Attendees in the Martha Mack Proctor Ballroom at SMU.
Wednesday, September 21, Temerlin Advertising Institute, joined with AAF Dallas and 4A’s, hosted an event called “Broccoli for Breakfast.” The event offered breakfast to all attendees and a guest speaker Clark Rector, EVP Government Affairs for AAF, and his lecture “A Targeted Industry in an Unpredictable Political Environment.”
Speaker Clark Rector at the podium.
As the EVP Government Affairs for AAF, Rector is in charge of the grassroots lobbying efforts of the AAF and its’ members. They have been successful in defeating ad tax proposals and other threats to the advertising industry in Congress.
Many industry professionals, including various TAI professors, made their way to the SMU campus to hear Rector speak about the effects of politics on the advertising industry and what the advertising community can do to get involved.
“I really enjoyed Clark’s speech about the role of advertising in our local and national economy,” TAI Professor Eunjin (Anna) Kim said. “As he said, people think [about] advertising negatively, such as advertising promotes materialism, ignores fundamental needs but creates unnecessary desires, and deceives consumers. It’s not easy for us to think about positive side of advertising, even for me. As an advertising faculty, I can say, ‘well advertising provides information, educates consumers, and even sometimes is entertaining.’ But that’s all that I can think of. I haven’t really thought about the economic role of advertising. It creates millions of jobs and boosts sales, representing 15% of the total economic output in the State. Advertising indeed pays a vital role in our society, just like the event name, ‘Broccoli for Breakfast’!”
Attendees in the Martha Mack Proctor Ballroom at SMU.
TAI is passionate about staying informed on all current topics in the advertising industry, hosting guest speakers periodically throughout the year.
Rarely do students get the chance to work everyday on the set of one of their favorite television shows. But this summer TAI Creative Advertising student Jackson Foley had that opportunity. Foley worked as a Production Intern at “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Like many other internships, Foley applied for this position online, through the CBS intern portal. Once he was chosen as a possible candidate for the job, he flew up to New York twice to interview.
“I learned in the process when applying for any job in creative production,” Foley said, “you will always be told when [and] if you got the job on the very last possible day they can tell you. In my case, that was the beginning of May, which gave me two weeks to find a place to live and move everything up there.”
Foley on the set of “The Late Show”
A typical day on the job, if there really was one, involved arriving at the studio at 9am to coordinate with productions managers on the schedule for the day and prepare all the necessary papers and memos for the morning product meeting. After the meeting, Foley would work as a talent assistant or help with a digital shoot for the cold-open until 2pm. Then he would coordinate the progress of the script and print a finalized version for the rehearsal, along with a shot list. He would then run the shot lists to each camera and production staff, and deliver scripts to Stephen Colbert and the executive producers. At 3pm, he would watch rehearsal and then work on production tasks until 4pm, when he would run scripts again—now with the live audience in the theater. Foley would watch the show to make sure nothing in the script was incorrect or troublesome, and then work on digital shoots until 9pm.
“I worked predominately with the production side of the show, so stage managers, production coordinators, show runners and producers,” Foley said. “[Essentially] if the writers are the brain of a TV show, the script manager/runner is the nervous system that delivers the messages to each person that works on the show. Each day I mainly worked as a script manager or digital production assistant.”
Aside from running the scripts every day, Foley had a few more personal interactions with Stephen Colbert throughout the internship.
Foley standing in for a sketch on the show.
“I was a stand in for a sketch between Stephen and Bryan Cranston, where they acted like villains from a 1920s movie,” Foley said, “and got to speak with him briefly while the set was being finalized. At the end of the internship, he held a ‘seminar’ in a small room for around an hour where we could ask him anything we wanted to know, and he was honestly one of the smartest yet nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege to talk to.”
Foley’s favorite memories from his internship include special live shows “The Late Show” did during both political conventions this summer. Through this internship he realized something very important about his future career aspirations.
“Getting to see how each night came together was extremely satisfying,” Foley said. “From getting to see the writers bring in an actor look-alike for Melania Trump for the Republican Convention, to meeting and talking with John Stewart during the Democratic Convention. Working with ‘The Late [Show]’ really helped me discover my love for working at a place where each day is something entirely different from the day before, as well as how much I want to work in an industry that makes content people can laugh at and ultimately connect with.”
Foley attributes a lot of his internship success to skills he learned in his Advertising courses.
“Understanding how media buying and partnerships work was an incredibly helpful skill for helping set up a partnership between the show and Giphy,” Foley said. “Also, knowing how to layout information in an easy-to-understand [and] aesthetically pleasing way helped me get noticed while making posters/documents internally for the show, which led to a couple of conversations that got me more important [and] interesting jobs.”
Foley also learned some incredibly important lessons that serve as good advice to anyone working in a new position.
Foley with his fellow interns at “The Late Show”
“In all honesty, what I learned the most from the internship is to always be up for ‘boring’ or ‘uninteresting’ jobs,” Foley said. “I was one of fourteen interns, half of which went to Ivy League schools, the other half being those with actual production experience, and the best way I became noticed was by doing the tasks that most didn’t clamor to have. Through that, I was given more and more jobs with increased importance, like costume runs or script deliveries, and eventually served as an interim writer’s assistant during the Live Shows. To make it short: Want to be noticed in a pool of talented [and] interesting people? Be proactive, even when you don’t have to be.”
On Monday, September 12, first-year TAI Creative Advertising students in Professor Mark Allen’s Concepting class were given an opportunity that many students will never get – to show their work to multiple industry professionals and get feedback from people who are currently working in the field.
Professor Allen calls it “Speed-Dating Critique.” Each professional is stationed at a separate table to speak one-on-one with the students, who will each have a stack of 50-60 concept sketches loosely organized by similar concepts and themes. Students spend roughly ten minutes with at least three to four different professionals throughout the class period, receiving feedback on which of their ideas are most promising.
Professor Allen’s Concepting class during “Speed-Dating Critique.”
“I do this event twice every semester,” Professor Allen said. “But this time the response from the local advertising community has been overwhelming—we typically have 4-5 professionals volunteer to review work, but this time I [had] 14-16!”
Some of the professionals who participated in the critique include: Steve Grimes, Creative Director (CD) at The Richards Group; Shelby Tamura, Art Director (AD) at The Richards Group; Dr. Ben Wyeth, Copywriter at The Richards Group and SMU Adjunct Professor; Randall Kenworthy, Freelance Copywriter; Greg Hunter, Group Creative Director (GCD) and Principal at Firehouse; Julie Bowman, Senior CD at Slingshot; Jose Benitez, Senior Copywriter at Dieste; Arturo Lee, AD at Dieste; Jason Shipp, GCD at Moroch and SMU Adjunct Professor; Matt Villanueva, Associate Creative Director at Moroch; and Matt Lindner, Copywriter at Moroch.
“I gained some priceless advice after talking with industry professionals during Concepting,” sophomore TAI student Jolie Guz said. “I still cannot believe that in my third week in the Creative program, we were able to put our work in front of art directors and copywriters from The Richards Group, Moroch and more. I am looking forward to being able to meet more and more Dallas area creatives during my time in Temerlin!”
Several of these advertising professionals are alums of TAI, having attended SMU for their undergraduate and/or graduate degrees. Having successful professionals visit an undergraduate class to provide input on student work is an incredible experience. However, having successful professionals who were once in your exact same position (in the same program at the same school) is an invaluable experience, providing students with even more motivation and confidence to be successful in their careers after graduation.
The Temerlin Advertising Institute offers students the opportunity to earn a BA in Advertising while specializing their knowledge in one of three key industry areas: Creative, Digital Media Strategy, and Strategic Brand Management. The major is designed to provide students with the optimal blend of theory and practice. Learn more about the major and specializations here.
Jordan Kretchmer (’06) Photo Credit: Branding Magazine
In July of 2009, TAI Alum Jordan Kretchmer (’06) founded Livefyre, a content marketing and engagement platform. In the past seven years Livefyre has grown tremendously, acquiring customers like CNN, Coca-Cola, Major League Baseball, and Cisco. Due to their growing success, Livefyre caught the eye of Adobe, who has since acquired and integrated it into their Adobe Experience Manager.
In his time at SMU, Kretchmer was a member of Praxis, SMU’s award-winning Ad Team, for two consecutive years. He served as Vice President and Creative Director and was a presenter for the Visit Florida campaign, which won the 2004 National Championship in the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition.
Kretchmer had a successful career in advertising before founding his company. He worked as an Art Director at Tribal DDB, VP Associate Creative Director at Mullen, Associate Creative Director at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, and Vice President Brand at Current TV. He is also currently on the Board of Directors at Mashable and is a Venture Partner at Draft Ventures and will continue his work as CEO of Livefyre, while also working with Adobe.
After being acquired by Adobe in May, Livefyre became a product available within the Adobe Experience Manager, as well as remaining a stand-alone service outside of Adobe. According to Adobe, “[Livefyre is] an all-new capability of Adobe Experience Manager that lets you tap into everything shared on the web to create a constant flow of fresh and high-quality content on your own sites.”
Photo Credit: Ken Yeung/VentureBeat
The purpose of Livefyre is to allow companies access to user-created content in one aggregated location. Originally Livefyre was created as a commenting platform, where companies can gather all the comments being posted online about their product, service or event, in one place. Many of the major news sources, including Fox News and CNN, use this aspect of Livefyre to display comments during live events, like political debates.
In an interview with Branding magazine, Kretchmer explained “when you integrate user-generated content with professionally-created content you get to tell your story alongside all of your best fans.” Livefyre was created to be this solution for brands, and now the company that Kretchmer created from scratch seven years ago is providing that solution to some of the biggest brand names on one of the biggest platforms available, Adobe.
What better way to start off the 2015-2016 academic year than with new and old advertising students, faculty and staff, as well as a great venue and food!
Monday, August 31st, TAI and SMU’s Ad Club hosted a kickoff party at Ozona Grill& Bar. Good food, good friends and good conversations. The pictures capture the fun. Here’s to a successful and productive school year for everyone.
On June 18th, I had the incredibly opportunity to participate in the 10th Annual Home Team Build here at The Richards Group. As a recent graduate of the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU, I was excited about joining the working world, but was nervous about that whole “work/life balance” everyone kept talking about. Community service has been an ongoing theme and hobby in my life, and I wasn’t sure where that would fit into a busy, new schedule. But when I joined The Home Depot account at TRG, I was thrilled to learn that I was joining a team of people who were equally passionate about giving back.
Years ago, The Home Depot committed to an annual day of service to help those in need. In response, the team of people working on The Home Depot account here at The Richards Group decided to make the same commitment. For ten years, the Home Team has raised money and fixed up the homes of local Dallas families in need of a helping hand. And this year, we took on two houses, instead of one.
I pulled up to work at 6:00 in the morning, and was greeted by my surprisingly enthusiastic-for-it-being-so-early coworkers. We got on the bus and headed to work. We ripped up carpets. We chipped off old paint. We installed brand new appliances. We got dirty, sunburnt, and wow are we sore. But none of that mattered when the homeowners walked through the door at the end of the day, because we realized the difference that our work had made.
My education at TAI showed me that this is an industry where there are unlimited opportunities to give back, you just have to have the courage to take them. And boy, am I glad I did.
About the Author
Erin Hedrick is a 2015 MA in Advertising graduate from the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU, with a BA in Film & Media Arts. She currently works as a Brand Manager for The Home Depot account at The Richards Group.
A group of 4th, 5th and 6th graders were visiting SMU from the Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet school to learn about Communication related studies on Thursday February 27, 2014. Faculty members from The Temerlin Advertising Institute prepared a 45 minute interactive presentation to teach these future leaders about the industry of advertising, branding and what factors need to be considered to make effective advertisements.
Specifically, Professor Sid Muralidharan gave an overview of the advertising industry, definitions of what advertising does and the key players in the industry.
Professor Willie Baronet spoke about what advertising agencies do and the creative process. He provided the crowd with some memorable ads illustrating the importance of making a connection with consumers.
Speaking about what goes into making a ‘good’ ad, Professor Carrie La Ferle discussed the importance of considering target audience and media selection as well as desired associations between the brand and images presented in the advertisement. She also discussed how ads can do more than sell products; they can be used to voice a positive social message as well.
Dr. Edwards ended the session with a Q&A that kept the panel on their toes as well as preaching the TAI slogan of Better Advertising. Better World.
Upon leaving, the faculty members got to engage in a group photo while conveying to these bright students how much they were looking forward to seeing them in 7 years at SMU for their college experience.
TAI Faculty with Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet Students
Meadows School of the Arts at the SMU Homecoming Parade
Willie Baronet
Saturday October 26, 2013 found TAI Faculty, Students and Staff hitting the SMU Boulevard to join in the SMU Homecoming Parade and events.
Everyone showed up for the fun and to walk in the parade along with other colleagues and students from the Meadows School of the Arts (MSA).
Dean Bowen of MSA played the keyboard and Will Power jammed in with some rap on the mic.
Dean Bowen with Will Power
Dr. Steve Edwards, Director of the Temerlin Advertising Institute and colleague Dr. Alice Kendrick had some laughs throwing the football with kids at the party.
TAI MA in Advertising students also participated in the fun and luncheon along with Professor Haayen and her family.
Willie Baronet, TAI’s Executive in Residence and creative guru, showed his kid at heart spirit with full on Meadows garb and wig. Peace out!
As a final project for the Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship class, three teams of TAI graduate students, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Sidharth Muralidharan, had to create a sound and cost effective advertising campaign proposal for The Book Doctor with the primary emphasis on brand awareness through social responsibility.
The Book Doctoris a local Dallas business located in the Bishop Arts District and for fifteen years have provided custom bookbinding, book restoration, and book and bible repair services to customers nationwide. Their work has been featured in local Dallas publications and more recently in TheNew York Times.
Candice McKay, owner of The Book Doctor, and her team judged the presentations and the team of Chrystalla Georghiou, Hanna Lewin, and Jessica Miller, or ‘GLM’ were selected as the winner. After discussing with the client, Dr. Sid reports that, “GLM really listened to what the client had to say and their proposed strategy and creative appealed to The Book Doctor. The client could also foresee it resonating with their key demographics.” Mckay was very impressed and pleased with GLM’s proposal but adds that each team’s proposals had their own set of unique ideas which they are excited to implement in the near future.
For more information about The Book Doctor, visit www.thebookdr.com
Teams and The Book Doctor StaffChrystalla Georghiou, Hanna Lewin, and Jessica Miller with The Book Doctor Staff
Quyen Tong, a sophomore advertising major, has been selected as a recipient of this semester’s O. Joe Russell scholarship. The scholarship is sponsored by the AAF (American Advertising Federation) Tenth District, which encompasses Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The scholarship winners were awarded at the Tenth District Annual Convention in Tulsa during the Student Reception, April 11, 2013. Quyen will receive $2500 towards her tuition next year.
AAF-District 10 endorses two $2,500 scholarships which are designed to recognize, promote and encourage academically talented students in advertising-related disciplines, helping them to complete their education. Quyen was one of only two students selected to receive this award, competing against applicants from four states and other stellar advertising programs. TAI is thrilled to have Quyen’s talents recognized with this prestigious scholarship.
Quyen Tong with Dr. Carrie La Ferle, Director of Graduate Studies & Professor, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor
