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When experience meets networking: Internship highlights from CMCI

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 15:23:19 +0000

When experience meets networking: Internship highlights from CMCI Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/30/2023 - 09:23

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)
Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18)

When Pepsi eventually comes out with its snack-focused campaign, one strategic communication student from the ��«��Ƶ will smile knowing he was part of it.

Enzo Ewari, a senior in the College of Media Communication and Information, has been interning with Motive—a full-service marketing and advertising agency—since the summer. As part of his work, he assisted with campaigns for brands like Gatorade, Cheetos, Pepsi and more.

Motive was impressed enough with his work to extend his internship into the fall semester, and Ewari hopes to stay at the company after graduation.

“As I get more involved, I’ll be working on my own campaigns, so hopefully by springtime, I’ll be solely working on one campaign,” he said. “I love Motive, it’s a great culture. They have sister agencies on every continent; I’ve been talking about moving to New York or Singapore. There are a lot of opportunities.”

In high school, Ewari took a business class, and was instantly hooked by the fast-paced energy and possibilities it provided. However, he wanted something more creative, which led him to study advertising. In fact, one of his professors reached out with the opportunity to intern with his own advertising and marketing boutique and assist on a campaign for a whiskey company—just one of his internship experiences, which have included work for PHD Media, Special Olympics International and Volkswagen.

“CMCI is your friend. Just talk to your professors, most of them are still doing work,” he said. “That helped me get this internship.
—Enzo Ewari

When it came to Motive, not only did Ewari’s foundational courses prove incredibly helpful on his internship, various hands-on experiences both in and out of the classroom helped him grow and develop skills, as well.

“Enzo has proven to a valuable member of our team because he's resourceful, a self-starter, a quick learner, and also a curious human,” said Andrew Lynch, vice president of strategy at Motive and Ewari’s supervisor. “He's doing real, meaningful work that is helping us arrive at smart and sharp strategies.”

That practical experience and networking opportunity was pivotal, as it helped boost Ewari’s confidence in the field by giving him a taste of real-life advertising.

“CMCI is your friend. Just talk to your professors, most of them are still doing work,” he said. “That helped me get this internship.”

Networking and access to the right people proved useful once again in landing his role at Motive. David Martinez, inclusive excellence and outreach coordinator at CMCI, connected Ewari with one of Motive’s senior vice presidents of creative, Spencer Trierweiler (Advert’06), who is based out of the company’s Denver office.

“He helped push me through the process,” Ewari said. “A lot of my team is spread out across the United States. Day to day, it was a lot of looking at trends of different industries and deciding what competitors are doing to find a pocket in the market that our clients can hold.”

During his hybrid internship, he has been responsible for market research, taking what he’s learned and creating presentations exploring different advertising strategies a brand could take. Depending on who attended the presentation, Ewari and his team emphasize strategic or creative elements of a given campaign. For example, some creative-focused campaign proposals had interactive elements like pop-up shops or meet-and-greets with professional athletes.

“It’s all about connecting the data—how can you find that new lightbulb idea?” he said.

Lynch said an ability to find those ideas made Ewari such a valuable addition, especially when it came to brand positioning statements in competitive analyses.

"Enzo has been leading these analyses throughout his internship, and always delivers focused and smart category insights that we work into our strategy decks," Lynch said.

Senior strategic communication major Enzo Ewari has big ideas for the future. Now that he has an internship with Motive under his belt, he’s more confident in the advertising field and his place in it.

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Taulman, Wood To Compete At Paralympics In Beijing

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Taulman, Wood To Compete At Paralympics In Beijing Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/17/2022 - 00:00

The official Olympians count for the Colorado Buffaloes at the Winter Olympics in Beijing grew to 10 after the United States Olympic Committee announced the Paralympic alpine teams, a list that includes sophomore Kyle Taulman and former student Spencer Wood.

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CMCI Professor Elected President of the American Academy of Advertising

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 19:09:52 +0000

CMCI Professor Elected President of the American Academy of Advertising Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/13/2021 - 13:09

Lauren Irwin

Established in 1958, AAA’s mission is to provide a platform for its academic and professional members to exchange ideas that are relevant to the field of advertising. The organization has over 600 advertising scholars and professionals dedicated to advancing advertising knowledge and education globally.

"Harsha’s technical and international background bring a unique and needed perspective to advertising and we’re delighted that he will represent us at the national level,” said Lori Bergen, Founding Dean of CMCI. “His strengths in research, teaching and administration have been a strong asset for our college and I know that AAA will benefit from his exceptional leadership.”

Gangadharbatla’s term as president will last one year, until March 25, 2022, and then he will continue to serve on the executive board until March 2023. He is AAA’s 58th president.

"It is an honor and a privilege to serve as the AAA organization's first Indian-born president,” he said. “It is a testament to the forward-thinking and progressive nature of the academy to nominate and elect a person of color, born in a third world country to lead the organization.”

One of the organization’s many goals is to promote a formal and professional education for the next generation of advertising professionals.

"Having Professor Harsha as the president of AAA from our program is a moment of pride for APRD and CU students,” said Saima Kazmi, a doctoral student in the Media Research and Practice department. “It is likely to create higher visibility for our program, and generate more opportunities for research and interest from future students.”

Gangadharbatla has taught at the university level for over 15 years and served in numerous advertising organization leadership positions. Over the course of his involvement with AAA, he has served as the vice president of AAA, and chaired both the Research Committee and the International Advertising Education Committee—now, Global and Multicultural Committee.

As the founding chair for CMCI’s largest department, Gangadharbatla has recruited top instructors for students and helped create innovative courses and workshops, such as a weekend workshop in Programmatic Advertising. He currently teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses for advertising students in CMCI.

His research interests are at the intersections of technology, business and communication. Gangadharbatla also researches new and emerging technologies, the social effects of advertising and environmental communication.

Before entering advertising, he was an electrical engineer and worked for Cognizant Technology Solutions as a programmer writing code. He holds a Bachelor’s of Engineering from MNNIT in India, a Master’s of Arts in advertising from Michigan State University, and a doctorate in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin.

"The organization's annual conference in 2001 was my very first academic conference as a master's student at Michigan State, so being elected its president exactly 20 years later is something special,” Gangadharbatla said. “In many ways, AAA is not only my academic and professional home, but I also consider its members my extended family."

Gangadharbatla succeeds Eric Haley, a University of Tennessee advertising professor, as AAA president.

Harsha Gangadharbatla, associate professor of advertising at the College of Media, Communication and Information, is the newest president of the American Academy of Advertising (AAA) and the first ��«��Ƶ professor to earn the title. Established in 1958, AAA’s mission is to provide a platform for its academic and professional members to exchange ideas that are relevant to the field of advertising. The organization has over 600 advertising scholars and professionals dedicated to advancing advertising knowledge and education globally.

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