Category: Undergraduate Students

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AWARDS: Creative Students Win 9 AAF Dallas American Advertising Awards

The AAF American Advertising Awards is one of the industry’s largest creative competitions, attracting nearly 35,000 professional and student entries each year through local club competitions. Temerlin creative students won NINE American Advertising Awards (ADDYs) at the 2020 AAF Dallas awards show last week. “Our students represented us well in front of the Dallas advertising community tonight and with so many gold, silver and Best of Show winners advancing on, we’ll keep representing SMU at the regional and national levels” explains Professor Mark Allen.

Creative students have worked very hard over the past semester to produce several award-winning campaigns, and we couldn’t be happier to see them succeed. Professor Willie Baronet shares: “I’m so proud of all our students for killing it tonight, especially Gaelle and Anna Rose for taking home BEST OF SHOW!  And kudos to the TAI team for creating space for these students to flex their creative brilliance!”

Winners Include:

BEST OF SHOW

Anna Rose Corell & Gaëlle Gachelin / P3 (Magazine Advertising)

GOLD WINNERS

Anna Rose Corell & Gaëlle Gachelin / P3 (Magazine Advertising)

Sydney Bottum & Sophie Vos / Hello Fresh! (Magazine Advertising)

SILVER WINNERS

Olivia Childs / Keurig (Magazine Advertising)

Abby Coon & Charlie O’Brien / Slip (Poster)

Sam Smith, Avery Bouch, EJ Niemczyk / Beyond Meat (Integrated Campaigns)

Sam Smith, Avery Bouch, EJ Niemczyk / Beyond Meat (Illustration)

Olivia Childs & James Klopp / Native Deodorant (Illustration)

Anna Rose Corell & Gaëlle Gachelin / Diptyque (Animation or Special Effects)

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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!
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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.

 

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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.

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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. Google – Loretta 
  2. Alexa – Before Alexa
  3. Jeep – Groundhog Day

The most disliked ad of the game goes to Olay – Make 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.

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Introducing the 2020 SMU NSAC Adobe Team

By Kaleb Mulugeta

SMU’s Temerlin Advertising Institute is home to three undergraduate advertising tracks specializing in their respective disciplines: Creative, Digital Media Strategy and Strategic Brand Management. Mimicking an advertising agency setting, NSAC unites the three tracks to collaborate on a multi-media marketing plan while providing national exposure for students to land internships and full-time opportunities. Hillery Lemon ’19 recounts her time on last year’s winning team as “A really valuable experience. Especially as a creative student, because I got to work with the other advertising specializations and see what it really takes to put a campaign together. It’s so satisfying seeing your work do well!”

The National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is the premier collegiate competition founded by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Led by Professor Amber Benson, each team is asked to devise a completely integrated campaign and pitches their work to savvy advertising professionals which are judged at the district, semi-final, and national levels. Prior NSAC clients include Ocean Spray, Snapple, Nissan, Coca-Cola, State Farm (and more). This year it’s Adobe. Yes, that Adobe.

Collaboration, presentation, and strategic planning are invaluable skills for students preparing to enter the ad industry. The SMU Ad Team exists to nurture these skills and give students a chance to present their work to a real client and a panel of industry experts. And we’ve been pretty successful. Last year, SMU won 1st place at the NSAC District 10 Competition and was a national finalist with an insightful advertising campaign for Wienerschnitzel.

The SMU 2020 Ad Team: Professor Amber Benson, Kathryn Chavez, Sarah Jane Eckelkamp, Jackson Ferris, Avery Fuller-Monk, Sebastian Gutierrez, Caillie Horner, Sarah Katsikas, Meryn Kennedy, Lauren Kobayashi, Erin McCraw, Abhinav Nadella, Ankita Padarthy, Riley Preston, Susan Slaton, Lizzie Venditti, and Whitney Wilkerson.


How do I join?

Temerlin’s highest-performing students need to apply to compete on the NSAC stage. Applications open each fall, keep an eye on your email. Pony Up Team Adobe!

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INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: An Inside Opportunity Most Industry Insiders Would Love.

SMU Advertising students spent their winter vacation exploring the Dallas Advertising Industry.

A special topics course led by Professor Peter Noble delved into current media, advertising agency structure, and agency work culture for six hours per day for eight days as part of SMU’s January Term. A group of select undergraduate and graduate students visited Dallas ad agencies including TracyLocke and The Richards Group to get a backstage tour of the agencies, network and get the insiders’ perspectives from presentations given by agency professionals themselves.

Many students participate in for-credit internships through the Temerlin Advertising Institute Internship Program. “Students are able to find their own internships, but many agencies actively seek out our students as they are ready to contribute from day one,” relayed Professor Noble.

Graduate student Munir Abdurahman describes the power of small courses at Temerlin: “The experience I had at Commerce House is something I’ll always remember about this course. After we toured the agency I spent some time talking to the person that gave us the tour. I asked her some questions about what her experience was like during her graduate career at SMU. Lauren mentioned that it was a wonderful experience and that she wouldn’t be where she is today without being in the program. She also mentioned that I should always network and be involved in the program as opportunities can come out of nowhere!”

SMU Advertising students have recently interned at:

Employers interested in hiring our students, please see the following information about the internship program.

 

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AWARDS: 2019 SMU Advertising Awards Luncheon Winners

The annual TAI Student Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 26 was a huge success! We always enjoy honoring our distinguished students for their dedication and accomplishments in the industry. Continue reading to view the award recipients.

President
Dalya Romaner

Vice President
Alissa Llort

Treasurer
Anna Grace Godoy

Events
Hunter Jackson

Outreach
Allie Hartman

 

 

 

Equestrian
Mary Elizabeth Cordia
Sherese Rivait

Volleyball
Meryn Kennedy

 

 

 

SILVER Medal* // Art Direction & Copy
COSTCO / “Prepared for anything.”
Gaelle Gachelin, AD/CW
Anna Rose Corell, AD/CW

HomeAdvisor / “Bridging the gap between you and home repair.”
Anna Rose Corell, AD/CW

Anger Room / “Lose your Cool. Keep your security deposit.”
Megan Cruikshank, AD
Graceley Todd, CW

Instacart / “Groceries delivered fast.”
Isaac Cordova, AD/CW

Sun Bum Sunscreen / “Get out there.”
Ellie Pace, AD/CW
Charlie O’Brien, AD/CW

BIC / “Light your way.”
Abby Coon, AD/CW
Madi Castellano, AD/CW

 

National Student Show
Dyala Ashfour
Allie Hartman

Young Ones Art Directors Club
Dyala Ashfour
Allie Hartman
Brie Bernstein

 

Dallas ADDY Award Winners
Dyala Ashfour
Brie Bernstein
Abby Coon
Megan Cruikshank
Kell Klopp

District 10 ADDY Award Winners:
Megan Cruikshank
Kell Klopp

 

 

 

This Honor Society at SMU recognizes academic excellence and promotes scholarship in journalism and mass communication. Membership must be earned by excellence in academic work and is awarded to the top 10% of seniors graduating with degrees in communication disciplines.

Undergraduate
Ellie King
Avery Lewis
Dalya Romaner
Alegra Volpe

Graduate
Cat Scholl

 

AAF Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP)
Kayla Griffis

Dallas Area Alliance for Women in Media Foundation Scholarship
Kayla Griffis

Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Student Internship
Kayla Griffis

Washington Media Scholars Foundation Scholarship
Kayla Griffis

Most Promising Multicultural Student (MPMS)
Gabby Grubb
Alissa Llort

Dallas Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association (DFWIMA) Scholarship
Lizzie Venditti

Advertising Education Foundation (AEFH) of Houston iHeart Media Scholarship
Kaleb Mulugeta

AAF Tenth District awarded a Scholarship
Brenda Rivera Franco

Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Student Internship
Kayla Griffis
Cassidy Najarian

Institute Graduate Scholars
Pepper Barker
Joel Garza
Alex Gurasich
Reilly Horsak
Hammond Lake
Cat Scholl

Morris Hite Memorial Scholarship
Hannah Belsinger
Allie Hartman
Isaac Cordova

Roger and Rosemary Enrico Scholarship
Emma Doyle
Katherine Menchaca
Kaleb Mulugeta
Andrew White

TAI Donald John Carty Leadership Award
Dalya Romaner

 

 

 

TAI Anchor Award
Gabby Grubb 

TAI Optimizer Award
Maddy Paul

TAI Social Impact Award
Hillery Lemon

TAI Resilience Award
Allie Hartman

TAI Service Award
Alex Gurasich

 TAI Team Player Award
Wyatt Welch

Face of TAI Award
Kayla Griffis

Graduate Reader
Cat Scholl

Undergraduate Reader
Dalya Romaner

Marshal
Avery Lewis

SMU Advertising Outstanding Senior In Strategic Brand Management
Dalya Romaner

SMU Advertising Outstanding Senior In Creative
Avery Lewis

SMU Advertising Outstanding Senior In Digital Media Strategy
Hannah Tymochko

TAI Outstanding Graduate Student
Cat Scholl

 

2018 Scholar of the Year
Carrie La Ferle

Service Exemplar
Mark Allen
Sandi Edgar

Student Support Super Star
Amber Benson

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: TAI Student Kayla Griffis Speaks About Her Academic Experiences and Achievements

I am a junior majoring in Advertising with a specialization in Digital Media Strategy with minors in Graphic Design and Spanish. I’m also participating in the 4+1 SMU Advertising program that allows me to take undergraduate and graduate classes simultaneously in order to obtain bachelor’s and master’s advertising degrees in five years. During the 2018-2019 academic year, I received the following honors:

  • 2019 Dallas Area Alliance for Women in Media Irene Runnels-Paula McStay College Scholarship
  • 2019 Washington Media Scholars Foundation Media Fellows Scholarship
  • SMU Pi Beta Phi Foundation Scholarship
  • SMU Decima Chapter of Mortar Board National Honors Society
  • Finalist for 2019 AAF Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Internship
  • Finalist for 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Internship Program

I applied for these scholarships, internships, and honors societies at the end of the fall semester and was extremely nervous during the application processes because of the programs’ prestige and competitiveness. Managing deadlines, requesting letters of recommendation from professors and mentors, staying on top of daily homework assignments, and studying for tests was no easy feat. Nevertheless, I was determined to submit my applications, in case I wasn’t accepted as a junior, to refine my skills and experiences before becoming a senior.

When I was first notified that I received the 2019 Washington Media Scholars Foundation Media Fellows Scholarship, I was shocked! I couldn’t believe it until I spoke with a representative of the foundation who told me that my application was impressive and well-received. And while this was surprising, receiving two other scholarships–the 2019 Dallas Area Alliance for Women in Media Irene Runnels-Paula McStay College Scholarship and Pi Beta Phi Foundation at SMU Scholarship–was even more overwhelming. Additionally, qualifying for the 2019 AAF Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Internship and the 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Internship Program were both amazing opportunities, though I ultimately decided to participate in the 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Internship Program because of its focus to promote inclusion and diversity in the advertising industry. I am very passionate about this. My induction into the SMU Decima Chapter of Mortar Board National Honors Society is a privilege in itself and I am grateful to be a part of this organization that recognizes leadership, community service, and scholarship among students. As a 2019 MAIP Fellow, I will work at Digitas in Boston as a Media Buying and Planning intern this upcoming summer and am extremely excited.

SMU Advertising has provided me with amazing opportunities to network with professionals and connect with my peers as we prepare for future careers in the advertising industry. I hope to help foster a world where minorities are celebrated and accurately represented. I believe that I will make a difference in the industry, as a voice for minorities, and receiving these honors is just the beginning.

Kayla Griffis

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: TAI Student Rani Vestal Shares about the Graphic Design Minor

Did you know that you can minor in graphic design at SMU? SMU Advertising offers this minor to provide students with a basic understanding and development of skills necessary for design across all media.

I’m currently a junior and always knew that I wanted a creative career – I just didn’t know what it could be. So when I declared my English major in Dedman College as a sophomore, due to my love of writing and literature, I also considered minoring in other disciplines to figure out what I wanted to do in the real world. When I searched through the latest course catalog, I was most intrigued by the Typography class because I love art and fonts. However, I couldn’t take it because I needed to 1) declare the graphic design minor and 2) take three prerequisite classes. With limited Photoshop and Illustrator experience, I met with Cheryl, declared the minor and enrolled in Creative Production. My minors now include history, Spanish, and graphic design. They surprisingly fuse together nicely.

The graphic design minor is unique because it unites students from a variety of majors including the three advertising tracks, studio art and English. We all have different creative interests from 90s album covers to pop art which manifest in our work. I love the classes when we collectively critique design roughs because my peers’ feedback is always valuable and respectful – this ultimately pushes me to better my deigns. I also find it fascinating that we can be given the same project guidelines and produce utterly different, yet equally compelling, work. After taking the same courses these last few years, we’ve really bonded and come to understand each other’s styles in a small graphic design “cohort.” 

I’ve almost completed the fourth and final prerequisite of the minor, and am eager to begin taking elective courses. However, the prerequisites were valuable and here’s why:

  • Creative Production (ADV 1360)
    This class taught me essential keyboard shortcuts in the Adobe Creative Suite which immediately expedited my design process. Having previously learned the programs by myself, these tricks were seriously ground-breaking and make me feel like a design wizard. 
  • Word and Image, Art and Design: 1900-Present (ADV 2323)
    This was also right up my alley because it merges two of my favorite subjects: history and graphic design. I still reference the textbook from this class for inspiration because it streamlines historic design samples from cave art in Lascaux, France to postmodern Pee-wee Herman (my latest rediscovery is Lester Beall).
  • Introduction to Graphic Design (ADV 3323)
    I really enjoyed this course because I finally began integrating my knowledge of software and design into class projects. Seeing my personal work in print for the first time, instead of work for a client, was electrifying. I enjoyed learning color theory and creating packaging design for a Monster 826 coffee company.
  • Typography (3361)
    The course I’ve been waiting for! We hit the ground running this semester and dove into typeface classification, calligraphy and more. So far, I’ve prototyped a bitmap typeface and created album art for an angry Aztec band (Spanish + graphic design unite!). By this point, we’re all sort of “type geeks” and I love that we can identify and criticize typefaces together.

Despite my liberal arts major, the minor has helped me land a few advertising internships. Working at SLANT Partners in Downtown Dallas refined my professional skills because I learned how to gracefully correspond with clients. And the skills I developed through the graphic design classes also allowed me to work on real client projects including the brand development of a local philanthropic bakery. I now intern for the Temerlin Advertising Institute which has helped me meet more SMU Advertising faculty and learn about local networking opportunities. Because of this, I feel more connected to the school and industry alike.

If you’re considering the minor or are already enrolled in related courses, I encourage you to explore personal creative projects just for fun. The time you spend ‘playing’ is when you can really discover and develop your unique creative style. I spend much of my free time developing websites and animating graphics because those opportunities interest me but have not yet presented themselves in my courses. I also believe that I’m happier and more confident in my design skills through personal creative outlets because there’s no client or GPA pressure.

I’m excited to launch my creative career as a graphic designer after I graduate which would not be possible without the knowledge and experience I’ve acquired through the graphic design classes. I hope to work for a creative agency that specializes in digital, branding and packaging design. I’ve also considered freelancing before I eventually open up my own coffee shop… stay tuned.

Click here to learn more about the graphic design minor and course offerings.

Graphic Panel of CD Insert
Branding for Personal Podcast
Magazine Layout for Boaz Commons
Physical Representation of Bitmap Typeface

 

Rani Vestal