Creating Around the Clock

By Mike Porter

While most of their fellow students enjoyed spring break, more than 50 students from Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University dedicated a portion of their time away from classes to work for area nonprofit organizations.

Undergraduate students from the VCU School of Mass Communications, VCU School of the Arts and VSU’s art and design program, along with graduate students from the VCU Brandcenter spent 24 consecutive hours working for free to develop marketing campaigns for the nonprofits as part of the third annual CreateAthon onCampus.

“At the end of the day, I want students to have as much real-world experience as possible,” said Peyton Rowe, associate professor of advertising at VCU and director of the project. “They’ll work extremely hard, have fun and test themselves creatively.”

Students were divided into teams and assigned to one of 10 nonprofit organizations. VCU creative advertising student Britni Puccio led the team that worked on a campaign for the Virginia Water Safety Coalition,

“I’ve been talking this up to my mom since November,” Puccio said.

Puccio and her team went right to work in the Temple Building classroom that would serve as their base for the next 24 hours. Nervous energy filled the room as the volunteers chatted and laughed. But soon, the students became quiet when Puccio reviewed her group’s goals and instructed members to take some time alone to brainstorm ideas. Some opted to go outside, taking advantage of the sun, the unseasonably warm weather and the quiet campus.

Similar scenes played out in other spaces in and around Temple Building. While Puccio’s group focused on the Virginia Water Safety Coalition, other students began designing campaigns for Boaz & Ruth, the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, Equality Virginia, the James River Association, Maynard Childhood Cancer Foundation, Prevent A Litter, Special Olympics of Virginia, the William Byrd Community House, the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation and the Virginia Water Safety Coalition.

The 10 nonprofit groups were selected from a pool of 83 that applied for participation. Nonprofits were selected based on the organizations’ limited resources and how well their needs matched the students’ expertise and the 24-hour creative window.

“The brainstorming session in the morning really paid off in laying a strong foundation for each group’s work,” said Rowe.

By mid-afternoon, the students had become very familiar with their clients’ existing Web sites and current advertising efforts and started to flesh out their ideas for improvements. Puccio’s group used a blackboard in the classroom to sketch out possibilities for making the Virginia Water Safety Coalition site more user-friendly.

The group also decided to create a mascot to reach children. VSU graphic design student James Parker worked on “Whistler the water-watching turtle.” Whistler was ultimately joined by Jumper, Finn and Quacky. All four characters were designed to deliver the coalition’s water safety message to children.  

“We’re doing pretty well right now,” Puccio said.

Local professionals described as the “brain trust” mentored students during the creative marathon. The students provided mentors with status updates and sought their feedback throughout the process during “share sessions.”

Rowe was impressed with the students’ progress following the late-afternoon share sessions.

“Three projects certainly had the ‘wow’ factor,” Rowe said.  “And really, everybody is in a good place.”

As the sun set, students started converting ideas from blackboards and notebooks to computers. 

By 10 p.m., fatigue was clearly setting in for Puccio’s group.

“I’m tired. I could use a coffee or a Red Bull,” Parker said.

“That’s what happens when you are in front of a computer for five hours,” Puccio replied.

Though tired, Puccio’s group remained focused. At a 10:30 p.m. meeting, volunteers selected a new logo for the Virginia Water Safety Coalition and designed t-shirts. By midnight’s share session, the team presented visuals of their project to mentors.

If Rowe was tired, she didn’t show it. As Thursday night became Friday morning, she shuttled between mentors and students, checked on a group’s progress, answered questions and prepared for the next share sessions.

“They’re knocking my socks off,” Rowe said before the midnight sessions began. “We’re just where we should be.”

Coffees and sodas helped the students press on. Rowe said the overnight hours can be challenging because exhaustion and frustration can take a toll as the deadline gets closer. Scooters and games were available to help keep participants alert, and naps were allowed for those who needed them, but no one in Puccio’s team slept. The time for completing the project was growing short and there was still plenty of work to be done.

In the early morning hours of Friday, teams put finishing touches on their work and mounted their ideas on presentation boards. All 10 teams completed on time, but their work wasn’t quite finished. Each team then had to pitch their ideas to representatives of their nonprofit client.

“Mentally we’re tired. Hopefully we can make complete sentences,” Puccio said. “Hey look, there’s the sun.”

Puccio’s group was the first to present, sharing the team’s vision for the new Web site, logo, children’s characters and T-shirts.

“First of all, it’s fantastic. I can’t get over the logo. It’s nice and clean,” said Anna Noller of the Virginia Water Safety Coalition.

The completed work is donated to the nonprofit organizations. Student team leaders will help guide the work through production, partnering with local vendors to eliminate production costs for the nonprofits.

“It’s nice to have an outside perspective and have innovation such as this. So, great job,” said Jodi Jensen of the Virginia Water Safety Coalition. 

The CreateAthon concept was developed by a South Carolina advertising agency in 1998. In 2008, VCU became the first university to launch a CreateAthon onCampus program. It is offered as part of a mass communication class and has proven worthwhile to nonprofit organizations and a valuable experience to participants.

Rowe said she’d like to see CreateAthon onCampus expand to other universities. She’s helped James Madison University establish its first CreateAthon, which takes place late in March. She will also meet with representatives of Clemson University in April to discuss starting a program there.

For more information about VCU’s CreateAthon on campus, visit http://createathononcampus.org/vcu/.