a day in the life of a student run ad. agency
I always seem to be talking about AHA and NVC, but I don’t think I have done a great job explaining these crazy acronyms.
AHA stands for Allen Hall Advertising. AHA is not pronounced as A.H.A…it’s AHA! As in…Eureka! We are a student run “ad” agency…or communications agency…or how about idea agency? We have three accounts, UO Sustainability, Talk, and NVC.
NVC is an international MBA business plan competition hosted by the UO Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship. Through a generous endowment from Tim Boyle/Columbia Sportswear, the AHA NVC account runs the branding and communications campaign.
This year…Kristin and I are co-managing the account – Kristin as the “external liaison,” serving as the Account Coordinator and myself as the “internal liaison,” serving as the Account Planner/Strategist. It’s been quite the journey with a steep learning curve, plenty of trials, tribulations, sleepless nights, overflowing email inboxes and of course F.U.N. FUN. (=
So without further adieu, I thought it might be fun to show a little of a day in the life of AHA and NVC:
One of our first meetings back in Sept. – we began to brainstorm for our campaign by drawing. Thinking abstractly of a business plan competition is actually quite helpful.
If NVC was a mode of transit, what would it be?
Our team conducted about 30 in person interviews as well as data from an online survey. This is during an interview Anna and I gave:
Team bonding is very important for good work:
Working on the press kit at 3 am is a must:
Again, a solid team comprises people you would want to see outside of work!
Last week AHA brainstormed past failures and successes of AHA accounts…and how we can use these as learning experiences:
here’s one of the successes – Sustainability’s garbage monsters as a UO campus awareness piece:
Here’s another success – from last year’s NVC team – the NVC idea elevator which also served to raise awareness at UO:
ah, watching the NVC magic happen:
hhmm sometimes odd things turn up around the j. school; however, that’s what keeps things…interesting…and to be interesting we have to be interested, right?
Our team, as drawn by Evan:
honesty and transparency
We all have secrets. We all have insecurities. We all have similar situations, aspirations, quirks, fears, ideas and awkward moments.
We often feel alone or perhaps on an entire different wavelength as the rest of the world.
We feel this way, but I’m convinced we share similar sentiment and for this, I feel comfort and see opportunity.
Transparency.
What would happen if we were all a bit more transparent? More transparent in our thoughts, observations, fears, guilts, passions, quirks and communication.
Examples:
“Sometimes I just want to pop bubble wrap.”
“When I’m with people, I’d rather be alone. When I’m alone, I’d rather be with people.”
“Sometimes the old people working at the gas station look so sad that I just want to give them a hug.”
“Will I ever find a job doing something I truly love?”
“What if we all had the innocence of children – when dreams were reality and the world had no barriers”
We all have something within us we haven’t shared, but know someone could relate AND benefit – what is it for you?? Let’s hear it! (=
one solution to a generation bailout plan:
Laura introduced me to this video – I think this MIGHT just be what our country needs:
Can I make a motion to propose our country’s need for a national dance(s)?
my generation needs to slow down
We run in a million different direction and are consistently ten steps ahead of ourselves. I look at what I’m doing right now…blogging, changing clothes, doing dishes, heating water, packing my backpack for another long night in Allen.
I know I’m part of the fast generation – I’ve heard this my whole life, but it hasn’t carried much weight because I haven’t known any other way. My first check with reality came while I lived in Mexico. I remember sitting at comida with my host family and a fellow American friend. After the food was served (which was weird enough that people actually had time to eat with each other…every day???) my and my friend’s food was consumed in a few minutes and we were ready for the next activity. My host family had barely touched their food – they were busy talking with one another and…taking a few minutes from work to, gasp, enjoy life?
I quickly adjusted to this lifestyle for the next four months, and was able to witness as well as develop some of the most genuine and fulfilling relationships and life experiences. I worked hard…I earned 30 credits in a term; however, I felt relaxed and for the first time in literally years (which is horrible to realize) and finally understood the repercussions of an unbalanced lifestyle.
Adjusting back to the U.S. lifestyle … or at least my U.S. lifestyle was without a doubt more difficult than adjusting to my Mexican lifestyle. Although I had just had this great epiphany, of course as soon as I returned to UO, I jumped right back into the craziness I like to call my life – taking on things that I probably shouldn’t, majors and minors that aren’t required…jobs that aren’t necessary…why? Good question, I still don’t know.
I think part of it has to do with the J. School environment I’m in…none of us are quite sure why, but we like to test ourselves…mentally and physically…how much can we take on to get as close to the tipping point without actually reaching it?
We should be in this industry because we love what we’re doing – when all is said and done, I know that’s why we’re here and why we’ve stuck with it…but daily I can sense the apathy and frustration…from myself included. We’re just starting our careers…if we want sustainable careers, we need have have sustainable lifestyles.
Yesterday I worked at home from 7-9:30, went to my internship from 10 – 3, rushed home, threw my stuff in my backpack, ran over to school, had class from 4 – 6, a meeting from 6 – 7, Ad Society from 7 – 8, AHPR/NVC from 8-9 – finally got home and settled around 10:30…then started my homework. Am I even in school? Sometimes I can’t tell. I woke up at 5 to finish the homework I couldn’t get to last night – as I was getting ready, I put on my TED podcast to help begin the day right – Carl Honore was up, speaking of “Slowing down in a world built for speed.” If that’s not fate, I don’t know what is.
Especially in this time of change, frustration, hope, confusion, introspection and self-actualization – my generation has got to slow down. I am genuinely scared to see what happens if we don’t. We are the future, but I question the success, happiness and longevity of the future if we continue this reactive rather than proactive behavior.
I read an article by the brilliant Thomas Friedman, Stimulate Minds, Not Just the Economy. Can we stimulate both our economy and our people? Quoting Dean Kamen, “You can bail out a bank; you can’t bail out a generation.”
That’s huge.
We need to come together, make a plan and act on it – 125% of us. As the saying goes, a team is only as strong as it’s weakest link. It’s up to us to do something…not tomorrow, not the next day but right now. Let’s do this.
a haiku Monday
so I wrote some haikus during the past few weeks:
Watching bums walk by
Where are all the female bums?
I only see men
Pie, quiche, rolls, fruit, cake
I am in a food coma
Give me a nap, STAT
Puedo escribir
Pero cuando yo hablo
soy una gringa
Ballmer Allen Hall
NVC sure owns my soul
Why do I pay rent?
One of my dream jobs
Is to be in an exer-
cise video. yeah!