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.

AdPR Connection to Host 50 Companies for Workshops and Career Fair

The Department of Advertising and Public Relations at UGA will host more than 50 companies and corporate partners at its annual AdPR Connection, which will include development workshops featuring talks from industry professionals, and a career fair for students. This year's AdPR Connection,which is sponsored by Omnicom agencies BBDO and Porter Novelli, will be Tuesday, October 23 in Tate Grand Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The event is free and open to all attendees.

"We are really excited about the event this year. We are hoping to make it even bigger and better than last year, with more students and more professionals attending," said Ali Campbell, a senior studying public relations and a co-chair for the AdPR Connection publicity committee.

The four professional development workshops at this year's event include: 

• 1:15 – 2:00 p.m.: #DigitalRevolution - the Impact of Social Media on the Industry
• 1:15 – 2:00 p.m.: The Key to a Lasting Impression - What Employers Look for in New Hires
• 2:15 – 3:00 p.m.: Off the Beaten Path – Oh the Places your Degree can Go 
• 2:15 – 3:00 p.m.: Reality Check – Life Post Grady

In addition, resume and portfolio critiques will be offered from 1:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Companies scheduled to attend the career fair include Porter Novelli, The Coca-Cola Company, Fleishman-Hillard, Ogilvy, JWT and many more.

A full schedule and list of companies attending can be found at the AdPR Connection 2012 tumblr page. In addition, updates can also be found on the AdPR Connection 2012 Facebook page.

PHD Worldwide to Renew Grady Scholars Program for Second Year

PHD Worldwide, a global media and communications agency, is renewing its PHD Media-Grady program for a second year. PHD plans to select five Grady ADPR students to work on a six-month consumer insights project, and graduating seniors are encouraged to apply. Dr. Karen King, Jim Kennedy Professor of New Media in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, made the announcement about the application process during Thursday's AdPR Lecture Series, which featured Sal Candela, PHD Worldwide's mobile media manager. 

If selected, students will work together on a six-month media project for PHD exploring consumer insights with Dr. King as the Grady supervisor. Participants will be flown to New York City to share their findings with PHD and some of its clients.

Last year's participants explored Millennial consumer behavior and reported their findings to PHD in May 2012. These students have all started their careers in media at places such as Media Storm, Yelp, Turner, ID Media and PHD at offices in Chicago, New York and Arizona and Atlanta.

Grady AdPR graduating seniors interested in media are encouraged to apply by turning in a resume and answers to the following questions to Sophie Barnes in Journalism room 233 by Wednesday, September 12 at 4:00pm.

1. What aspect of media and reaching consumers interests you the most?
2. What NMI classes have you taken?
3. What internships and related experience do you have?
4. How open to working in NYC or Chicago are you after graduation?

Any questions about the application process or the program should be directed to Dr. Karen King.

Sal Candela, Mobile Media Director at PHD/NY to Speak

Mobile media expert, Sal Candela, Mobile Media Director at PHD Worldwide in New York, will speak at the ADPR Lecture Series on Thursday, August 30th at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Candela will be joining us via Skype to discuss "The Era of Mobility." The presentation will be in 148 of the Miller Learning Center.

PHD Worldwide is a global media agency that is part of the Omnicom Group.

UGA Students Research Millennial Behavior in PHD Media-Grady Initiative

The "PHD Grady Creative Collective" present their Millennial behavior research to PHD Media and their clients in New York City.

Five Grady seniors participated in a new initiative to study consumer behavior with PHD Media, a global media and communications agency. 


The competitive media planning program, known as  “PHD Grady Creative Collective,” consisted of: Lexy Farris, a mass media arts major from Roswell; Alice Gwin, an advertising major from San Antonio, Texas; Tien Phan, an advertising major from Warner Robins; Lacey Wen, an advertising major from Duluth; and Sarah Zagorski, an advertising major from Roswell.


The Creative Collective hatched as an idea at Cannes Lions 2011 when the U.S. CEO of PHD spoke of the need to recruit young talent to Dr. Tom Reichert, professor and head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, according to a recent AdWeek article about the initiative.


The semester-long initiative allowed students to research Millennial behavior and present their findings in New York to PHD and some of the agency’s clients. The five questions PHD posed to the Creative Collective included: How does social media impact the way Millennials watch television?; How do Millennials view the concurrent use of TV and mobile?; Which Millennials are likely to be cord cutters?; Do Millennials see value in merging their phones with their wallet?; and What role do influencers play in Millennials' customer journey?

“This was a challenging project for the students,” said Dr. Karen King, Jim Kennedy Professor of New Media in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, and advisor to the Creative Collective. “It wasn't enough to know what Millennials are doing, but they were really being pushed to find new insights and to understand what these insights mean for marketing, advertising and media planning decision-makers.”

In addition to their senior-year classes, internships, jobs and other activities, students worked hard on this research project, and in the process were advised by Dr. King. Each student received a $500 stipend from PHD Media and the opportunity to fly to New York to present their work.

The Creative Collective scholars included (l to r): Tien Phan; Alice Gwin; Lexy Farris; Lacey Wen; and Sarah Zagorski.

Based on the students’ findings, they created a report and delivered a two-hour multimedia presentation. “It was fun to watch the students find the insights and unlock the implications of these insights,” King said.

“This partnership was a win-win: it provided PHD with another dimension and that extra edge to understand how marketers need to think about better communicating with Millennials, while at the same time allowed the Grady students to represent a generation’s perspective on everything from transformations and activity within social spaces and platforms to the preferences about mobile payments, and the importance of how brands need to behave to stay relevant, including the role of influencers in a Millennials customer journey,” said Tara Nolan, associate director of marketing and communications at PHD.

The opportunity for students to work with PHD Media was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Lacey Wen, who researched Millennials’ smartphone and wallet use. “Not only did I have the opportunity to research a topic that interested me, but I was encouraged to incorporate my own thoughts and ideas. The relationships that were created during the five months among the five Creative Collective scholars and two professors will never be forgotten.”

“It wasn't enough to know what Millennials are doing, but they were really being pushed to find new insights and to understand what these insights mean for marketing, advertising and media planning decision-makers.”  - Dr. Karen King

The students learned a lot from their own research about the Millennial generation. “I'm surprised how disconnected brands are toward our generation,” said Tien Phan. “But I am very glad that I was able to provide some insights to these companies. I learned a lot about myself and the generation that I represent."

“From my research, I found that Millennials are not really watching television programs on their smartphones,” said Alice Gwin, who noted that in-depth interviews with focus groups provided some insights into behavior, which was influenced by slow loading times and phone screen sizes. The findings were presented to PHD in a way that was relatable to their clients.

The project may have some longterm effects for the students and PHD Media. Starting in September, Wen will move to Scottsdale, Arizona to work for Yelp. "I'm extremely excited for my next chapter in life with a new job and new state," she said.

As for PHD, the experience was a rewarding one that could spur further research. "The Creative Collective was such a likeable, interesting bunch that one of PHD’s clients in the audience requested they hold a mini focus group to help steer the future direction of an in-store retail experience," Nolan of PHD said. "PHD wishes the best of luck to our first group of scholars and we happily await the next!"

PHD Media is part of the Omnicom Group, a global leader in marketing and communications, with members including BBDO Worldwide, Porter Novelli, Martin/Williams, DDB Group, among many others.