Students research Millennial consumers in PHD Worldwide-UGA partnership

The PHD-Grady Creative Collective with Dr. King (not pictured: Chelsea Franklin)

Seven ADPR students were chosen for this year's PHD Worldwide – Grady College Research Fellows Program. The collaborative media planning program, now in its second year and exclusive to UGA, allows graduating Grady students an opportunity to research Millennial consumer/media behavior with PHD, a global media and communications agency, and report their findings at PHD Media’s offices in New York. The students are advised by Dr. Karen King, Jim Kennedy Professor of New Media, in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations.

This year’s “PHD Media – Grady College Creative Collective” consists of: JoAnn Anderson, a second-year master’s student from Lawrenceville with a concentration in advertising; Christabel Belonwu, a senior advertising major from Loganville; Chelsea Franklin, a senior advertising major and Spanish minor from Charlotte, N.C.; Rebecca Hoerner, a senior from Newnan majoring in advertising with a New Media certificate; Lucas Holt, a senior advertising major from Blythe; Asia Martin-Ingram, a senior from Atlanta and Rochester, N.Y., majoring in advertising and psychology; and Stephanie Wright, a senior advertising major from Marietta.

"We are very appreciative that our best media students have an opportunity to work with one of the best media agencies in the world," said Tom Reichert, Department Head for Advertising & Public Relations at UGA. "Our students learn a tremendous amount about media and share their findings with PHD. It's a true win-win relationship."

The collaborative program was launched in 2011 to give students an opportunity to work on real-world challenges in the media area, as well as the opportunity for talent identification for PHD. Last year’s inaugural Creative Collective students researched several timely questions related to media-multitasking, mobile payments, and prevalence and attitudes related to online streaming. The first PHD-Grady cohort landed jobs quickly after graduation in cities such as New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Scottsdale. In fact, Lexy Farris, one of last year's participants, was hired by PHD and is serving as the liaison for this year's Collective.

This year's six-month initiative project allows students to research a new set of questions focused on Millennial media consumption related to television, digital advertising, Facebook, emerging media and brand storytelling. In addition to being flown to New York to present their findings to PHD, each student will also receive a $500 stipend.