Fine arts junior Megan Losoncy represented The University of Tulsa at a competition with the Advertising Federation of Houston. In six hours, her team devised a marketing campaign for a company using her graphic design skills and Losoncy’s campaign placed in the competition. In a question and answer session, she shares her experience and how the TU School of Art, Design and Art History prepared her for a career in graphic design. She also provided images of her winning design work.
What was the competition?
The competition was hosted by the American Advertising Federation of Houston. The goal was to place students in groups of 9 -10 from all different universities and ask them to work together to create a fully developed marketing campaign for a client. We were given six hours to complete this task and then gave a presentation to a panel of four judges. From there, the judges graded us on a few different categories such as presentation skills, graphic artwork, marketing research and the overall campaign idea.
Who was your client?
Our client was 77 which is owned by Phillips 66. It is a gas station that also sells gas to wholesalers. They are currently very popular in the west coast but need help making their east coast stores better recognized. Our target was to create a campaign to attract people to their gas stations located on the east coast.
What was your winning idea?
Our idea was to take a spin on Route 66 and call it Route 76. The whole campaign was based on a road trip theme. As people travel Route 76, they will reach their “destination location.” Each of the cities that 76 wanted to focus on within this route would have specialized events or partnerships to bring in customers. They would also have destination apparel that was only available for the year that the campaign runs and only available at specific locations. Along with the apparel they would be enticed by geotags and rewards. As they approach the gas stations, they will receive a geotag on Snapchat and in the app that can add up to rewards as they continue to stop at each station.
How has your time at TU helped you to create a campaign in six hours?
The experience was fun but stressful. We were all pressured as we had so much to get done in so little time, and we had only just met each other. However, because I’m from the graphic design program at TU, I was extremely prepared. We are stretched and taught to meet deadlines even if we don’t feel like we can. The classes we take allow us to become well-rounded designers with classes such as photography, typography, drawing and collage. This allowed my creativity to soar and also allowed me to produce designs under pressure. After talking with a few designers from other schools, I realized just how lucky I was to be part of this program. The other designers stressed how laid back their professors were and that they weren’t learning the techniques that we were learning. I am coming out of this weekend with so much gratitude toward the art professors at TU, especially Teresa Valero. Even when I was tired and didn’t think my brain could create anymore, I thought back to those tough times in class, where they all pushed me to keep going and try new things and never settle. It is teaching like this that creates successful, forward-thinking creatives, like myself.