VCU Prepares for Fourth CreateAthon onCampus

By Mike Porter

Students from Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University will spend 24 consecutive hours completing marketing and advertising projects for free for 12 area nonprofits beginning Thursday morning.

The 60 student volunteers will participate in the fourth CreateAthon onCampus, a marathon of student-generated creative work designed to help nonprofit organizations with little or no resources for advertising and marketing initiatives.

Students will begin working at VCU on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. and will continue nonstop for the next 24 hours before presenting their finished projects to their clients on Friday morning.

In 2008, VCU became the first university to launch a CreateAthon program, which has been used by professional advertising agencies around the country. The first three CreateAthon onCampus events served 34 nonprofit groups by providing services worth $440,000.

“It’s my favorite day of the year,” said Peyton Rowe, associate professor of advertising at VCU, creator of CreateAthon on Campus and director of the project. “It’s a great way for students to learn about nonprofit organizations in Richmond and the marathon model of CreateAthon.” 

Student team leaders guide the work through production, partnering with local vendors to eliminate production costs for the nonprofits. The team leaders will document their experiences through blogs, available at http://www.createathononcampus.org/blog.php.

Student teams have been planning for this week’s work since January. Participants include undergraduate students from the VCU School of Mass Communications, VCU School of the Arts and VSU’s art and design program, and graduate students from the VCU Brandcenter. In addition to the students, local professionals will volunteer during the creative blitz, serving as mentors to the teams.

The participating nonprofit organizations, selected from a pool of applications submitted last fall, are Byrd Theatre Foundation; CJ's Thumbs Up Foundation; Culture Works; F.I.R.S.T. Contractors, Inc.; Friends of the James River Park; Henley Street Theater; Housing Options; Neighborhood Resource Center; Richmond Ambulance Authority; Safe Harbor; St. James Children's Center and the Virginia Latino Education Network.

The organizations were selected based on the organizations’ limited resources and how well their needs matched the students’ expertise and the 24-hour creative window.

The students’ work will be supported by 24 advertising and marketing professionals, including nine who will stay all 24 hours.

For more information, visit http://createathononcampus.org/vcu/.