On class tour, students get inside look at SNL’s communications strategies
Inside the Harry Ransom Center’s latest exhibit, Live from New York: The Lorne Michaels Collection, decades of television history unfold in handwritten notes, annotated scripts and carefully preserved correspondence. For AdPR students who were there for a recent class, the exhibit provided engaging lessons on branding, crisis communication and relationship building.
“Since the mid-1970s, Saturday Night Live has been a touchstone in pop culture and controversy,” said Professor Dave Junker, whose PR 348 Public Relations Techniques was there for a customized class tour. “I knew the exhibit would resonate with students, but just how much was a welcome surprise.”
Senior Lexi Meador was one of the 30 students who took it all in under the guidance of two of the archive’s docents.
“I got excited when I recognized certain sketches,” says Meador, a public relations and Plan II double major. “It’s cool that the show feels generational. It’s something we’ve watched with our parents, and now we’re seeing how it was built.”
The Ransom Center is an example of the amazing resources on campus for Advertising and Public Relations students. It’s been a frequent stop for some of Junker’s classes, as it contains artifacts from communication history, including an original Guttenberg Bible and the first known photograph (taken by the camera obscura in 1827).
The temporary SNL collection provided students a fresh point of reference, with particular relevance to marketing and public relations.
“Seeing the behind-the-scenes documents made everything feel real,” said junior Jenna Hurley, a public relations and government senior. “It showed us how much strategy goes into building something that lasts.”
Those documents – collected by Michaels during his long career as a TV and film producer -- included rehearsal drafts, official press releases, promotional plans, premiere events, advertisements, and internal newsletters for the show’s staff and cast. “A lot of the pieces relate back to branding,” said Vickie Weiss, one of the expert docents leading the tour. “You have to do something to make people remember the product, just like how each artifact in this exhibit reinforces the identity of SNL and the work Michaels did.”
The displays allowed students to compare internal strategy and messaging with what they were designed to promote: a new season for the show, the next guest host, or a new movie based on a popular character or sketch.
Other internal documents offered lessons on the importance of relationship building, from copies of staff newsletters to personal correspondence with big stars or political figures. A wall of hand-written notes between Michaels and the show’s famous guest hosts -- like Tom Hanks, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Guiliani and Drew Barrymore – suggest how personal integrity has buoyed the brand during times of crisis and contributed to its longevity.
“It was really interesting to hear SNL’s actions in moments of crisis and how they handled correspondence throughout different stages of the show,” said Taylor Bedford, a sophomore public relations major. “Reading the news releases wasreally interesting to get firsthand insight into how they handled communications.”
Perhaps no SNL controversy is more famous than the night pop singer Sinéad O’Connor shocked audiences and producers by ripping a photo of Pope John Paul II into pieces while on stage for a musical performance.
Meant to protest child-sex abuse in the church, O’Connor’s gesture was met by outrage from a broad range of people, including actor Joe Pesci, who appeared as the guest host the following week with the torn photo taped back together. That photo is on display at the Ransom Center.
“It was really insightful to see PR artifacts at this exhibit, like the photograph,” said Addison Andrew, a sophomore public relations major. “We always go over PR case studies in class, and having the opportunity to examine one at the Harry Ransom Center helped me understand our concepts even more.”
The exhibition, Live from New York: The Lorne Michaels Collection, was open to students and the public during spring semester. Located just steps from campus, the Harry Ransom Center offers students ongoing opportunities to connect classroom concepts with real-world communication practice.
