In December, I finished my last class for my advertising degree, Advertising Campaigns. It’s a semester long class project as we work in ‘mini agency’ teams of seven or eight people, with each person performing different typical agency role. It runs very much like an agency does in the real world- get a client with a problem, brainstorm a campaign to fix the problem, and pitch the fully realized campaign. Campaigns is known to give students a long and stressful semester, but it’s also the amazing time where everything learned up until that point comes together to make an amazing campaign.

Our team came up with the name ‘Team Retrieve’, an homage to one of our team member’s golden retriever, Dolly. Our lovable guide dog-in-training stayed with us until about four days before our pitch, when she was called in to start the next phase in her life as a breeder. We’re all still bummed she couldn’t come to the pitch with us.

I ended up being the Research Analyst for my team, as I was the one pulling most the consumer data and industry trend reports. But as the semester went on, I found myself touching almost every aspect of the campaign. As stressful as it was, I found myself enjoying the long hours at the MLC. I was finally creating, which is something I’ve been pining to do since I entered Grady. Don’t get me wrong -my time as an advertising major has been filled with very interesting classes, but they mostly consist of lectures and Scantron tests. I wanted to do create something to prove to myself that I could work in an agency setting and make good work.

And incidentally enough, our client was the Atlanta Falcons. The ones playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday? The ones that America wants to win? I’m not saying that we had anything to do with it, but… I like to think that we did.

You can check out my team’s final plansbook here. I was also responsible for editing my team’s sizzle reel, but I’m hesitant on uploading it due to YouTube copyright.

Also, check out my amazing team:

Account Executive: Alisa Enochs (also has awesome blogs here and here)

Brand Planner: Sarah Young

Media Planner: Momoko Takenaka

IMC Strategist: Marianna Guerrero

Copywriter: Katy Sunderland

Art Director: Emily Laramy

*Disclaimer: Due to some incidents involving other teams in my class, I want to clarify that I am not an employee of the Atlanta Falcons. While professionally created and presented to the best of our abilities, this campaign was created for a college class, and we in no way are affiliated with Atlanta Falcons.