Jumping Into Newhouse with Two Feet: Working at TNH

One of the many benefits of being a Newhouse student is the access to so many opportunities to get involved and gain real-world experience before you walk across the Carrier Dome stage on graduation day. I’m about to take on my biggest project of the semester as an advertising graduate student. I couldn’t be more excited about it, but the pressure is definitely on.

Newhouse is home to the largest student-run advertising agency in the country, called TNH. TNH brings together students from disciplines across campus to do pro bono advertising work for a wide spectrum of businesses, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved. Its members graduate with legitimate agency experience on their resumes and expanded portfolios, and many of the clients are local or small businesses who might not have the resources to contract a professional agency. Many of my fellow graduate students are getting involved, mainly in strategy or creative positions, and TNH alumni have gone on to work at some of the best-known advertising agencies.

I was fortunate to be awarded an account manager position this semester with The Hero Lab, a non-profit which works to bolster academic achievement, cultivate self-esteem and improve mental health for at-risk youth in Baltimore, Maryland and Mumbai, India. They are TNH’s first international client, and some of our goals for collaboration this semester include expanding their social media presence, creating an integrated digital/print advertising campaign and expanding their physical presence to other cities who could benefit from the work they do. The themes of this campaign are success and optimism: we want to show the world The Hero Lab’s success stories, prove the importance of their core values and provide a sense of hope for others in similar positions.

I am in charge of all contact with the client and passing information along to my strategy and creative teams, which are comprised of other Syracuse students. I’m most excited to build a real connection with the client and be able to finish the semester knowing I made a contribution to something greater than myself. You cannot learn everything you need to know for “the real world” in a classroom, and this is especially difficult with advertising because so much of the work you do depends on client interaction. I find it rare in this industry to be so inspired by an account; I hope that the work my team puts together does The Hero Lab’s work justice. I’m so excited about TNH because it is allowing me to take what I’m learning in the classroom with the top professors in the country, and put it to use for the benefit of someone else.

–Laurie Silverstein is a graduate student studying advertising