By: Nicole Andino
COVID-19: Every challenge creates an opportunity.
People don’t notice public relations when everything is going seamlessly, but when there is a crisis you need public relations to save the day.
As an advertising major at WVU, we practice and prepare for the moments where we have to communicate for businesses during a crisis. However, as a student supposed to graduate in May, I have experienced a new level of disappointment. Unfortunately, this crisis was inevitable, and I find some comfort in that. It doesn’t change the fact that I won’t be walking in graduation with my class, not to mention having my four years at WVU cut short.
Writing this I know I probably sound ungrateful for being healthy, but I do know these actions were placed for the best reasons to flatten the curve of the disease. I truly hope and wish the best for the people being most affected by this pandemic.
My courses have been adapting to this pandemic in many different ways. Some through Zoom lectures, and some through a small level of online communication. It has been an adjustment for everyone to change their weekly work habits to online platforms. Thankfully, we are fortunate enough to have the resources and technology that comes with being a student in the Reed College of Media. I am so lucky to be a part of the best college at WVU!
This semester, I applied to study abroad in France & Germany with my capstone course during spring break.
Our responsibility for the capstone was to create an agency to build a campaign for an international client based on a real request for proposal. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with a real client-- internationally-- before I even graduate.
I am working as an Account Executive to serve as the primary liaison between our client, my agency, our agency mentor, our class T.A., and our professor. I can say when I was first accepted in this position I was excited, yet anxious. This was my first professional experience with an international client, my first time out of the country, & first time being an executive for my own agency team.
We accepted the proposal to gain real world experience working as an agency. And that we did.
Since we were not able to travel abroad for our presentation, our client hosted a Zoom meeting to conduct the presentations. My team and I worked to practice our campaign pitch virtually while being in different locations.
It was all worth it. My groups’s agency, Tru Relations was selected as the winning team to implement our campaign plan to our client’s audiences and other partnering universities.
COVID-19 gave us a raw and authentic experience that made creating this campaign even more meaningful. As we dove into dealing with the very relevant and extreme crisis of COVID-19, we had to value the client’s target audience by incorporating their safety unit as a focus point in our campaign.
Crises like this are frightening, difficult, and unfortunately unavoidable. When dealing with COVID-19 and working with a client internationally it is vital we maintain communication through numerous Zoom meetings because we still have a job to do.
We are here for our client and the inability to go on the trip did not deter our passion for creating this campaign.
We found empowerment and unity in lifting each other up and working tirelessly towards our shared goal and passion of working in a creative agency. This pandemic taught us that life is never going to go exactly the way you want or plan. It strengthened our ability to work remotely with each other and with a client across the world. I cannot thank my team enough for the amount of effort and support they have offered during this time. Power truly does come in numbers.
Being a media student, this might have been our first crisis, however it will not be our last. Our job is to communicate for businesses/companies and make this time easier for them. Many businesses, including our client, will be permanently affected by this pandemic, so our job is to take this challenge and create an opportunity to utilize a plan and rebuild the company's strengths.
As Walt Disney once said, “it is kind of fun to do the impossible.” The amount of experience I have gained this semester has mazimixed my confidence in this industry and will open many doors to opportunities in the future.
Although I have seen an impact in my overall morale due to the pandemic, WVU and the Reed College of Media have offered so much motivation and willpower to continue communicating with their students. They have constantly reminded us that we are “Alone Together” in this uncertain time.
We have to remember this time is temporary. Focus on your joy. Focus on your happiness and creativity during this time. Take advantage of this time to expand your skills-- especially in digital media (Adobe is offering free Creative Cloud for students). Reach out to your local businesses and offer pro bono work to build your crisis communications skills. We will persevere through this and have a historic experience to talk about for years.
If anyone is interested about learning more about my capstone experience or even to receive daily motivation tips, feel free to contact me at nma0010@mix.wvu.edu or follow me on Instagram-- @Nicole.Andino