This was the vision that resulted in the formation of The NewHouse, Syracuse’s student-run ad agency, in 2007.
I now find myself the president of TNH, as it has been affectionately known by members. I feel it necessary to share some of the wisdom I’ve developed after my first semester in the position.
Two years ago, we spearheaded a project to research what other student ad agencies existed, what their branding and business models were, and how we could be better. We believe that we’re in the predominant advertising program in the country, it was only fair to aim to create the strongest college agency.
This, it turned out, would not be as easy as claiming we were the best. Sure, our egos were inflated after our 2009 national championship in the AAF’s National Student Advertising Competition.
Much like the real ad industry, you can’t get complacent in the student ad world. Other schools have risen up and they really shined at NSAC nationals last year with a bevy of interesting creative ideas and stellar presentations. Yeah, I mean you, Chapman.
I think I felt the need to write this for anyone that might be looking to start an agency at their school, that wants to make their college agency better, or any high school kids crazy enough to plan on majoring in advertising.
Following is my advice for developing a successful student agency, many of which is based on experience (good or bad) with our own agency.
1) Don’t be the XYZ University Advertising Club
You aren’t trying to be the “advertising club.” As a member of our agency put it in our recent promotions, you aren’t in high school anymore. Over are the days of padding the resume with meaningless “clubs.” In interviews you’ll be asked what your agency is/does and how you’re contributing to the agency and your education.
2) Come up with a solvent business model
This doesn’t mean you need to profit – your art directors aren’t relying on their work to feed themselves (yet). This means you should try to secure funding from your student fee or department if possible, come up with a fee structure that clients might be willing to pay, and fill in the gaps with member dues. You aren’t going into this business (presumedly) to do charity for non-for-profits and local pizza shacks, so why do that as practice? Charge your clients for services that cost you money. Outsource jobs that your members can’t do the best possible work at – your copywriters won’t be producing promotional videos professionally, they shouldn’t be forced to now.
3) Have named positions
Working in advertising is awkward in that people not in the industry don’t understand our job titles. “What does your daddy do?” “He…uh…is an advertising…guy” That’s why we have terms like account executive, media planner, art director, etc. Use these titles – it gives meaning and substance to what members put on their resumes and defines their role in the organization. This makes it easier to distribute tasks.
4) Enter competitions (besides NSAC)
Competition deadlines are easy to work with for students – they’re much more like academic projects and are easier to follow through on than projects for real clients. Honestly, you need a healthy mix of both. Competition wins will bring the glory and name recognition you’ll need to grow as a student org (and can bring in some cash if you’re good at them). I may be including this because I’m currently on a plane to LA to present for the finals of a competition from Honda – it has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a student to this point.
5) For God’s sake, have a web presence
We are Generation Y, we need to prove our prowess in reaching Gen Y. We live online as consumers, you should prove you can reach them by having a web presence. This has been an ongoing struggle for my agency (I assure you the website project is under construction…as it has been for 3 years), but we know we’ll be taken much more seriously once it exists.
I’ll leave you with a list of (what I’ve found to be) some really good student agencies (Besides TNH at Syracuse) and where they are housed:
AdLab - BYU
Mojo Ad - Missouri
AdLab - Boston U
HSBT - Georgia
Diamond Edge Communications - Temple
Is your agency not listed? Email me and we’ll talk – I always want to know what other schools are doing.
