networking events. Everything was laid out perfectly in the SXSW app and I was ready to go.”

However, that plan went out the window and instead we followed Sandi Edgar, TAI Marketing Coordinator, into a session about Techfugees, a company dedicated to changing the refugee narrative using technology. Bernie Sanders was the next speaker and we wanted to get good seats, but we were hooked by the end of the talk.

A Rotten Tomatoes Film Debate was a hilarious, totally silly show with film critics debating film fans. So over the course of one hour, I went from discussing DACA and political engagement to hearing things like, “La La Land was more basic than a Pumpkin Spice Latte.”

While I wish I had gone to some of my sessions like “Anatomy of a Trend” and “Sustaining Brands” for the future,” these sessions were both educational and offered a nice glimpse into how every brand works to keep themselves current and innovative to a broad audience.

The days are long at SXSW and more opportunities revealed themselves. Dayla found a a panel discussing the future of women in tech, went on part of a bar crawl, and had Shabbat dinner (traditional Jewish Sabbath dinner held every Friday night) with fellow Jews attending SXSW.

None of this was laid out in an original schedule. Dalya didn’t attend a single pre-planned session, yet it was an amazing day. Maloree agrees, “I had a few sessions planned and thought I would strictly follow it, but I’ve learned that you have to sometimes play it by ear, because I hadn’t planned on going to the Rotten Tomatoes  session, yet it was the most fun.” Dalya concurs, “That’s the beauty of SXSW – you can go with the flow and find yourself learning more and meeting cooler people than you ever would have if you had your head in your phone, walking along the set path all day.”

Posted on

Silver Robots, Pink Gorillas, and German Engineering at SXSW Interactive

Nina Kesava and Gabriele Petrylaite

Courtesy of our fearless leader, Dr. Edwards, we started our day off at the historic Austin landmark, Jo’s coffee shop, home of the famous  “I love you so much” mural. Naturally,

Dr. Edwards was unaware that he took us to a social media hotspot, but no worries he still looked fantastic posing in-front of it (in Jess’ glasses).

Following this, we grabbed our orange interactive passes (no line, thank goodness) and headed straight downtown. We wandered the city unable to decipher what was a an official part of the SXSW and what was a part of the city. We navigated to streets attempting to reach a panel on “Data Driven Fan Engagement” at the JW Marriott dodging an army of individuals dressed in silver robot apparel screaming about technology. On our way to the second panel, we stumbled into a digital make-up haven, where we virtually applied various looks and hairstyles in real-time. While using the YouCamMakeup app, one of us learned that applying the top Maybelline look did in fact transform her into her mother (see evidence below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While waiting for a panel on “Sustainability in Branding,” we took a quick Kendra Scott Coffee Break and Picture Frame photoshoot. After the panel exemplifying how sustainable business is smart business, we headed to the Mercedes feature at Palm Park and met a pink gorilla getting handcuffed. The gorilla gave us some some koozies and a free lift ride, so we guess that makes it okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we entered Palm Park, we were engulfed into a german, futuristic world, featuring a cutting-edge Mercedes at every corner. We don’t know where this new SXSW world may take us, you’ll just have to see for yourself.

 

Posted on

SMU Students Skip Spring Break. Swarm South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive

Spring break at SXSW Interactive in Austin. A group of Temerlin Advertising Institute and SMU MA/MBA students launched into conference sessions including:

The SXSW Interactive Festival spotlights speakers at the developing edge of technology and those using technology in innovative ways. Dr. Steven Edwards, Director of the Institute and program leader at SXSW said, “We are here to explore how new tech and related issues are impacting the field of advertising and marketing communications.”

Temerlin Advertising Institute Students SXSW
Temerlin Advertising Institute Group in Austin at SXSW 2018
  • Students spend five intensive days exploring keynotes, panel sessions, speakers, and networking events to apply interactive technologies to advertising issues.
  • Students will interview key executives about issues in advertising at the intersection of new technologies.
  • In addition, students will maintain daily accounts and analysis of activities and meetings, contribute to a class blog, and will produce a paper on an assigned topic.

The 2018 conference breaks sessions into tracks on: Brands & Marketing, Design, Development & Code, Experiential Storytelling, VR/AR, and the Intelligent Future. There are also tracks focused on Government, Health, the Tech Industry, Style, Workplace, Food, Journalism, Social Impact, and Sports.

TAI faculty and staff are attending and are offering opportunities for meet-ups at the conference.

Students complete the experience by integrating knowledge from the conference with readings on Digital Disruption to produce a final paper solving a problem at work, identifying an emerging use for the technology explored, or researching a related topic in more depth.

Exposure to cutting edge technology, interacting with industry visionaries, and application of creative ideas across disciplines positions our students as unique in their fields. Bringing these ideas to work in current or new positions creates a point of differentiation that employers value.

As of hour three, Hannah Tymochko, Digital Media Strategy senior already believes, “It’s been amazing to see such a diverse group of people coming from all over the world to experience SXSW!”

Posted on

TAI Hosts Visiting Scholar Dr. Sukki Yoon for Lecture on Speed-Induced Construal and Perceptions of Advertising Messages

Friday February 23, Temerlin Advertising Institute hosted a lecture by Visiting Scholar Dr. Sukki Yoon, associate marketing professor at Bryant University. Dr. Yoon discussed his research, “Slow Versus Fast: How Speed-Induced Construal Affects Perceptions of Advertising Messages,” with many SMU students, faculty and staff attending the lecture.

Through his research studies, Dr. Yoon addresses fundamental questions of consumer behavior: why and how people react to marketing communications. His research centers on Consumer Behavior but he is also interested in Branding, Integrated Marketing Communication, Consumer Psychology, International Advertising, Digital Marketing and Social Marketing.

Dr. Yoon provided a report of results of five studies investigating construals arising from the pace of commercials, which then affects consumers’ perceptions and responses.

“Dr. Sukki Yoon’s research provides important theoretical extensions to the construal level theory. It demonstrates that the speed of media stimulus can influence consumers’ cognitive processing. The findings offer useful information for the design and placement of advertising messages,” TAI Professor Dr. Yan Huang said.

Dr. Sukki Yoon lecturing to audience of SMU students, faculty and staff

Studies 1, 2, and 3 provide empirical evidence showing that slow-moving objects generate high-level construals and fast-moving objects generate low-level construals.

Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that TV commercials featuring slow-moving objects will prompt high-level construals, which induces consumer preferences for desirability advertising appeals that emphasize product benefits and quality. Whereas TV commercials featuring fast-moving objects will prompt low-level construals and cause consumer preferences for feasibility advertising appeals that emphasize product benefits attributes and price.

Studies 4 and 5 demonstrate the same results when the same commercial is run slowly and rapidly.

SMU faculty and staff attending Dr. Yoon’s presentation

“Dr. Sukki Yoon’s lecture was very interesting in terms of how he connected a science theory with advertising. How fast pace music could speed up the path to purchase to process in stores, and how slow pace music can make people think more of their purchase before buying. His lecture was very well-spoken and simplified,” SMU student Chase Drexler said.

Dr. Yoon studies advertising and consumer behavior and has published articles in many international journals, served on editorial boards, and written columns for newspapers and magazines. He has previously taught advertising at Cleveland State University and has lectured as a visiting scholar at Grey Worldwide, Harvard, Sookmyung, Dongguk, and UNIST.

Temerlin Advertising Institute was honored to host Dr. Yoon for a lecture on his research. TAI is passionate about staying informed on all current topics in the advertising industry, hosting guest speakers periodically throughout the year.

 

Posted on

TAI Creative Student Jennifer Nelson Shares Copywriting Experience with Award-Winning Ad Agency: McGarryBowen

Last summer, TAI creative advertising student Jennifer Nelson worked as a Copywriting Intern at McGarryBowen’s headquarters in New York City, NY. Internship experiences can give you a greater understanding of how a large agency functions according to Nelson.

Jennifer Nelson at McGarryBowen’s office

“I was hired as a Copywriting Intern so I was responsible for writing headlines/taglines/commercial scripts, concepting ideas, assisting my Art Director partner, and working on the summer-long intern project,” Nelson said. “I was put on the Chevron and Brand USA accounts, but I ended up working on mainly Chevron as well as a bit of United Airlines. There is a commercial that will air for the Sochi Olympics this winter and I helped write the script!”

Nelson learned many important skills from this internship, but she claims that by far the most important skill she learned was working with others. She partnered with a talented Art Director intern and worked on every project almost entirely through collaboration. “If I needed help with a headline, I would ask for her opinion. If she was stuck on some art, I would give her ideas,” Nelson said. Through this method, Nelson was always prepared for client meetings.

Every day was different depending on Nelson’s schedule, but she typically got to work at 9 A.M. and headed home at 6 P.M. Once she got to the agency, she made herself oatmeal and coffee, checked her e-mail for any meetings she could have, and talked with her intern partners about their plan for the day. In the mornings, she and her Art Director partner gave each other feedback on their concepts and worked on them until lunch. Sometimes the interns had informational meetings that allowed them to learn about the different departments and roles within the office. For lunch, she typically ate outside with the interns and then headed to a client meeting.

One of her favorite memories from her internship experience was working with other interns to present an Intern Project to the agency. “It was basically a campaign pitch for Champion. The interns were split up into three teams so it got pretty competitive,” Nelson said. “To set my group apart, I wrote a rap for us to perform at the beginning our presentation. We received a huge round of applause as well a couple chuckles. A few of the executives even praised my rap writing skills when we finished.” This experience allowed Nelson to sharpen her presentational skills.

Nelson has learned how to be a good team player from her advertising classes, and this helped her be the best partner she could in the internship.

During her internship, Nelson primarily worked with the Chevron creatives who became like a family for her. Nelson and her Art Director partner developed concepts for Snapchat games, videos, gifs, and more. Nelson also worked on a Chevron STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) event for women in Washington D.C. “That was super cool because I learned so much about the rich history of women in STEM,” Nelson said. “My partner and I ended up having the most accepted concepts for both Fresno and STEM on the team!”

On the creative floor

This internship gave Nelson amazing opportunities to create work, and was therefore allowed to experience the duties of a copywriter. In the future, she sees herself working for an advertising agency in a big city as a copywriter.

Advertising students are strongly encouraged to complete an internship prior to graduation. The hands-on experience allows students to learn about the advertising industry outside the classroom. Nelson highly recommends TAI students to apply for McGarryBowen’s summer internship!

Check the TAI Weekly Update for current internship opportunities.

 

 

Posted on

TAI hosts 14th Annual Exxon Mobil Lecture Series with David Baldwin

 Tuesday, February 6, 2018 TAI hosted “Navigating the Belief Economy” with David Baldwin at the Angelika Film Center.

Each year TAI hosts lectures and events, as part of the ExxonMobil Lecture Series, to promote corporate and advertising ethics. This series is one of many ways that TAI advocates its motto “Better Advertising. Better World.”

Baldwin is the founder of Baldwin&, a Raleigh, N.C.-based company that was named Small Agency of the Year twice in its first five years by Ad Age and the 4A’s. The former chairman of the One Club in NYC, Baldwin was also an executive producer for the Emmy-winning film Art & Copy, and an associate producer for the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning film The Loving Story. His advertising has been recognized by The One Show, Cannes, D&AD, the Clios, the Effies, the Andy Awards, the MPA Kellys, Communication Arts and more.

At this year’s ExxonMobil Lecture Series, Baldwin shared insights about The Belief Economy and discussed the power of a belief-driven brand, the era of consumerism, shared beliefs, giving back to society, and more. A Belief Driven Brand is a brand that stands for something bigger than what they do “by attaching profit to the simple idea of making good things happen for people, we can transform the world,” Baldwin explained.

TAI undergrads and faculty enjoying the event
TAI’s MA in Advertising Program

 

 

 

 

“If you had the chance to make the world better, why wouldn’t you? – David Baldwin.

In case you missed the event, you can learn more about “Baldwin&” here, and obtain a copy of his new acclaimed book The Belief Economy: How to Give a Damn, Stop Selling, and Create Buy-In here.

Posted on

MA in Advertising Class of 2016 at Graduation

CONGRATULATIONS INSTITUTE GRADUATE STUDENTS!!

We want to wish success to our graduating students as the class of 2016 move forward into their professional careers. Each one has grown and excelled over the past two years in the program.

2016 MA Graduation Photo
From left: Preston Barrett, Erica Chiarello, Colleen O’Brien, Yiyang April Yu, Diana Herrera, Jingxue Snow Wang, and Jing Jin. Marin Berardi (not pictured). Faculty: Steven Edwards, Sid Muralidharan, Cheryl Mendenhall, Amy Dahmann, Carrie La Ferle, Anna Kim, and Hye Jin Yoon.

New knowledge has been acquired from persuasion theories and research to strategic brand management and ROI metrics. Portfolios have been developed and perfected as well as understanding the importance of responsibility in advertising and the positive impact this can have on a brand’s bottom line.

Cultural sensitives and personal growth have been gained during a month of learning in Hong Kong. Students visited several advertising agencies and cultural sites enriching their understanding of international advertising and particularly that occurring in the Asian region.

As these exceptional graduating MA in Advertising students head out from their semester long Executive Internships, many are continuing to work for the same companies from The Richards Group and TM Advertising to Mary Kay, Commerce House to Swimming Duck.

We are super proud of all of you and are excited to see you continue to excel as you enter into the next chapter of your story.

While you move on from the campus and the TAI physical location, you are always a part of the TAI family and we know you will go out and make us all proud.

Best wishes and congratulations to all!

The Temerlin Advertising Institute!
Better Advertising. Better World.

Interested in graduate classes? Check out our new 1 year program and part-time certificate program.