UT Ex Grad Student Named as One of the Top Five Ad School Graduates

Maureen Bongiovanni, December 2005 graduate from the MA program in the Department of Advertising was recently named as one of the Top 5 Ad School Grads by Adweek magazine.

Maureen is currently a copywriter for Crispin Porter + Bogusky. At CP+B, where she has been working for two months, she works on Gap, EarthLink and Mini. According to the Adweek article while at UT "...she learned 'how to think' about advertising ...Professors have a lot of experience and are so supportive. They want to make sure you're making the most of your time there." Texas Creative Professor Sean Thompson commented, "Maureen is an incredibly talented writer, and a joy to work with. I was lucky enough to have her in three portfolio classes, and was able to see her do her first ad as a student, and her last. It's so much fun to see a student with huge potential grow into such a smart and inventive professional."

Maureen entered the MA program during Fall 2002 with impressive academic credentials from LSU. She completed the Texas Creative program as part of her elective courses while at UT. The MA program in Advertising is a 33-39 hour program. Because of the flexibility, students interested in all aspects of the advertising business work and study together. Along with the Texas Creative Program, the Texas Interactive and the Texas Media programs prepare students to work in the dynamic media environment. The Center for Brand Research and the Center for Interactive Advertising are just two examples of the resources available to encourage student interests in Account/Brand Planning and Interactive.

Congratulations to Maureen from all of us at Texas Advertising. The article about Maureen is as it appeared in Adweek follows.

Maureen Bongiovanni

Crispin Porter + Bogusky is the dream first job of, oh, just about every ad school grad on the planet-so how did Maureen Bongiovanni score her position? A little networking with a fellow University of Texas alumnus and a book of clever copy laced with black humor.

Art director Kat Morris, Bongiovanni's partner at CP+B, recalls being struck by her unique voice as a copywriter. "A lot of her stuff, it just didn't skew toward one gender or another, it had a dry sense of humor, a smart wit. I call it British humor", she says.

Bongiovanni, who is from Baton Rouge, La., graduated from LSU in December 2001 with a degree in public relations, but found herself drawn to advertising. Not sure if she wanted to go into the account or creative side of things, she enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. After taking an intro to creativ! e class, she was hooked.

"I guess it's been pointed out that there are a lot of death and drugs in a funny way in my book", says Bongiovanni, who describes her own work as "kind of dark humor."

One example? A spec ad for the Girl Scouts, in the style of an old manual, shows two girls ironing. Copy reads, "Golly, a little corn starch gets cougar blood right out!"

Bongiovanni didn't have any internships while at UT, but she did win two student Austin Addys, and has a spec ad for Popular Science magazine in CMYK.

While at school, she learned "how to think" about advertising, she says. "Professors have a lot of experience and are so supportive. They want to make sure you're making the most of your time there."

At a portfolio review last year, she met Ben James, an alum of the University of Texas who was working at CP+B. She kept in touch with ! him, and after she graduated in December with a master's degree in advertising, she sent the agency her book. She got a call from a recruiter a few months later.

At CP+B, where she has been working for two months, she partners with Morris on Gap, EarthLink and Mini (though no work she has done has come out yet).

"She's very hard-working. When she came in, she didn't stop typing", Morris says. "She's sending those e-mails at 2 a.m., no problem."

"I used to have hobbies", Bongiovanni jokes, about her sudden lack of free time. (In fact, she still finds time to knit and write.) Luckily, the agency has "a really fun atmosphere", she says. "Everyone seems to really enjoy what they're doing."

6/15/2005