AdPR Week: Schedule of Events

AdPR is proud to present the following line-up of speakers and events, in celebration of National Advertising and Public Relations Week.  All members of the Grady community are welcome. 

September 28^th – October 2^nd 2015

Monday, September 28th

Speaker:  Joseph Olewitz – 22^nd Story Strategies

Brought to you by AdPR at UGA

Discussion: Entrepreneurship - How to prepare for the new world in Advertising and PR

Location: Peyton Anderson Forum - Grady College

Time: 2:30 – 3:30 pm

Tuesday, Sept. 29th

Speaker: Chandler Rumsey - Account Management at JWT Atlanta

Brought to you by UGA AdClub  

Discussion: The transition of the industry to the new media age, and the strategies that JWT uses with its clients to keep up with the changing trends.

Location:  Peyton Anderson Forum – Grady College

Time: 7:30 - 8:30 pm

Wednesday, Sept 30^th

Event: Dogs with the Dean

Brought to you by AdPR at UGA

All Grady students, faculty and staff are invited to join Dean Charles Davis and the Grady Ambassadors for a free hot dog lunch. 

Location: Grady Lawn

Time: 11:00 – 1:00 pm

Event: Lunch and Learn re: Multi Device Media Consumption

Brought to you by the Atlanta Broadcasting Advertising Club and Grady College

Discussion: “The Media Mosaic: The Fragmentation of the Advertising Eco-System", Moderated by Karen King, professor of advertising and Jim Kennedy, New Media professor.

Location: Maggiano’s Buckhead

Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm

Event: Analytics workshop presented by Shawn McGahee, Director of Analytics at Moxie

Brought to you by UGA PRSSA and Moxie

Discussion: Using Analytics to Create Effective Messaging

Location: Peyton Anderson Forum - Grady College

Time: 6:30-7:30 pm

Thursday, Oct. 1st

Event: “Life between the Hedges” workshop featuring Earl Borron

Brought to you by the International Association of Business Communications (IABC)

Discussion: How to create and promote your own personal brand while experiencing “Life between the hedges”.

Location: Peyton Anderson Forum

Time: 6:00 pm

Friday, Oct. 2nd

Event: Breakfast Roundtable: "Promoting and Covering the South's Most Popular Sport" 
Bryan Harris (MA '03) will serve as the moderator

Panelists include: 

Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports, senior college football writer 
Keri Potts, ESPN, senior director of PR for college sports
Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com, senior college football writer

Chick-fil-A breakfast will be available while supplies last.

Brought to you by AdPR and Grady Sports Media Certificate Program at UGA

Discussion: A conversation between sports PR professionals and national college football journalists.

Location: Peyton Anderson Forum - Grady College

Time:  8:30 to 9:00 a.m. Gathering and Breakfast

9:00-10:00 a.m. Roundtable

AdPR campaigns team places first in AT&T Campus Brand Challenge

An AdPR team, led by Dr. Strausbaugh, won first place in the AT&T Campus Brand Challenge. The competition provides students a $3,000 budget to promote AT&T’s U-verse service and to gain subscriptions to the ESPN SEC Network.

The UGA team pitched a comprehensive advertising campaign to AT&T’s top executives. Their plan covered social media, guerrilla marketing, event planning, and more.

ROI
The campaign resulted in a 16% increase in awareness and a 31% increase in purchase intentions.The prize for the competition winners includes $3,500 for the AdPR Department and the ad for ESPN SEC will be featured on the back cover of Athlon Sports Magazine.

For more information about the event, click here.  

PR major Jordan Thomas attends Diversity Awards thanks to T. Howard Foundation

Jordan Thomas

Jordan Thomas, a junior majoring in Public Relations and Sport Management from Trenton, NJ, was recently chosen to attend the Diversity Awards with the T. Howard Foundation. 

The T. Howard Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides minorities aspiring to work within the multimedia industry with a full-time paid summer internship, networking opportunities, professional development training, scholarships, mentors, among others. The mission of the T. Howard Foundation is “to diversify the multimedia and entertainment industry by increasing the representation of minority young men and women within the industry. The Foundation defines minority students as those who self identify as African-American/Black, Asian/Asian-American, Latino/Hispanic, Multi-Racial, Native American, Pacific Islander or South Asian.”

Thomas applied online and this is his second award with the T. Howard Foundation. Last summer he worked as an intern at Comcast. “There, I worked as a PR intern in one of their regional offices in Trevose, PA. I worked under VP of PR for the region, Jeff Alexander,” said Thomas.

This summer, Thomas is interning in the Corporate Communications division of ESPN at their headquarters in Bristol, CT. “I am most excited about working with the organization this year. They put me in contact with Susan Grouse, HR coordinator with ESPN, and she led me to their communications department.” 

Thomas is also active on campus through a diversity of leadership roles. He is the marketing coordinator for The Red & Black, where he works with advertising sales to generate new accounts and assist with existing accounts. Furthermore, Thomas is the Resident Assistant of the Professional Entertainment & Sports Association (PESA). “I create programming, company visits, and workshops for individuals aspiring to work within the entertainment industry as a Sports Business Director” said Thomas. “I also keep students aware of all of the programs and events on UGA's campus as the Public Relations representative of the student programming board - University Union.”

AdPR Alum Spotlight: Lauren Buechner

Lauren Buechner graduated from UGA in 2007 with a master's degree (concentration in telecommunications), and in 2005 with a bachelor's in advertising. She currently lives in New York.

What are you doing now and how did you get there?

I am an Associate Manager of Research (Crossplatform and Promotion) at ESPN. My first job out of Grady was a Media Buyer at MindShare in Atlanta. In March of 2008, I took a job at The Nielsen Company in New York City and left Atlanta. At Nielsen, I was responsible for handling training and day to day contact with local television stations as well as various advertising agencies and cable networks. I left Nielsen in May 2010 and became an Account Manager at Experian Simmons (a qualitative research company). My primary role was relationship management with all of the major advertising holding companies and their subsidiaries (ie WPP and Grey, Omnicom and OMD).

In November 2011, I left Simmons and took at 4 month sabbatical in London. I returned to New York in April of this year and was very fortunate to land my dream job at ESPN.

What is your day-to-day like at ESPN? Any projects that you can share with us?

Every day is different because we are constantly juggling multiple projects at once. Right now I am working on a project that looks at where and how people are consuming media throughout the day. We just completed an analysis for a new program that will air on ESPNU in the fall. We are also gearing up for a College Football project which I am really excited about. How can you not like a job that learning about sports is not only active encouraged, it’s required?

What part of your Grady experience (classes, professors, etc.) has been helpful in your career today?

I use so much of what I learned in Grady on a day to day basis. Grady students are lucky because I think the faculty does such a great job in preparing students for the realities of a career in advertising. My Campaigns class with Kirsten Strasbaugh-Hutchinson, required a lot of hard work and a glimpse into the future for many of us, but also gave us the hands on experience that we would not have had otherwise.

Staying at Grady to complete my M.A. was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It put me on a path in Media Research that I had no idea I was even interested in. The opportunity to be mentored by some of the smartest people in academia like Dr. Ann Hollifield was really crucial to my success as a student and in my career.

What is your favorite Grady memory?

I have many fond memories of my time at Grady, but my favorite was working with my team (CILF) on our Campaigns project. For 2 months we worked long hours and challenged each other creatively, but most importantly, we all became friends. In fact, one of my teammates, Abbie Bridges, is now one of my co-workers at ESPN!

What advice do you have for current AdPR students?

One of the most important things a current student can do is to try to absorb as much from your classes as you can. You may think that your media planning class is pointless because you want to do creative or vice versa, but there is nothing better you can do than learn all sides of the industry. You never know what the job market might be like when you get out and you might have to take a circuitous route to get to your dream job. Being flexible and able to accept the jobs that are out there is crucial. Every job is a learning experience and it does pay off.