February 07, 2007
Bowling Green, Ky. - AdFed, the Western Kentucky University collegiate chapter of the American Advertising Federation, is sending 18 of its members to New York City for its annual networking trip to visit ad agencies and media firms. And they plan to take all of their supporters with them, at least virtually.
With the help of popular technology, this year’s networking project, WKU AdFed: Adventures in New York City,will take a slightly different approach. Instead of just calling friends and family while in New York City or giving donors a report when they return, students will go one step further and post daily video updates on YouTube so anyone with Internet access can see what they are accomplishing each day.
Founded in February 2005, YouTube is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, blogs, and e-mail.
WKU AdFed: Adventures in New York City began in December 2006 with the launch ofan online fundraising campaign to reach WKU advertising alumni and friends. Other fundraising efforts, including spirit bead sales, were also conducted by AdFed throughout the school year to support this annual trip.
“The fundraising campaign is providing funds for part of our trip, and we are so pleased to have the alumni support. However, the real payoff for students and donors will be the video experiences we will share,” said BryAnn Roth, WKU advertising major and president of WKU’s AdFed. “We are looking forward to applying many of the skills we are learning in the classroom, and our daily video updates will help donors, current students, faculty, parents and friends actually track our adventures. It's a win-win situation for all.”
According to WKU’s Ad+PR program in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting, conducting hands-on projects of this type is not unusual. “Our faculty is dedicated to bridging the gap between theory and practice,” said Cliff Shaluta, associate professor and coordinator of the program.
“ ‘Adventures in New York City’ gives WKU students yet another opportunity to learn by implementing their classroom experience in a real-life setting. The students will storyboard their video concepts before they leave for the trip and shoot, edit and upload the video diaries each evening,” Shaluta added. “The learning experience will be unmatched, and all of us will have access to video of what our students actually learn and do in our program."
To date, the students have scheduled meetings in New York with ad giant DDB, Comp 24, CSTV, MAXUS Global, CBS Radio and Google Inc., the recent purchasers of YouTube.
Donations for WKU Ad Fed: Adventures in New York City can be submitted to https://www.wku.edu/makeagift/. Video diaries will be posted on www.youtube.com and on the WKU Ad+PR program Web site at www.wkufusion.com beginning Wednesday, Feb. 21.
The Ad+PR program is part of WKU’s award-winning School of Journalism and Broadcasting. With 175 students, the advertising sequence trains students in four distinct areas of study: account services, print advertising, broadcast advertising and interactive advertising. The School of Journalism and Broadcasting offers six school programs including broadcasting, mass communication, photojournalism, print journalism and public relations as well as advertising.
More information about the WKU Ad+PR program is available at http://www.wku.edu/Journalism or www.wkufusion.com.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Vicki Bagwell at (270) 745-5834 or vicki.bagwell@wku.edu.
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