Spring - VCU Brandcenter - Virginia Commonwealth University

BEYOND SIXTY
Spring 2010
Letter from the Director and Managing Director
Dear Brandcenter Alumni:
Kelly and I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the start of your summer. Since last Spring I have visited 65 agencies and several schools. Industry outreach is a crucial part of building our program, but I also
enjoy getting back to the Brandcenter every few weeks to work with students, faculty and staff; and I can
see that Kelly has done an outstanding job of managing the school. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about the
Brandcenter’s progress since we’ve settled into our new roles.
Graduation time is always bittersweet at the Brandcenter. While we will miss the class of 2010 and their
powerful impact on this school, we send them off to a brighter looking industry armed with two years
of training; and already, over 50% of the class have found jobs. This year’s commencement speaker Jim
Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer for Proctor & Gamble, challenged each of the graduates to make
a difference in a way that is aligned with the Brandcenter’s mission, by making the industry smarter, less
conventional and more responsible.
The Class of 2010 had already made a mark on the industry; having several real-world projects produced
and receiving international awards show recognition. One of those awards shows, the One Show Client
Pitch Competition, best demonstrates our core curriculum difference of continually delivering smart, strategic, conceptual solutions, well presented. For the fourth time since the competition’s inception in 2005, a
team of Brandcenter students took first place.
Although the Class of 2011 students are off at their summer internships, it doesn’t stay quiet for long at the
Brandcenter. Our first executive education program, “Account Planning in a Digital World” took place Jun.
7-11 with guest faculty including Rick Webb (The Barbarian Group), Aki Spicer (Fallon), Dave Knox (P&G),
and Heidi Hackemer (BBH), just to name a few. This program filled up quickly so remember to register early
if you’re interested in attending our popular “Creative Direction in a Digital World” program August 2-6.
We’ll be sure to send you all info about the CD program once we confirm speakers.
We announced some exciting news at our annual board meeting in March. We’ll be naming the building after Mike Hughes, President and Creative Director at the Martin Agency and Chairman of the VCU Brandcenter board. Mike has been a huge proponent of our program since its inception. We’re proud to honor him
and will be sure to send pictures once we formally dedicate “Mike Hughes Hall” this fall.
This leads me to some sad news. This February we lost a great friend, board member and true champion of
the school to a long-standing battle with cancer. Andrew Jaffe’s leadership is the reason our Executive Education program has taken off, as he was integral in designing the programs, advising us on our marketing
plan and even assisting in the management training. He will be missed by everyone who knew him.
I hope you all have a wonderful summer and keep us updated on your own lives and careers. We always
love to hear from you.
Best, Rick Boyko / Director + Kelly O’Keefe / Managing Director
Breaking News
Brandcenter Students Recognized by Top Industry Award Shows
This year the VCU Brandcenter students continued their award show accolades, getting featured in CMYK
twice, sweeping the Richmond Show, and winning a merit award in the One Show College Competition.
For the fourth time since 2005, a team of Brandcenter students, Lauren Perlow (AD, 2010); Natalie Hammel
(CW, 2010); and Melissa Cabral (CS, 2010), won first place in the One Show Client Pitch Competition, which
goes beyond the creative executions judged in the College Competition. The Client Pitch Competition instead
judges the students’ ability to create and articulate a focused strategy in the form of a persuasive marketing
pitch. Students write a pitch letter selling their One Show creative idea by outlining the strategy behind the
idea. The 10 finalist teams, including another Brandcenter team of Laura Fallon (AD, 2010); Matt Spicer (CW,
2010); and Adam Wiese (CS, 2010), were invited to New York to present their pitch to the judges in person.
We’d also like to announce that Brandcenter recent graduates Emma Parry (CT, 2010) and Sarah Inglis (AD,
2010) have been selected as finalists in the AKQA Cannes Future Lions Competition. If chosen as one of the
five winners, they will be honored at Cannes on June 25th. Good luck to Emma and Sarah!
Brandcenter Students Take On Real World Projects
Brandcenter students are no strangers to real world assignments. From yearly Brandcenter projects such
as the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show campaign and Unicef’s Tap Project,
to new experiments in product development and marketing, community branding and the future of television, they have wowed clients with their presentations - and many of their ideas are being implemented
and produced.
Out of the nine Brandcenter teams who competed to develop the AICP
Show Call for Entries campaign this year, the team of Jeff Dryer (AD,
2010), Chris Trumbull (CW, 2010), Jarrod Higgins (CT, 2010) and Lauren
Kosteski (CBM, 2010) was selected to have their work produced. These
students developed the popular “Stop Babies & Puppies” campaign,
challenging participants to “Make Art. Not Cliches.” The campaign was
featured by Shoot Magazine, Boards Magazine, Mediapost, Ihaveanidea.org and was a Creativity-Online pick of the day.
Brandcenter students have worked on Unicef’s Tap Project, an initiaAICP Campaign Logo
tive started by Droga5 to provide clean water to children around the
world, for the past three years. The students came up with creative
ways to promote the project in the Richmond area during World Water Week in March. This year, though,
the challenge was to take the campaign beyond Richmond and World Water Week and raise money globally, year-round. A team of students developed the “Hope in Rain” campaign, which encourages people to
donate $1 per inch of rainfall in their city each time it rains. The campaign’s home is a student developed
website, http://www.hopeinrain.org, and it is promoted through social media.
Second year Creative Brand Management students worked on a
semester-long assignment to launch a new or improved home appliance, with input from the design and creative teams at Hamilton
Beach. After learning how brand managers identify unmet consumer
needs and translate them into viable product concepts, the students
presented smart, elegant product strategies supported by detailed
economic analysis to Hamilton Beach representatives.
The Martin Agency and Venture Richmond brought our Communications Strategy and Creative Technology students a challenge to help
Hamilton Beach project
Tony Chiang, Industrial Design Student, RIT
reinforce the growing creative community in Downtown Richmond.
Led by Kelly O’Keefe, Caley Cantrell and Mark Avnet, the students created a social-identity program that would engage the community to become part of the campaign. Along
the way, the students presented to civic, arts, education and business leaders, including the Mayor of Richmond and the presidents of four local universities, whose unanimous support prompted the city to implement the ideas this summer.
Mark Avnet’s first year Digital Engagement students explored ways to build on Canoe Ventures’ new interactive TV platform, which will allow viewers to use their remote controls to request information on a TV ad,
vote (respond to a poll), and eventually purchase (T-commerce) using technology that is already in their
cable set top boxes. The students prepared presentations based on a three-horizon goal: first, what could
be done in the near future with the current technology; second, what could be done in the next two to three
years reflecting acceleration in changes in viewing habits, integration of other types of media with TV, use
of the cloud as an opportunity to connect people’s social selves with TV, and advances in ad content; and
third, what could be done five or more years out, in some cases moving away from TV to streaming and
integrated content available on connected devices, adaptive ads, integrated commerce, and fundamental
changes in the way we perceive and view TV content.
Brandcentral Takes Shape
Brandcentral is the student government organization that started during the 2008/2009 school year. This
year, Brandcentral established a solid structure, with formal elections of officers and representatives from
each track. The group divided into three committees: Social Events, Alumni Relations, and Website Development. They have been working to bring the students together through social events like Talentsaurus Rex
(our annual talent show), prom, the softball game, fundraisers and other activities; and they’ve also worked
to increase the conversation between prospective students, current students, alumni and the industry,
namely through the development of a new website: www.Brandcentered.com.
2nd Year Students Shine at Prom, Softball
Nearing the end of the school year, the students enjoyed some annual traditions like the Brandcenter prom
and spring softball game. Prom was held at a new location this year: the lovely Glave Kocen Gallery on
Main Street in the fan. The “Masqued Ball” was organized by the Brandcentral prom committee and made
possible by WPP’s generous sponsorship. Katy Reyers (CS, 2010) and Tommy Cottam (CBM, 2010) were
crowned king and queen, but nobody knew who they were since they had masks on.
On a beautiful day at Parker Field, the second years came back to beat the first years 9-8 with a 2-out game
winning hit by Kendall Beveridge (CBM, 2010) in the bottom of the 9th. With delicious food and beverages
provided by Brandcentral and the first year students, it was a great way to top off their final softball game
as well as their two years at the Brandcenter.
Brandcenter Loses Dedicated Board Member and Friend: Andrew Jaffe, 1938-2010
In February, the Brandcenter lost a close friend and long-time board member.
After an eleven-year fight with cancer, Andrew Jaffe succumbed to the disease,
surrounded by his family.
Andrew was a champion of our school for many years. He joined the board in
2003 and proved to be an asset from the very beginning, helping with everything
from fundraising, to recruiting, to mentoring.
Andrew Jaffe
Andrew was the force behind the development of our long discussed executive
education program. Through his long association with Adweek, Andrew introduced Dentsu to the Brandcenter and helped design and implement our first custom executive education program for Dentsu. Andrew took personal responsibility
for the excellence of this program and traveled to Tokyo to participate in the training all three years.
While Andrew made himself available to the Brandcenter’s staff and faculty, he took added pleasure in
helping mentor students. Andrew took the time to get to know and help mentor and guide many of our
students as individuals.
The Brandcenter has established a scholarship in his honor. If you’d like to contribute to the scholarship,
please contact Andrea Groat ([email protected]).
Brandcenter Recruiter Session Biggest Ever
The Brandcenter held it’s largest Recruiter Session ever this year. We hosted over 160 recruiters for our 93
graduating students, including the first ever class of Creative Technology students who captured the attention of the creative recruiters. It was very cool to see so many Brandcenter alumni back recruiting for
their own agencies. Ihaveanidea’s Brett McKenzie covered the entire event and recently posted a thorough
recap, including video interviews with students, recruiters, and professors.
http://ihaveanidea.org/articles/2010/06/01/vcu-brandcenters-recruiter-sessions-2010/.
Internship and Job Placement Numbers Soar
This summer, 91 first year students secured paid internships at amazing agencies like Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, TBWA/Chiat/Day, AKQA, Butler Shine Stern & Partners, The Barbarian Group as well
as great companies like Harley-Davidson, Philip Morris, Capital One, and Dreamworks. Thanks to all
of the alums who help champion our internship program at your respective agencies/companies. We
wouldn’t have such a robust internship program without you.
Currently, 50+ of the recent graduates have jobs at places like Droga5, GSD&M, The Martin Agency,
Chiat LA, Wieden (Portland and NYC), Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Mother, and Sid Lee. Congrats
to the Class of 2010!
Behind the Scenes
Faculty + Staff Departures
The spring semester was a time of many goodbyes – and to more people than just the graduating class - as
we lost three staff and faculty members.
• Megan Clifton, Front Office Manager, moved to Austin to be with her husband, who took a job there.
Though we think she should have left him for us, we wish her the best.
• Charles Hall, Creative Professor, moved on from the Brandcenter to pursue professional and personal opportunities.
• Beth Harrington, Senior Director of Development for the Brandcenter, has accepted a position with
VCU Health Systems. As of July 1, she will assume her new position as Executive Director of Development for Clinical Programs at the MCV Foundation where she will be responsible for the fundraising initiatives of cardiology, neurology, dermatology and orthopedics. Beth says of her time at the
Brandcenter, “I want to express my thanks for the support, kindness and friendship shown to me
during my time at the Brandcenter. Working in this collaborative, creative environment has been a
wonderful experience. The memories I take from my four years here will always be special ones.”
Cabell Harris, Creative Professor and President of
his own agency, Work Labs, is working on establishing a new agency model by enlisting hundreds
of “lab rats.” More details about his initiative and
details about how to become a lab rat are at the
bottom of this newsletter. Lots of students and alums are participating in the program.
Hotline
• If you change jobs or addresses, please remember to let us know. Please e-mail the updated information to [email protected].
• If you’d like your best work from 2009 or 2010 to be included in the new VCU Brandcenter alumni reel, please mail a disk with the uncompressed quicktime file to Katherine Keogh at the VCU
Brandcenter, 103 S. Jefferson Street, Richmond, VA 23284. Or, you can send it via yousendit.com
to Katherine at [email protected]. Please include your name, the agency name, and your role
in the work (or a full list of credits.) We’d like to show the alumni reel on recruiting trips, on the
Brandcenter media wall, and on the Brandcenter website.
• If you think your agency would like to be informed about Brandcenter interns and recruitment
fairs, please e-mail [email protected] and we’ll add them to our database.
• If your agency has any real world projects for the school, please e-mail [email protected] or
[email protected]. The students have recently worked on real world projects for The Boy
Scouts of America, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Google, the Business for Diplomatic Action,
Audi, Venture Richmond, Hamilton Beach and new business pitches for agencies. If you’re looking for
some strategic and creative firepower, please let us know.
• Caley Cantrell, Head of the Communications Strategy track, has been working with her Communications Strategy students on conducting research to help agencies with new business pitches. The students have worked on pitches for Team One and Cramer-Krasselt. If your agency could use the help of
Brandcenter Communications Strategy students, please contact Caley Cantrell at [email protected].
Who? What? When?
• Cliff Adams (CS, 2007) is a Senior Strategic Planner at The Martin Agency.
• Carrie Ammermann (AD, 2007) is an Art Director at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.
• Kristin Axelson (CS, 2007) is a Senior Strategic Planner at The Martin Agency.
• Shameka Brown Barbosa (CW, 1999) is an Associate Creative Director at Y&R in NYC.
•Jessica Barrera (CS, 2009) is a Jr. Brand Planner at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago working on the
Crocs account.
•Emanuel Basnight (CS, 2004) launched Threshold Nation, a lifestyle marketing subsidiary of Burrell
Communications, in January 2010. Threshold Nation is the starting point for all fresh concepts and
experiences that speak to the multi-ethnic male lifestyle. Check it out at www.thresholdnation.com.
• Ryan Bogardus (CBM, 2007) is the Assistant Manager of Digital Development at Pepsi in NYC.
• Jim Bosiljevac (CW, 2000) is a Creative Director at DDB San Francisco.
• Adam Calvert (CW, 2006) is a Copywriter at BBDO NY.
• Joey Camire (CS, 2009) and Ben Cheney (CBM, 2009) are Strategists at Sylvain Labs in NYC.
• Dan Case (AD, 2008) is an Art Director at The Richards Group in Dallas.
• Greg Christensen (CW, 2000) is a Brand Creative at The Richards Group in Dallas.
•Quintina Conway (CS, 2008) is the Associate Director of Marketing and Editor of International Publications in Washington, DC.
• Ray DelSavio (CW, 2005) is a Copywriter at Taxi in NYC.
•Kelly Diaz (CW, 2009) is a Copywriter at Venables Bell
in San Francisco. Check out the campaign for Kotex
that she and Raquel Gimenez (AD, 2009) concepted
during their summer internship at JWT NYC. Kelly
stars in the spot. http://www.popeater.com/2010/04/05/
kotex-tampon-commercials
Kelly Diaz in Kotex tv ad
• Mandy Donovan (CW, 2000) is a Senior Brand Copywriter at Zipcar in Cambridge, MA.
• Stacy Thomas Elsbury (CS, 2001) and her husband Andrew welcomed their
first child, Ross Michael Elsbury, on December 31st 2009. Stacy recently
started her own strategic/research consultancy called Good Run Research &
Recreation (GRRR). Check it out at www.goodrunresearch.com.
Ross Michael Elsbury
• Erik Enberg (CW, 2001) is an Associate Creative Director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
• Heather English (CW, 2005) and Beth Wetzel (AD, 2005) are a creative team
at Grey NY.
• Ian Fairbrother (CW, 2005) is a Copywriter at Wieden + Kennedy in
Portland. He recently completed these spots for Target that aired during the LOST finale. Check them out at http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/05/lost_target.html.
• Laura Fallon (AD, 2010) designed the winning logo for adage.com. Ad
Age asked students to re-imagine the adage.com logo.
• Brian Feeney (AD, 2007) is a Sr. Art Director at Bohan in Nashville.
• Katie Fitzgerald (CS, 2009) is a Strategist at TAXI. She is training with the Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society’s Team in Training for the 2010 ING NYC Marathon. The money she raises will go towards
cancer research and patient and family programs. As a fundraiser, Katie is selling body parts as ad
space. If you buy a body part, she will run the marathon with your message proudly displayed. It
could be a message to a loved one or even just your Twitter handle, whatever you want she will
sharpie on. Yes, sharpie, seriously. Where to donate? Here! http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/
nyc10/Fitzi or contact Katie at [email protected].
•Kim Frazier (CBM, 2009) is an Account Executive at Goodby Silverstein & Partners working on the
Adobe account.
• Greg Getner (CW, 2003) is VP, Group Director, Social Media at Digitas in NYC.
• Raquel Gimenez (AD, 2009) is an Art Director at Sarkissian Mason in NYC.
• Jim Goldberg (CW, 2007) is a Copywriter at The Richards Group in Dallas.
• Frank Gregory (CBM, 2007) is an Associate Consultant at Prophet, a branding consultancy in NYC.
• Chris Guichard (CW, 2006) is a Copywriter at Deutsch in LA.
• Tamee Gunnell (CS, 1998) launched Peduncled, a foundation focused on
helping single parents. The site covers things like financial assistance, networking, advice, social connections, etc. Check it out at www.peduncledfoundation.org.
•Becca Hasskamp (CW, 2007) is a Copywriter at Leo Burnett. Her campaign for Special K was
featured in the New York Times. Check it out at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/business/
media/05adco.html
• Cristen Ingram (CW, 2004) is a Copywriter at R/GA in NYC.
• Alex Jeon (AD, 2009) is an Art Director at McCann in NYC.
•Carito Kanishiro (CS, 2003) is Brand Director at Circus in Peru. She was invited to particiate in Redscout’s SPUR video series on planning. Here’s the video http://vimeo.com/8871501.
•Mike Karnjanaprakorn (CS, 2006) is the Head of Product at Hot Potato and Co-Founder of All Day
Buffet, which incubates, invests, and advises purpose-driven companies.
• Katie Kelley (CBM, 2009) is a Marketing Analyst with Hamilton Beach Brands Inc.
• Kris Kennedy (CW, 2009) is a Copywriter at Heat in San Francisco.
•Julie DeRosa Krueger (AD, 2002) and her husband welcomed their first child, Allison Jane Krueger,
on January 22, 2010.
Allison Jane Krueger
Screenshot from Todd Lamb’s video for Boston Spaceships
•Todd Lamb (CW, 2000) directed a music video for the indie rock supergroup Boston Spaceships.
The song is titled “Let it rest for a little while” from the album Zero To 99. Musicians on the song
are Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Jon Moen (Decemberists), and Chris
Slusarenko (Guided By Voices). The video stars competitive eater Tim “Eater X” Janus, who speedeats apple pies and washes them down with beer. Todd is directing projects with Epoch Films. He
recently creative directed a new website of “Free Ideas” for them, which invites visitors to give
and take ideas (www.epochfilms.com). Todd also recently contributed writing to Late Night With
Jimmy Fallon. He wrote a segment called “LARGEST BLOODY MARY GARNISHED WITH A LATE
NIGHT HOST.” In the bit, Jimmy Fallon was submerged in a huge bloody mary, while dressed as
a piece of celery. Check it out at http://www.hulu.com/watch/136094/late-night-with-jimmy-fallonlargest-bloody-mary-garnished-with-a-late-night-host.
•Eric Larkin (AD, 2008) is an Art Director at Creature in Seattle. He recently created a film for a 48hour film festival. His team was given a prop (orange), a genre (dark comedy), and a line of dialogue (“I can’t believe you said that”). They had to write, film and edit the film in two days. Here’s
what they came up with - Fingerphilia: A Story of a Hoarder www.creativeschoolofthought.com/
project1.
•Jennifer Lee (AD, 2003) is an Apparel Graphic Designer at Target in Minneapolis. She works on inhouse girl’s brand, Circo.
•Hank Leber (CS, 2009) is a Planner at McKinney in Durham. He’s working on Travelocity. Here’s a
project he conceived of and led at the agency:
http://mashable.com/2010/03/31/travelocity-gnome-chatroulette/
http://www.adweekmedia.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i539277d81ea4a9b1259393bd41482572.
• Jill Lin (AD, 2008) is a freelance Art Director at Goodness Mfg.
• Jay Lorenzini (AD, 2006) is an Art Director at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.
•Bryan Marville (CS, 2009) is a Sr. Planner at Grey in NYC. In his spare time, he’s guest starring in MTV’s new reality show, Downtown Girls. Check out his debut at this link…minute 15:40
http://www.mtv.com/videos/downtown-girls-ep-2-becoming-ms-right/1640970/playlist.jhtml.
• Julie Matheny (CW, 2009) is a Copywriter at Sarkissian Mason in NYC.
•Chris McVay (CBM, 2009) is an Account Coordinator at AKQA in San Francisco working on Visa and
visa.com.
•Ellen Miller (CW, 2005) is cancer-free. Two years with ovarian cancer readily prepared for her new
job as Copywriter/ Brand Strategist at HBG Health, a health and wellness branding agency in Chicago. She started September 2009.
• James Moslander (AD, 2004) and his wife, Kate, welcomed son, Jack Louis, on April 27th. At the One Show
Interactive, he and his partners won 5 pencils, including
best in show for Nike Livestrong’s chalkbot + 3 gold and
1 silver for various Livestrong-related efforts, including chalkbot, the Livestrong integrated campaign and
Livestrong (It’s About You) films.
Jack Louis Moslander
• Sergio Navarro (CS, 2008) is a Digital Strategist at
TBWA/Chiat/Day NY.
• Tom Naughton (CS, 2006) is a Planning Director at Euro
RSCG in NYC.
•Hunter Butler Patterson (CS, 1999) runs a popular online travel company called Blue Escapes. She
was named “Best Villa Agent for the Caribbean” by Conde Nast Traveler Magazine in 2009. Check
out her site at www.blueescapes.com.
•Trish Pavlecich (CW, 2007) is running the NY Marathon and raising money for Breast Cancer research. To donate your time, dollars, supportive emails, or to learn about the cause, please visit
her blog, http://funraisin.blogspot.com/or email her at [email protected]. All proceeds go
to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
• Rich Perusi (AD, 2006) is an Art Director at BBDO NY.
Meghan Healy Ragsdale
• Meghan Healy Ragsdale (CBM, 2009) and her husband
Sam were married in September 2009. Meghan is a Business Manager at Cole & Weber working on the Washington State Lottery. She was also recently elected President
of AD 2 Seattle, which is the arm of the Seattle Ad Club
for professionals under 32 years of age.
• Dave Ramirez (CW, 2007) is a Copywriter at Campfire in
NYC.
• Aziz Rawat (AD, 2003) is an Art Director at Mcgarry
Bowen in Chicago.
• Meagan Sackett (CBM, 2009) is an Assistant Account Executive at Gotham in NYC.
• Alina Shabashevich (CS, 2010) is a Junior Brand Strategist at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
• Carly Shearer (CW, 2009) is a Copywriter at McKee Wallwork Cleveland.
•Tristan Smith (CW, 2009) is a Copywriter at Google Creative Labs. His Super Bowl spot, “Parisian
Love”, got great reviews like this one, “It shouldn’t surprise us by now. Google decides to get into
a new category and it kills it. A simple ad that showcases the efficiency and elegance of the company’s search, and in the process, tells a love story. Did a freaking Google search seriously just
make me cry? I give up, Google. You win. Grade: A” Check out the spot at http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=t7QuvBs-QfE.
•Joyce Forbes Simmons (ST, 2002) and her husband Shawn had
a baby boy, Jahari Nevaeh Simmons on June 25, 2009.
•David Southerland (AD, 2008) is in Baghdad working for a program that rehabilitates and educates detainees. In addition, he’s
currently taking an online travel writing workshop.
• Sean Staley (CS, 2008) is a Brand Strategist at Venables Bell &
Partners in San Francisco.
• Ailee Tempest (CW, 2004) is a Senior Copywriter at
Ogilvy & Mather in Durham, NC.
• Chris Thomson (CW, 2001) is an Associate Creative
Director at Leo Burnett.
Jahari Nevaeh Simmons
• Dave Treston (CS, 2008) is a Brand Strategist at Brownstein Group in Philadelphia.
• Mansi Trivedi (CS, 2007) is an Associate Planning Director at Saatchi & Saatchi in Mumbai. She and Manoj Damodaran (CS, 2007) recently got engaged and are planning a
December wedding.
• Sriram Venkitachalam (CS, 2009) is an Assistant Media Planner at Crossmedia, a media
planning and buying agency in NYC.
• Brandon Willingham (CW, 2007) is a Copywriter at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.
• James Wood (CW, 2009) is a Copywriter at Energy BBDO in Chicago. He worked on the
Red Cube Project for The Art Institute of Chicago. The campaign (and the whole agency)
was featured in the May issue of Communication Arts. Check out the campaign at http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8aG5r9fmSg.
Mansi Trivedi and
Manoj Damodaran
CORRECTIONS:
• In the Fall newsletter, I forgot to include Matt Spicer’s (CW, 2010) name as part of the
student team that won the Audi competition. Sorry Matt!
• J. Jason Smith (AD, 2001) is an Associate Creative Director at Fortune Promoseven in
Dubai (not Algeria as printed in the last newsletter).
VCU Brandcenter is the graduate program in advertising at the School of Mass Communications, Virginia Commonwealth University.
New Advertising Model to Enlist Hundreds of LAB RATS
Application for Admittance
LABRATS.COM/APPLY
Welcome to a breeding ground for ideas.
A place where studies in collaboration between creative minds, cultural scientists and business leaders are on going in order to
develop and build ideas. Here experiments in finding answers are conducted daily.
For years, people have pontificated on what the new creative model will be. Now, an entire industry says what it isn’t more than
what it is. It’s become complicated for the sake of being complicated.
We have another idea. A simple idea. In fact, it’s all about ideas.
We put the idea front and center. We strive to make something new. We strike fast. We work with expertise. The lab is an open
source in which a chosen group of people from varying disciplines has the opportunity to contribute to a number of projects. It
is also a forum to get assistance and help from the other Rats on their projects. We work together in the Lab.
We approach each project with respect to the clients and to our talents. In the Lab, we know ideas are not a dime a dozen or
infinite in number. We treat the ideas, as they deserve to be treated – to be given their right due.
The Lab is not open to everyone. Those who contribute to the projects performed here are professionals who were invited because of particular know how and specific skills, interest and passion. Here, the best ideas from a wealth of cutting edge thinkers will offer clients access to the best minds to solve business challenges and identify new opportunities.
Welcome to a new way of thinking.