Sixth Sense: Undergraduate Campaigns

What does it take to successfully pitch a campaign to one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies?

Thorough research? Innovative strategies? A killer closing?

Or maybe just some Sixth Sense?

A team of undergraduate advertising and public relations, Sixth Sense competed with four other student teams to create a campaign for telecommunications giant AT&T. Armed with only their brains and a hypothetical $4 million budget, these students were asked to formulate a plan to target the LGBT community. For Sixth Sense, this meant more than just following the trends emerging in the LGBT market.

“We wanted to reach the market on a more real and personal level,” said Farah Ghosheh, a member of the Sixth Sense team.

Following the theme “Equal Coverage,” Sixth Sense members pitched a variety of ideas based on the discovery that many members of the LGBT community shared a strong desire to be recognized as equals. This research led to the development of a campaign based on creative “coverage” through advertising and public relations strategies, both traditional and innovative.

Judges Laura Hernandez, Jennifer Beltz and Michael Murphy, all contributors to AT&T’s marketing efforts, presided over the challenge and offered feedback to the teams following their presentations. One especially strong element of the Sixth Sense pitch was their closing statement, which communicated the team’s passion for the campaign. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Sixth Sense presentation.

“We did lose AT&T’s interest slightly when we presented one of our guerilla marketing tactics. They absolutely hated the idea, but it was a good learning experience,” said Shea Craig, Sixth Sense team member. “Even though the client disliked a portion of our campaign, we were still able to impress them and win their business.”

The AT&T campaign pitch was the culminating element of a project for Dr. Wilcox’s campaigns class. Students from both the advertising and public relations major are required to take this course, which draws on knowledge from previous courses and requires students to develop complete campaigns on a near-professional level.

“This was a great campaigns project,” said Dr. Gary Wilcox, a professor in the advertising department. “AT&T was a wonderful client and all of the student teams did an excellent job!”