Advertising major, Madison Staab recently graduated from Grady College and is currently living in Dallas, Texas.
What are your plans after graduation?
After graduating, I will be moving to Dallas, Texas to become a Corps Member in Teach For America. I will be teaching elementary school for the next two years in either inner-city Dallas or Ft. Worth. I feel incredibly proud to have been given this opportunity.
What are your long-term career goals?
On a long-term scale, I would like to work on the creative side of cause-related advertising or marketing. Whether this is promoting a non-profit organization or working within an agency that handles accounts of this nature, this would be an amazing opportunity. I am also particularly interested in advertising for art museums, specifically emphasizing the importance of creativity and art education. Basically, if I could find a way to combine advertising, art and education, that would be amazing.
What do you wish you had known when you entered Grady college that could have enhanced your experience there?
I wish I had more TIME! I have been involved with Ad Club, HSBT, Grady Ambassadors as well as negotiated my way into the Graphics and Portfolio classes and received the New Media Certificate—and I still wish I had done more! I hope that everyone can find a way to get involved as much as possible and I think it is important to make the most of every opportunity. My advice would be to utilize your advisors and develop relationships with your professors. It has made a world of difference in my Grady experience and their guidance and wisdom are not something I will soon forget.
Out of 67 applicants, ADPR doctoral student Justin Pettigrew was chosen as one of 15 graduate students to participate in the Future Faculty Program. Offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning in conjunction with the Graduate School, the year-long program provides participants with the community and resources to gain the skills, knowledge, and experience to excel in their graduate and post-graduate careers. It will also help facilitate the transition from being a graduate student to a faculty member in higher education. Justin qualified to be part of the FFP because of his distinction as the 2010 Outstanding Teaching Assistant award recipient in the Department of Advertising & Public Relations. Congratulations, Justin, on this amazing opportunity!
Congratulations to Grady PR alums Matt Scofield and Jonathan McGinty, two of Jackson Spalding's newest hires. Jackson Spalding is one of the largest independent public relations and marketing firms in the Southeast.
Scofield joins Jackson Spalding after serving as for five years as Senior Account Executive at Hope Beckham, an Atlanta-based PR agency. He will bring his knowledge and expertise to several Jackson Spalding accounts. Scofield graduated summa cum laude from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
After freelancing for the Jackson Spalding communications department in Athens, McGinty joins the team full-time. Previously, he worked for the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA as well as the Georgia Museum of Art. He also served as Assistant News Editor for the Athens Daily News & Banner Herald. At Jackson Spalding, McGinty will work on accounts such as UGA's College of Public Health, the Stadion Classic at UGA and several golf product lines.
To honor this occasion, Ed Bastian, President of Delta Airlines, and father of UGA advertising major Brittany Bastian, addressed the graduates with his keynote address, “Warning, Turbulence Ahead: Navigating the Changing Skies.” He emphasized to the gathering of students, parents and faculty that the speed of innovation and change is moving faster than ever before. He said that given these changes, the 2011 graduating class has the ability to play an active role in future change. Mr. Bastian also said that he believes the ability to impact one's chosen field is unprecedented.
A drawing was held to choose the "20,000th graduate." In addition to the honor, Delta Airlines awarded the student two first-class round trip tickets to anywhere in the world. Kristyn DeMaeyer, advertising major and Magna Cum Laude graduate, was chosen for the distinction (and tickets). Congratulations Kristyn.
Advertising major Kristyn DeMaeyer receives two first-class round trip
UGA advertising students will again be traveling to Chicago in October 2011 for an agency tour. You'll visit the offices of Leo Burnett Worldwide, DDB, Starcom, and Draft FCB just to name a few. The deadline has been extended to Friday, May 20. Please contact Jennifer Griffith (jenni11@uga.edu) for pricing, dates, and additional details.
Dr. Karen King, a Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at UGA, served as a judge in 2011, for the first Qually Awards sponsored by the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRAC). The QRCA Qually Award is a new, annual award that recognizes and promotes excellence in qualitative research.
Entries are judged on project design, scope and execution, along with the impact on the client’s business objectives. Submissions were accepted for qualitative research projects with a local, national or multinational scope in any field and judged by a panel of respected research industry veterans. Dr. King was the only academic who served on the panel.
QRAC is a global network of over 1,000 who help clients effectively use qualitative marketing research and successfully apply that research to product development and marketing.
This past semester, student teams in Dr. Lynne Sallot’s public relations capstone campaigns course created and executed PR campaigns for three pressing issues at UGA: Texting and driving, smoking on campaign, and alcohol education. The integrated plans were driven by extensive research. Dr. Sallot is a Meigs Professor in the Department of Advertising & Public Relations at the University of Georgia.
Stop inTXTication@UGA The first team of nine students focused on raising awareness regarding the dangers of texting and driving on the UGA campus. First, to gauge attitudes related to the issue, they conducted 17 focus groups in which 160 UGA students participated. The group also researched 37 peer and aspirational institutions and conducted face-to-face interviews with UGA and ACC Police and a College of Public Health professor who works on traffic safety issues.
Research revealed that although students are aware of the dangers of texting and driving, they continue to practice it. They also found that ads such as those produced by AT&T in which drivers’ last texts are shown were more effective than ads that are more graphic.
Based on this research, the team designed a logo and slogan- "Stop inTXTication@UGA. Save it for L8R. Don't text and drive." Also, an awareness campaign was created to be further developed and implemented by the fall PR campaigns class.
Breathe Easy UGA A second team concentrated on the issue of smoking on the UGA campus. They knew there had been discussion within the University and SGA of a change in the smoking policy. The team set out to discover student opinion regarding smoking on campus as well as a potential new policy presented to President Adams before the decision he would make on March 24th. The group conducted 17 focus groups of 160 UGA students, a survey of 400 students, reviewed 36 institutional research reports and interviews experts in the field.
They found a majority of students prefer a ban of some sort and that only 16% of students self-report that they smoke. Additionally, research showed most students felt they were affected by smoking on campus in some way, especially in the breezeway of the Miller Learning Center and at bus stops.
When President Adams announced the new policy that people are no longer allowed to smoke within 35 feet of building entrances or windows, bus stops, breezeways or on the new Health Sciences Campus, the team wanted to promote this.
They created the Breathe Easy UGA campaign, designing a logo and creating Facebook and Twitter accounts to spread awareness of the new policy and encourage students not to smoke in those areas.
Alcohol and Drugs The last team had three parts to their campaign: To improve the effectiveness of alcohol education at UGA, to address the needs of the Designated Dawgs, and to improve student perception of taxi safety in Athens. In addition to 17 focus groups, the group also interviewed four Health Center representatives, several Athens-Clarke County and UGA police officers, an assistant to President Adams, a representative from the Office of Student Conduct and an attorney in UGA’s Office of Legal Affairs.
Research showed that students think the current online alcohol education program, MyStudentBody, was not as effective as perceived. They also found that students have major concerns regarding taxis in Athens, including safety, inconsistency of fares, reliability and overcrowding. Finally, the team found that the major concern for Designated Dawgs was a need for volunteers.
Based on this research, the team proposes to introduce a supplemental peer-to-peer interactive program, YourID (Your Informed Decision), that will include student testimonials to better educate UGA students on alcohol. To promote awareness of safe taxi cab companies, they created a Facebook page with taxi company contact information, pictures of taxi vehicles and general news updates. The group hopes this will encourage students to use taxis to avoid drinking and driving as well as to help students identify which taxis are legitimate from those that are not. Last, the team gave social media and website suggestions to the Designated Dawgs and created a press kit for them to attract more volunteers and raise awareness for the program.
Find the Facebook page with taxi information under Athens Taxicabs
