Charlie Malekan and Claudia Iraheta from The Richards Group guest lectured in Gordon Law’s 3303 Advertising Media class on Thursday, January 23rd. In addition to sharing information about TRG with the students, they also shared their annual Media Trends presentation, summarized below.
Interview by Professor Mark Allen
Ask any advertising student (or professional) to name who’s on their career bucket list and most likely you’ll find Apple near the top. In the same league as brands like Nike, Volkswagen and Coke, the creative heavyweight from Cupertino consistently pumps out ads that are just as revolutionary as their products.
This September, Apple released its much-anticipated iPhone 11 Pro with a seriously beefed-up camera. To show off the device’s impressive new video capabilities, Apple asked TAI alumnus, Diego Contreras (’08), to create a short film for the official worldwide launch at the most recent Apple Keynote. With an iPhone 11 Pro and an extraordinary amount of talent, this is what he produced:
The new iPhone camera is incredible, no doubt. But one thing is even clearer to me: I still don’t expect my videos to look anywhere near this good—that is, unless Diego Contreras happens to be holding my iPhone.
I’ve kept up with Diego and his career ever since he was an art direction student of mine back in 2006–08. In addition to being a unique creative talent, he’s one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet. Whether it’s dinner when we find ourselves in the same city or giving advice to my advertising students via Skype, he always makes time in his busy schedule to catch up and give back.
One of my fondest memories of Diego was how he always found a way to have fun while working so hard. When he returned to our program as a senior, I asked him to lead our Fall Startup Meeting—our annual gathering of creative students after returning from summer break. Diego kicked off the event with a crazy video he shot and edited of him and a few other creative students wreaking havoc at a local grocery store on motorized carts. He even hosted a goofy awards show, featuring trophies that he made himself. He gave me the Vidal Sassoon Best Hair Award, made from an empty bottle of shampoo that he spray-painted gold. It was very much like Diego’s own version of The Dundie Awards. The point here is that Diego spent a ton of time creating a bunch of completely unnecessary content and made-up awards in order to foster a culture of fun and creativity around hard work. More than 10 years later, I still see the effects of Diego’s contribution to the culture of fun, hard work and camaraderie in our program.
Since graduating from SMU, Diego has worked for a truly impressive list of agencies. He started out as art director at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Boulder, then went to Anomaly in New York. He became an associate creative director at BBDO and then launched out on his own as a film and commercial director, currently working with Reset Content in LA. In light of his momentous project for Apple, I caught up with Diego and hit him with a barrage of questions:
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.
Temerlin Advertising Institute faculty are studying ways to encourage bystander action when they encounter victims of domestic violence. 
According to the CDC, “About 1 in 4 women and nearly 1 in 10 men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.”
According to the research, bystander intervention is one way to help minimize occurrences of domestic violence. However, bystanders tend to be apathetic toward the victims they happen to encounter or observe.
In the research published in the Journal of Advertising, Dr. Carrie La Ferle and Dr. Sidharth Muralidharan examined the role of guilt and shame on attitude toward the ad and reporting intention of bystanders in India. While the effectiveness of negative emotions has been thoroughly researched in the West, conceptualizing guilt and shame from an Eastern perspective and using fluency in processing theory revealed that ads featuring emotional appeals strengthened reporting intention more than control ads did.
Professor Muralidharan explained that this action occurs through self-construals which impact the ways that the different emotions elicited are processed. Self-construal refers to the grounds of self-definition, and the extent to which the self is defined independently of others or interdependently with others and is thought to vary between Westerners and East Asians.
With respect to the findings, Dr. Muralidharan thought that it was interesting that shame was more effective than ads with guilt and the control. However, what was more intriguing was that ads with negative emotions (and lack of) were equally effective among those with an independent self-construal. Basically, such ad appeals were not as important as the duty to help a victim in need. A probable answer lies in research that touches on the characteristics of the independent self-construal (being assertive, autonomous, and possessing a stronger sense of equality), which could explain these gaps in future studies.
According to Dr. La Ferle, “We hope that this research will allow for more impactful public service announcements in India and further prosocial causes by encouraging people to take action in response to perceived needs.” This is one way SMU Advertising research is helping to create better advertising which leads to a better world.
For more information see:
Dr. Carrie La Ferle, Dr. Sid Muralidharan & Dr. Anna Kim “Using Guilt and Shame Appeals from an Eastern Perspective to Promote Bystander Intervention: A Study of Mitigating Domestic Violence in India” Journal of Advertising, 2019.
Temerlin faculty members were recently asked what they want from Creative Santa for the holidays. Check out their hilarious responses below!
Kaleb Mulugeta
“I literally look homeless right now.”
Words overheard from a classmate in my 9:30 am Logo Design class.
Her outfit: a pair of sweatpants and a loose-fitting t-shirt.
The word “homeless” carries such a heavy stigma, and that weight falls on the shoulders of those who have been there.
Creative Advertising professor, Willie Baronet, has been buying and collecting homeless signs for a project titled WE ARE ALL HOMELESS which he created in 1993. To me, this project acts as a gesture to humanize the people who have unwillingly been made invisible. While interacting with a homeless person on a street corner, I’m certain I’m not the only one who fiddles with my A/C, pretends to see something important on my phone, or just looks the other way. The people who find themselves in such adverse circumstances are completely ignored. Reduced to nothing but sharpies on cardboard.
On a chilly November morning, Willie Baronet brought Home is a Journey to SMU. The first annual walk to raise awareness about homelessness, compassion, gratitude and privilege. Students and supporters marched from Doak Walker Plaza to Dallas Hall Lawn, carrying authentic homeless signs, created and held by someone experiencing homelessness. A lineup of compelling speakers shared their stories about experiencing homelessness, an eye-opening and humbling experience for everyone in attendance.
Baronet recounts the event, “The most poignant moment of the whole march was when we turned right on the boulevard. I looked back and saw a line of 120 people, nobody smiling, nobody talking, all carrying signs…the gravity of that image was so powerful.”
This week, the majority of SMU’s student body will go home for the holidays.
Which prompts the question: What is home?
Is it a group of people? A familiar location? A feeling?
Whatever home means to you, this project intends to shift your perspective, remove the stigma around homelessness and create a sense of gratitude for what you do have.
http://www.weareallhomeless.org/
Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/SMUMeadows/posts/10156661120142963
Kaleb Mulugeta
Dr. Sid Muralidharan co-authored “Can Empathy Offset LowBystander Efficacy? Effectiveness of Domestic Violence Prevention Narratives in India.” (Journal of Health Communication, 2019)
Abstract: 
Domestic violence stems from deeply rooted patriarchal norms and directly conflicts with humanitarian standards. Given that this issue impacts women across the world, many countries have initiated campaigns to heighten awareness and fight this epidemic. Based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), we explored whether narrative health messages might prompt bystanders to intervene (e.g., calling a helpline number) when they encounter domestic violence. Using a sample of participants from India, we found that narratives had a stronger impact on attitude toward the ad and reporting intention than non-narratives and such effects were mediated by feelings of empathy. More importantly, the mediating effects of empathy were significantly greater when bystander efficacy was low rather than high.
Click for the full publication: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10410236.2019.1623645
Dr. Sid Muralidharan recently co-authored “What triggers young Millennials to purchase eco-friendly products?: the interrelationships among knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concern.” (Journal of Marketing Communications, Volume 25, 2019, Issue 4)
Abstract:
As the attention to environmental sustainability heightens, marketers increasingly claim that their products help preserve the environment. Without proper understanding of how emerging target markets, such as young Millennials, are triggered to purchase green claims, their efforts may be futile. Accordingly, the current study examined the interrelationships among major environmental antecedents, such as environmental knowledge (EK), perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), and environmental concern (EC) on environmentally conscious consumer behaviour (ECCB). The results of an online survey with younger Millennials revealed that EK and EC were significant predictors of ECCB, with EC being the stronger predictor. Unlike past literature, PCE was not directly related to ECCB. The study also found a strong mediating role of EC between EK and ECCB, as well as PCE and ECCB. Implications for green marketers are discussed, along with theoretical discussion.
Click for the full publication: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13527266.2017.1303623
Abstract:
The persuasiveness and popularity of narratives in commercial advertising has gained much attention but its application in inculcating responsible behaviour is severely limited. Domestic violence against women is a global issue and there is a dire need for effective bystander intervention campaigns. This two-part study delves into how narratives could be employed to elicit favourable ad attitudes and encourage bystanders to report instances of domestic abuse in their neighbourhood. Study 1 focused on testing the effectiveness of narratives in two culturally diverse countries – India and the United States. In general, findings showed that narratives (vs. non-narratives) were more persuasive in both countries. As the next step, using culture (interdependence vs. independence) and social distance (parents vs. neighbours), Study 2 found narratives with a socially proximal entity (parents) to be more persuasive in India while no differences between countries were observed for the socially distant entity (neighbours). Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
Click here to read the full article on LinkedIn.
Temerlin faculty members were recently asked what they want from Creative Santa for the holidays. Their hilarious, distinctive, and thoughtful responses are below.
This year I would love a TAI faculty uniform so we all can present a united front to students and the community at large. Magnetic name tags aren’t getting it done! I was thinking about a nice SMU plaid with headgear in the form of a beanie. Please make mine with short sleeves so I can layer if necessary. Thank you!
Temerlin Love,
Dr. Alice Kendrick
Will you please get me this jacket to go with my cowboy shirts so Dr. Steve will quit telling me I’m not dressed up enough? Also, a pony.
Love,
Willie Baronet
On the high end I’d ask Creative Santa for an Apple iPad Pro – really no further explanation needed here. On the lower end, I’d love a copy of House Industries: The Process Is The Inspiration. I’m a big fan of House Industries, the creative process, and beautifully printed books so this is a perfect trifecta.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Mendenhall
I would like tickets to Cannes Lions WITH an invitation to the MediaLink party, CLX, AND a sit-down with Michael Kassan to discuss the future of the advertising industry.
Yours,
Dr. Steve Edwards
I would love to have a self-driving car. It frees my brain, eyes, and hands during my commute. It is also smart enough to be able to find its own parking spot on campus. I am happy just thinking about it. It is difficult to find the right Christmas stocking for it. But I am on it if you accept the challenge.
Best,
Dr. Yan Huang
As an eventful 2018 comes to an end and a new exciting year is about to begin, I would ask Santa to bring me a bottle of Simple Vodka. The adult beverage isn’t only for when I self-reflect as there is more to it than meets the eye. Why Simple Vodka? Well, there are two reasons. First, every bottle, Simple Vodka provides 20 meals to those in need in the US (e.g. 1 meal per drink). Since March 2017, the company has provided more than 400,000 meals through their local and national hunger relief beneficiaries and it hopes to eclipse 1 million meals by the end of 2018. Now, this is not an excuse to drink but to drink and usher in the new year responsibly. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love,
Dr. Sid Muralidharan
I would like to return to Kloster Wiblingen (1701) in Germany to conduct research on their collection of Renaissance Viennese pigments. This largely unknown collection of pigments, from the era of Michelangelo and da Vinci, would provide critical information to museum conservators when matching amalgamations to repair fine art and provide industry-based companies, like Pantone, with new formulations.
Sincerely,
Sandi Edgar
My mom doesn’t like buying me books for Christmas because she thinks it’s lame – but maybe Creative Santa feels differently? Regardless, I’m always on the lookout for new material for the graduate course I teach every Spring: Creativity, Art & Problem-Solving. For this reason, I would like Arthur C. Dante’s What Art Is. The cover of this title features the work of Andy Warhol who (in)famously blurred the lines between advertising and art.
Best,
Mark Allen
I would like a retreat to an island resort in Thailand with white sand, beaches, excellent service, activities, and food. At this location, I would focus my days on research and writing. Perhaps I would complete one of the many books I have wanted to write such as the impact of culture and how we see the world. I would also use the time and inspiring location to finish my online certificate related to ethics in advertising for industry professionals.
Sincerely,
Dr. Carrie La Ferle