Author: Bella Cox

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Faculty May Term SMU-in-Taos

Discovering Taos: A Unique Learning Adventure

This past May term, a group of our students and Professor Mark Allen had the opportunity to study in Taos, New Mexico. The SMU-in-Taos program offers students a chance to break away from their normal college routine and experience learning in a new environment.

Combining adventure and academics, students enjoy lots of free time to explore the beautiful area and engage in fun outdoor activities such as rock climbing and fly fishing. Additionally, the classes are relatively small and intimate, making it easier to build connections with classmates and professors. Professor Allen shared that this environment helped encourage meaningful conversations in his classroom about creativity, art, life, advertising, and academics.

Another highlight of the program was the convenience of the location. Professor Mark Allen reflected on how nice it was to trade his usual commute for the beautiful surroundings of the Taos campus.

“As someone who typically commutes an hour both ways to and from SMU, it was amazing to roll out of bed and right into a class taught in a log cabin with aspen trees just outside our classroom door!” – Mark Allen

Another advantage of studying in Taos is the opportunity to lighten your Fall and Spring schedules. SMU currently offers ADV 1321 Intro to Creativity in Taos, which satisfies your Creativity and Aesthetics (CA) CC credit. Plus, all prerequisites are waived for this section, meaning that you can take the course early without needing to meet the ADV 1300 requirement. The best part is that you earn your CC credit in just 12 days while enjoying stunning scenery and perfect weather.

Students truly cherish their Taos experience, as highlighted by Susan Wilson, who participated in the May term this past summer.

“Taos has been my favorite SMU experience so far! I loved my Intro to Creativity class because we all became very close and truly enjoyed what we were learning. Now that I’m back on campus, I always catch up with my Taos friends whenever I see them. I met people I wouldn’t have otherwise, all in a place completely different from SMU!” – Susan Wilson

Do not miss this fantastic opportunity to study in Taos, applications are now open for January and Summer of 2025! For more information email smutaos@smu.edu or visit their website.

 

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AAF Dallas Awards and Projects Competitions TAI Classes TAI Students

Spotlight on Success: Recap of SMU’s Hosting of The NSAC Competition.

On April 17-19, Southern Methodist University had the honor of hosting the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) for the first time on campus in 41 years. NSAC is a collegiate advertising competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Two hundred seventy-five students participated in this year’s competition, representing 21 universities from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.  These talented students developed a campaign for Proctor & Gamble’s Tide for this year’s competition and presented it to a panel of judges.

Temerlin Advertising Institute Professor Nicole Haddad directed and led this year’s team. The SMU team showcased its skills and creativity and secured a commendable fourth-place finish. Ben Perry, a student on SMU’s team, earned the impressive title of best presenter in the competition. 

“Seeing myself and others be recognized for the hard work we put in not only this year but throughout our academic careers was truly invigorating. Winning best presenter was an honor that reflected not just my own efforts but especially those of my classmates and team in our pursuit of great work and determination to make each other better every day. Being a Temerlin student is a true blessing.” – Ben Perry

In conjunction with NSAC, Southern Methodist University hosted the AAF’s Mosaic Awards. Companies, agencies, and individuals from District 10 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) were recognized. Twenty-one awards were given for their commitment and work to diversity and inclusion. Our Endowed Distinguished Chair and Director of the Temerlin Advertising Institute, Joe Phua, spoke at the ceremony.

Additionally, the American Advertising Federation hosted an awards ceremony for District 10, where students and faculty members were recognized. Dr. Mark Allen was awarded the “Outstanding Educator of the Year” award, which you can read more about [here]. Scholarships, a symbol of academic excellence, were also awarded to students. We are delighted to acknowledge three of our creative students who were among the recipients. These students include Spencer Hogan who was awarded the Jim Goodnight AAF scholarship, Ethan Jones who was awarded the June Cerrato AAF scholarship, and Kailyn Sawhny who was awarded the Harry Ottman AAF scholarship.

“I’m honored and excited to receive this award! Thank you to all the people who have guided me through this journey. I am so excited to further my advertising experience!”  – Kailyn Sawhny

We were thrilled to host this year’s AAF National Student Advertising Competition and are incredibly proud of the SMU’s Tide team and faculty for all their recognitions and accomplishments.

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Awards and Projects Better Advertising. Better World. Faculty Research International Advertising News Research

Dr. Joe Phua Publishes New Research on the Power of Emotional Messaging in Vaccine Communications

By Bella Cox and Liby Navarro

Dr. Joe Phua is a Professor and the Endowed Distinguished Chair at the Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University.  In 2011, he earned his Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Throughout his career, Dr. Phua has worked with over $4.5 million in external research funded by distinguished organizations.  His research has explored new communication technologies, their impact on advertising and branding, and their application in sports marketing and health communications and have been featured in significant media outlets such as ABC News and National Public Radio (NPR).

Through his published work in some of the utmost journals, including the Journal of Advertising and Journal of Consumer Behavior, Dr. Phua has won awards from the International Communication Association (ICA), American Academy of Academy (AAA), and the International Communication Association (ICA), among many others.   

His most recent research titled, “Encouraging Positive Dialog Toward COVID-19 Vaccines on Social Media Using Hope Appeals, Celebrity Types, and Emoticons” was published in the journal,  Mass Communication & Society, and was conducted in conjunction with an international team of colleagues from Washington State University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and the University of Melbourne. This study evaluates how utilizing hope appeals, celebrity endorsements, and value emoticons shaped attitudes about COVID-19 vaccinations.  In addition, it discusses ongoing research to refine messaging strategies and improve the effectiveness of public health campaigns.  

For this research, Dr. Phua and his colleagues were interested in examining how social media posts by celebrity endorsers can influence their followers’ attitudes towards the COVID vaccine. Two experiments were conducted in the study:

In experiment one, they tested three celebrity endorser types (politician, scientist, athlete) and two message types (high and low relevance hope appeal). This experiment revealed that politicians posting low relevance hope appeal messages had the strongest effect on changing attitudes towards the COVID vaccine.

In experiment two, three emoticon types (positive, neutral, negative) and the same two message types (high and low relevance hope appeal) were used. It was concluded that neutral emoticons (wow, haha), rather than positive (like, love, hug) or negative (sad, angry) emoticons, had the strongest effect on changing attitudes towards the COVID vaccine.

For both experiments, it was concluded that the more someone strongly identified with the celebrity endorser posting the message, the more strongly their attitudes towards the COVID vaccine were changed.

Dr. Phua emphasized that “through examining COVID vaccine messages, this study was helpful to healthcare organizations who can be better prepared to use the most effective social media-based message strategies to combat and mitigate any major health pandemics that may arise in the future in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.”

In addition, Dr. Phua recently visited Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to initiate research and teaching collaborations.