ashlen courtney
creative pr + advertising professional
In December 2013, I was lucky enough to be a part of DePaul University's inaugural 'New York Way' program. At the end of the trip, our challenge (in groups) was to showcase our experience in a way that highlighted what we learned about the advertising business in New York. On our last day, ​I came up with with the idea to create a video commercial to advertise for next year's program. The strategy was simple: show, don't tell. Since images make the biggest impact, we'd use a soft sell approach, including our own experiential images, to create emotional connections between students and the program. With less than 7 hours to finish our project, we ran with it. I chose a song and wrote the copy. Then we added all of our Facebook statuses, tweets, and Instagram photos from the trip. And finally, Chelsea, our video editting expert, put the finishing touches on our little YouTube ad to make it a huge hit during presentation day.
As a final project, in my first PR class, my group was assigned the challenge of creating a Twinkies comeback campaign. We chose to target college students, and used DePaul as a starting point for research and reactions. Although the campaign involved many elements, this YouTube video teaser was my idea. We used Twitter to get the word out about a possible Twinkies comeback to a few key students and set up hidden cameras in prime locations to watch the magic unfold. We used some of the results to make this preview announcing the beginning of the campaign and the return of the Twinkie.
Twinkies Comeback Campaign
Saint Cru Informational
New York Way, DePaul University
Because Saint Cru is a relatively new start up fashion business, it's always necessary to find ways to advertise and expand consumer awareness about the company.
One such method was making this informational YouTube video. To create it, we used footage from a recent runway show at Roof on The Wit, as well as images from previous photo shoots. Then we added music and commentary from our founder to give viewers a better understanding of what we do and the products/services that we offer.