Practicum sets up ad, PR agency

Photo by Anthony LaPenna

J460 students visited Leo Burnett in Chicago to develop an understanding of how ad agencies operate. They are founding their own agency during a practicum this fall.

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A new advertising class this fall has laid the groundwork for what will become the School of Journalism’s student-run advertising and public relations agency.

Visiting Professor Craig Wood’s J460 Agency Practicum students have spent the semester creating a brand identity and a marketing plan for the agency. In the spring, many of the students will take the course again and begin seeking clients for whom they will create advertising campaigns and public relations plans.

Four class teams created competing plans for the agency. Earlier this month, they presented them to School of Journalism Dean Brad Hamm, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Bonnie Brownlee and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Amy Reynolds.

Last week, the deans announced they had selected Agency 7, the proposal of journalism majors Amy Goetz, Brittani Hensel, Courtney Rauen and Rebecca Yellin and telecommunications majors John Fitton and Patrick Kent.

“I’ve seen (professional) agencies perform at that level,” Wood said of the group. “It was a great presentation with some really smart students behind it.”

The name Agency 7 refers to the School of Journalism’s location on Seventh Street and the group’s seven core principles: passion, innovation, preparation, collaboration, creativity, integrity and perspective.

“This was definitely stage one,” Yellin said of the class’s progress so far. “You can’t jump into an advertising agency and expect to know everything. We’re still learning a lot.”

The agency will mostly target for-profit companies, Wood said, but it may also work for nonprofits such as the IU Art Museum and the Geography Department. It will offer both advertising and public relations services.

“PR and advertising are combined in the real world, so we wanted to reflect that,” Yellin said.

“That’s where the industry is headed,” said Wood, who spent 35 years working in advertising and public relations. “Many, many companies are approaching this from an integrated standpoint. They can no longer afford the luxury of working with two agencies that are duplicating each other’s work. So agencies have to get into shape.”

He said the integrated approach will set Agency 7 apart from most student-run advertising agencies in the country.

“We think we’re giving students a realistic point of view about what the world’s going to do,” he said. “They can’t just be a silo of expertise and only know one thing.”

The School of Journalism leases space for the agency on the third floor of the Phi Delta Kappa building. Wood hopes to eventually move it into Ernie Pyle Hall. In the long run, he expects the agency to move from a class project to a freestanding organization, like the Indiana Daily Student.

Hensel said she’s enjoyed the focus on learning by working on projects.

“We’re getting real-world experience,” she said. “We’re not really coming in to listen to a teacher tell us what to do. There’s not really any of that. We just come in and get to work.”

The class traveled to Chicago last month to tour an advertising agency and a PR firm. Hensel said the Agency 7 group used ideas it learned there in its presentation. For example, the team asked questions to keep clients involved in the sales pitch “so it’s kind of a conversation instead of just (talking to) them.”

Photo by Anthony LaPenna

From left, students Becky Yellin and John Fitton joined Nikolas Traxler, B.A. ‘07 (telecommunications), now a broadcast producer at the agency, in checking out some clients’ products. At far right is professor Craig Wood.

The Agency 7 students made their presentation again to Wood’s J320 Principles of Creative Advertising class last week. They showed the demonstration ads they designed for Oliver Winery, the Cereal Barn and injury lawyer Ken Nunn. Kent spoke of the importance of following the group’s first core principle by demonstrating passion for the work.

“Perception is reality,” he said. “If we don’t look like we’re really into this, it’s not going to work.”

The agency does not expect to charge clients for its work until it gets a year or two of experience, he said. Fitton said this will give it time to gain credibility.

“We’re students and it’s hard for people to take us seriously, even though we present ourselves as professionally as possible,” he said. “But we hope to prove ourselves and show we have as much talent as other companies out there.”