Ad by Method Creative

What do dairy products, air filters, and Ziploc bags have in common? They were the subjects of the three ADDY award-winning ads by Temerlin Advertising students at the annual Dallas Ad League competition, held in early February. In November, students won a record seven medals at the Art Director’s Club of Houston competition, promoting subjects as diverse as Six Flags Fright Fest and Neutrogena Sunless Tanning lotion. In August, student print campaigns were showcased in the national CMYK Magazine, a quarterly publication that features the best creative work from aspiring art directors, copywriters, photographers, and illustrators around the globe – and Temerlin has been notified that additional student work will be featured this spring.  
 
These accolades are just the most recent in an impressive list that indicates the growth, in success and recognition, of Temerlin’s creative training program, Method Creative.
 

Ad by Method Creative

“When I came here in July 2002, the advertising program was strong in the strategic business and research side of the curriculum, but had not emphasized the creative side, training art directors and copywriters,” said Dr. Patricia Alvey, Distinguished Chair and Director of the Temerlin Advertising Institute. “Over the past six years, we’ve changed the curriculum, hired new faculty and generally worked very hard to raise the national profile of the creative program. Dr. Glenn Griffin joined the faculty in 2005, from UT’s renowned creative program, bringing teaching and scholarly expertise to help build the Institute’s reputation for developing young creative talent. We also recruited Mark Allen, a former faculty member in UNT’s exceptional graphic design program.  Glenn and Mark have made it their goal to achieve this vision.”
 
One glance at the list of honors achieved in the past three years makes it clear that the Method Creative program has already begun to establish a national reputation.

“Entering creative advertising competitions is one way that students and their universities can gain regional and national attention,” said Dr. Alvey.  “SMU already had a national award under its belt with the National Student Advertising Competition in 2002, but for creative work, the competitions are completely different.

“We began, quietly at first, to enter regional shows. Then as we felt the work was getting stronger, we began to participate in the higher profile competitions: The One Show, The Art Directors Club of New York. Then we began to receive ‘invitation only’ opportunities from the most prestigious New York-based showcases -- The One Club Student Exhibition, The One Club Client Pitch Competition, The Art Directors Club Portfolio Review. These invitations are extended to only a handful of advertising schools in the world.”

Dr. Alvey noted that while it takes substantial resources to prepare, enter and ship work, and to support student and faculty travel to exhibits and competitions, it’s very important for SMU advertising students to participate in them. “The creative leaders of our industry pay attention to them,” she said. “Recruiters look for new talent. The industry media evaluates which schools are producing the most outstanding work.”  She said that Temerlin has received generous support from Meadows School student travel and competition grants and Meadows Foundation Student Exploration grants for this purpose. In addition, a former student, Chrissy Collins, has provided a small endowment so that students can go to the sort of competitions and exhibits that will help them.

In addition to the awards, Method Creative students are earning praise from industry leaders for their work. For example, following the November competition, Houston Art Directors’ Club Vice President Alex Barber wrote to professor Mark Allen, "Congratulations to students on the great work! I really enjoyed everything from SMU that got awards and thought it was consistently strong. The judges and I were also impressed by the copywriting this year - we had so many ads come through with good copy and headlines. I hope to see more work next year."

Dr. Alvey said, “We’re still growing and refining the program and on the horizon are more international competitions -- the ANDYs, the CLIOs, Cannes.  Right now there are fewer than half a dozen undergraduate programs in the country which consistently produce top-caliber creative professionals. We are very close to joining them!”

Method Creative students at 2008 ADDY Awards

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