Team Wins Second Place in National Advertising Competition

From: Jen Brotman, president

Phone: 908.723.3842
E-mail: TheNewHouseAgency@gmail.com

Date: May 13, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The NewHouse Agency takes second in American Petroleum Institute competition 

Syracuse, NY – This week, members of The NewHouse, the student-run advertising agency of the Newhouse school, won second place in Energy Tomorrow: America’s Challenge. The team presented an integrated marketing campaign to energy industry executives in San Francisco, California on May 12.

Syracuse University was one of three schools represented in the national finals for the competition, which was organized by EdVenture Partners. The challenge was to create an advertising campaign to educate college-age students on national energy issues, and was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute. The winning school was from the University of New Mexico, and the third place team was from Ball State University.

The team was led by junior advertising major Evan Davis (Longmeadow, MA), and consisted of junior advertising majors Steve Prosonic (Camillus, NY) and Dave Biles (Penfield, NY) and sophomore advertising majors Allyssa Kaiser (Zimmerman, MN) and Rodney Fleming (Parsons, KS).

The strategy behind the campaign was to “promote energy with energy” by developing a series of energy drinks called Joule that would subtly double as educational tools about energy issues.

“We knew we wanted a really big, bold idea. And an incredibly well-targeted idea. So we turned to the best resource of all: our peers. We gained some great insight into our target and went from there,” Davis said. 

The proposed campaign was designed to promote the drink, and not the energy issues themselves. It centered around an energy drink with six flavors: crude, natural gas, coal, solar, nuclear and wind. The drink can would serve as a vehicle for delivering key facts and statistics. Another key component was vending machines, placed on college campuses across the nation, to distribute the drinks.

The team was accompanied to San Francisco by Professor Brian Sheehan.

“Joule is surprising in its impact: it has the earmarks of an idea that could actually succeed in the market, potentially on a gigantic scale. Their presentation was also stellar.  They were exciting to watch and presented their work with the flair of seasoned professionals. I was just happy to be associated with their success,” Sheehan said.

This is the fourth time The NewHouse has placed in a national competition in the last 2 years. The agency won the GM+U Marketing challenge in December 2009 and the Honda CR-Z Media Challenge in December 2010, both sponsored by EdVenture Partners.

For more information about The NewHouse or this campaign, contact Jen Brotman, agency president, at (908)-723-3842, TheNewHouseAgency@gmail.com.

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What's Happening with Home Headquarters, Inc.?

-Sam Yanow, Project Director


This semester has been incredibly interesting thus far as my team has worked with Home Headquarters, a non-for-profit organization in Syracuse that helps to build and reconstruct houses in the area.  The organization also helps community members better understand the Home buying and owning process.  This organization has been great to work with not only because the client is open minded and eager to hear our feedback, but also because it is an organization that plays an important role in the Syracuse community.  

Since the beginning of the semester, my team has been focusing on re-designing the current Home Headquarters website.  We are in the process of moving the site from an .html format to a Wordpress site. Ideally, we want to set this site up so that multiple employees will be able to update it regularly with ease.  

Currently, we are collecting information from the website and editing it/discussing what we like and don't like.  From here, we are hoping to set up the Wordpress site and transfer the data.  We are also hoping to install various plugins that will help the organization properly reach its target market.  Overall, our goal is to make their current site more concise and consumer friendly. We just want to make sure that the consumer can get everything they need in an organized fashion.

One of the principles we've learned in working with Home Headquarters is that for any company or organization to grow into success, they must have roots in accessibility and availability, especially in this day and age when everyone is using the Internet in some capacity to find information, products, and services. Advertising is more than just selling a company brand and product. With the multiple platforms that customers interact with brands, advertisers offer the service of managing customers' interactions with the brand. Here with Home Headquarters, we are focusing on their Internet presence. 

We are all learning so much, and can't wait to see the final product!

TNH Begins Work with Hudson Grove & Co.

-Katie Stirn, project director

This semester TNH is launching a social media campaign for Hudson Grove & Co., a high-end jeweler based in NYC that provides engagement and wedding jewelry for the LGBT community. After receiving the client briefing, I was already excited to start working on such a unique product. Working on a product marketing to the LGBT community provided valuable lessons in uncovering the behaviors and characteristics of an unknown target demographic.

My team kicked off the semester with extensive research into both the LGBT community and the jewelry industry. We discovered that by engaging the online community, Hudson Grove & Co. could potentially become the industry leader, as there are not many jewelers out there that cater specifically to this market. What was even more promising for Hudson Grove was the finding that the LGBT community utilizes social media and engages in the online world at a significantly higher level than the heterosexual community. Specifically, they reported frequently interacting with websites that both cater to their community and take an activist stance, promoting gay marriage and LGBT equality.

This finding was key to our social media strategy for Hudson Grove. At the core of the campaign will be a blog where Hudson Grove will ignite conversation about the fight for LGBT marriage rights and social equality. By posting news articles and issues within the community, Hudson Grove’s blog will serve as a platform for the community to talk about the movement. Furthermore, as conversation spreads online, Hudson Grove will be forging relationships with potential clients who will turn to the brand when in need of wedding jewelry. To supplement the blog, TNH will also be setting up the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages to further direct consumers to the blog and increase their presence online.

photo taken from wordpress.com

Keep your eyes out for the blog and social media sites soon!

Only ONE condom

-Leah Drewnowski, project director

What type of condoms do you use? Personal question I know, but when you think about condoms what are the first three brands that come to your mind? Let me guess …

Trojan, Durex and Lifestyles

That’s what everyone says. Not anymore. ONE condoms is taking on the big boys and they are starting this journey with the help of TNH. If you haven’t heard of ONE, take a look. ONE condoms are unique. They come in circular wrappers with over 250 witty designs and are packaged in tin cases. What’s your favorite saying?

Last semester our team conducted research in order to position ONE in the market and develop a strategy to most efficiently build brand awareness and loyalty. We analyzed MRI data, did netnography studies and conducted several focus groups. The findings helped us develop two campaigns, based on the common theme of empowering women. We decided that the competition effectively targets men, so why not take advantage of targeting women? Plus, when it comes to sex, women are most likely going to make or break the decision. That’s right boys, like it or not, she has the final say. So, in order to build awareness for this relatively new brand, we decided to reach out to women and reassure them that they have the power when it comes to sex, and that ONE will provide them with the extra confidence needed when making condom-related decisions. Also, while creating a relationship with females ONE indirectly targets men – if she wants ONE I’m sure you guys will have no problem using ONE. Great strategy.

This semester our team moved on to two other projects. The first project was a website makeover – ONE was in need of major renovating. After in-depth research on both ONE and the competitions’ websites, we developed an inclusive report, explaining ONE’s weaknesses and opportunities, while our creatives went to work building website templates.  The second project, which is currently under way, is a social media strategy. We’ve already conducted the research, now we are working on the strategy. Overall, this semester has been extremely hands on and our team has produced great work full of great ideas!

So next time you are in Target, pick up a package of ONE condoms – Even if you do not plan on using them, the innovative sayings will be sure to make you laugh. And, if you think you’re creative enough to design a better wrapper, submit your idea to the Design ONE contest. 

The meaning of logistics

A few brands have been going retro with their campaigns. I'm talking song or a jingle retro. Nationwide Insurance is by my side. Like a good neighbour, State Farm is here. The scene is getting pretty crowded if you ask me! UPS stands out thanks to its excellent cinematography and the great insight that went into the ad - no one knows or cares about whatever the hell "logistics" means. With this commercial, UPS defines it for you in an emotional way, and hence now owns that word in your dictionary. Pretty brilliant! Unfortunately they don't seem to be maximizing the potential of this strategic idea. I see so much more that can be done to turn this into a social campaign and build more hype around the services! Here are a few keywords to work off of: simplifying life, cross-border relationships, support for small businesses, stories, stories, stories...

-Yang Yang, Director of Strategy

The NewHouse and the Memorabilia Industry Leader

-Adam Rubin, Project Director

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard of Steiner Sports Memorabilia – they’re the industry leader in memorabilia.  You can’t watch a Yankees game on TV without hearing their name, and you’ve probably noticed Steiner signs at the Carrier Dome.  So when I found out that the man who started it all, Brandon Steiner, is a Syracuse alum and wanted our agency to do some work for them, I was ecstatic at the opportunity.

Last semester, our team created a full social media campaign for Steiner Sports’ holiday sales.  You can get a little snippet here.  We wanted Steiner Sports to help women “Beat the Game Face.”  The overall premise of the campaign was that every year, guys are forced to put on a fake game face when they receive a boring present.  But if you get your man a Steiner gift, they won’t have to fake anything – and you’ll “Beat the Game Face.”

This semester, we’re continuing to work for Steiner Sports, but with the holiday season over, we’re starting some new projects.  Look out for this in the coming months, but we will be running some sort of “pimp-my-room” competition for the Syracuse fan that bleeds orange the hardest.  Additionally, we will continue to help Steiner Sports from a social media/tech aspect – building the brand’s presence on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc. will be key.

But if you need any ‘Cuse gear and can’t wait until we run our contest, head on over to the Steiner Sports website and start shopping.  After all, lax season just started up, so I recommend checking out the lacrosse collection.

And keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming projects…

Ask the "experts"

-Matt Conte, Creative Director

As an advertising student for the past four years, a once prevalent thought that used to cross my mind every once in a while has marinated and festered into a nagging belief that refuses to exit the confines between my ears. It is a belief that stems from the fact that nearly every student of the advertising profession (notice I didn’t say advertising student) is so caught up in pleasing their peers that the lifeblood of the advertising profession tends to be an afterthought. By lifeblood, I am referring to the general masses. You know, the people with the purchasing power necessary to fuel the big old machine that is advertising and marketing.

Too often, in my opinion, do I witness my advertising peers place themselves on a sort of pedestal as if a power has been invested into them to be able to judge what is considered good work or bad work. As such, constant over analysis by self-proclaimed “experts” has become the norm. You’ve heard the conversations between these “experts” before. They go something like this:

“My god, I can’t believe they used Helvetica.”

“That car is riding on the mountains because it represents freedom.”

But the point of the matter is that it is irrelevant what we as students of advertising like or consider good work. Do you think the average person sees an ad and recognizes the Helvetica font? Of course not. Do you really believe that your average Joe sees the car ad and thinks, “Boy, I’ll be so free in that car to drive anywhere?” Of course not. Instead he’s more likely to say something along the lines of, “What the hell is that car doing in the mountains?”

So what am I getting at here exactly? What is my belief?

We as students of the advertising profession need to stop thinking about just pleasing our peers. We need to stop thinking about ourselves as the authority in determining the merit of an ad. Instead, we need to start focusing on the average consumer and what they want. After all,

it’s their money that determines the merit of an advertising campaign.

Editor's note: Matt didn't realize that his view aligns very closely with Sir David Ogilvy in Ogilvy on Advertising. "Good advertising is salesmanship," is the thesis of the book. If you agree at all with Matt, you should pick it up.