TCU Daily Skiff Friday, April 16, 2004
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Journalism department to launch advertising agency in fall
An alumnus and former advertising CEO will lead the student-run advertising/public relations firm when it starts.

By Julia Mae Jorgensen

In an effort to market its students to the nation and provide them with real world experience, the journalism department announced Thursday it is pursuing plans to launch a student-run advertising/public relations agency in the fall.

The program would be the first of its kind in the United States, said Tommy Thomason, department chairman.

“This has been in my master plan for the department for the past four years,” Thomason said.

The director of the pioneer program is Greg Regian, a TCU alumnus and former president and CEO of Regian & Wilson Advertising, once the largest advertising agency in Fort Worth. Regian made the announcement to a full classroom during a joint Advertising Club and Public Relations Student Society of America meeting.

“You’ve got to have the balance of theoretical and real world experience,” Regian said.

Regian said when he was a student at TCU one of his critiques was not getting the necessary experience to produce a résumé.

“I’ve got the opportunity to share with all of you a part of the real world experience,” he said.

The name of the agency will be Real World Advertising. It will have four core sponsors during its planning stages: a real estate company, a shoe retailer, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Fort Worth Zoo. The program will use the sponsor’s marketing budgets as the funding source for the class, Regian said.

“This is a teaching opportunity with real world clients and real world results,” Thomason said.

Once the program receives complete university approval for the agency in the coming months, the journalism department plans to offer it as a class in the fall. The number of credit hours for the class is yet to be determined.

Thomason said the department is looking at storefront property to provide a real business setting.

Regian said the genius behind the program is that students are not creating conceptual ad campaigns, but real advertisements and complete marketing campaigns. Students will see their ads, if bought by the client, in the Star-Telegram and on billboards throughout Fort Worth, Regian said.

Jessica Danford, a junior advertising/public relations major, said the new program sounds incredible.

“It’s one thing to learn about the principles of advertising in a classroom and it’s completely another to do it in a professional setting,” Danford said. “This will give us a jump on our careers.”

Regian said a student-run advertising agency is “perfect” for both the journalism department and the university.
 
 
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