RALEIGH – WE are a success.
“WE” is the phrase Campbell University students conceived to capture the selfless work of Wake Enterprise (WE), a non-profit organization that serves people with disabilities with employment opportunities.
The American Advertising Federation Raleigh-Durham recently recognized students in the Department of Mass Communication for their part in a $220,000 Public Service Announcement campaign.
“We want to recognize Campbell University for giving us the germ of an idea for this campaign,” noted Mike Allen, president of AAF Raleigh-Durham. Allen praised the students at a Jan. 22 ad club luncheon. He applauded them for helping create the WE concept along with the copy about “Real people, real solutions.”
The ad campaign, started in fall semester 2008, will be seen in early February on billboards, TV and radio spots, print ads and on interactive media.
The ad club created the campaign to help Wake Enterprises tell its story to residents of the Triangle. According to Walter Weeks, executive director of Wake Enterprises, his organization can help business with a reliable labor pool who earn paychecks assembling electric meter components, sorting envelopes and accomplishing other tasks.
Weeks applauded the students for their semester-long efforts and their creativity.
“Wake Enterprises now uses the ‘WE’ idea in all its materials,” he said. “The concept of ‘WE’ gets at the idea that families are involved with our clients, businesses are involved in our clients, the community is involved with our clients and our clients are involved with them. We’re all in this work together.”
Attending the luncheon at the Marbles Kid Museum in Raleigh were students Meredith Brunson, Dinecea Gates, Carole Laughton and Hilary Wheatley and Professor Michael Ray Smith of the department of Mass Communication. Smith worked with Dr. Edward A. Johnson of the Mass Communication department on the PSA campaign. Johnson has led two other classes to national recognition based on the PSA campaigns.
The students worked with ad club members Aubrey Eckerson and Rob Frasketi to suggest a campaign. Eckerson and Frasketi recruited other talented professionals from the community to produce the TV spots, shoot the print ads and developed other aspects of the PSA.
“Promotion is about lots of ideas,” said Smith. “The ones that make it often are the ones that are the most basic. The students and the ad club created a basic campaign that is beautiful for its simplicity. It’s quite moving and they were the creative minds that behind the efforts.”
The students who participated are Meredith Brunson, Drew Cumbee, Dinecia Gates, Brittany Blackmon, Samantha Holvey, Kristen Hoogmoed, Richard Jata, Laura Gates, Carole Laughton, Hillary Wheatley, Nicklaus Edward, Patricia Butterfield, Lori Crabtree, Sarah McNeil and Whitney Wood.