Createathon students skip sleep to give back

Samantha Foster
Spectrum Editor

After 24 hours of work, creative advertising major Joel Austin presented his team’s ideas to bring in a younger audience to representatives of Paralyzed Veterans of America Mid-Atlantic Chapter.  His team’s plans included sponsorship of individual veterans, a redesigned banner and website, brochures, bumper stickers and shirts.

The 20-minute pitch was 24 consecutive hours in the making.

Austin’s team was one of 11 at the sixth annual Createathon at VCU. The event, which allows students to develop new branding designs for local nonprofits, started at 8 a.m. on March 7 and did not finish until 11 a.m. the next day.

According to Createathon at VCU organizer and associate professor of advertising, Peyton Rowe, Createathon often yields impressive solutions for organizations that need them.

“(Createathon) was some of the best work I have ever done creatively,” Rowe said. “I knew as a teacher that this was a model that would be so useful to students. Ultimately (the goal is to) help nonprofits do what they do better. … It is my passion project. It allows the students to use their skills to make their community a better place.”

While Austin presented his group’s work to the Paralyzed Veterans of America  Mid-Atlantic Chapter, office manager Jennifer Purser began to tear up. She applied to Createathon on a whim and wasn’t sure a team of undergraduate students could deliver what the organization requested.

“You guys are so smart,” she told Austin’s team during their presentation. “You took everything we wanted and turned it into everything we needed.”

Purser said her organization needed help reaching younger veterans and couldn’t find a way to revise their marketing strategy.

Team member and creative advertising major Khoa Tang told Purser he has veterans in his family, so he took the time overnight to design hats for the organization, something they had expressed an interest in but didn’t require. Graphic design major Samantha Wittwer used her time to redesign the website for the nonprofit, which included partnering with the local group Plan G to create an easier way to donate and sponsor projects or veterans.

“(The website) was the one thing that the client never asked for, but it was something we felt like they needed, so this was … that surprise,” Austin said. “Everything won them over, but this just set them over the edge.”

This is Rowe’s 19th Createathon since she first started participating when she worked in South Carolina.

Other participants, like Creative advertising major and team leader for the Junior League of Richmond, Emily Benfield, are still relative newcomers to the 24-hour creative blitz. This was Benfield’s first year at Createathon.

“It’s a cool opportunity to not only sharpen my skills as a designer and advertising major, but also give back to the community,” Benfield said. “Living in Richmond now for four years, Richmond has really become my second home, so it’s nice to really give back to Richmond before I move onto the second phase of my life.”

Benfield worked with the Junior League of Richmond to create a new marketing campaign, flyers and a video for their most profitable component, The Clothes Rack, which is a thrift store operated on donations.

“They are a really multifaceted organization … but we are really trying to help them focus their message on their big picture impact for the community,” Benfield said. “We made (the Junior League of Richmond representatives) cry, that was our goal, as sad as that sounds. They were happy tears.”

Nonprofits apply in October and are chosen based on several criteria, including having a  limited marketing budget, being local to Richmond and the sustainability of the nonprofit.

For the 11 team leaders, Createathon is a class. During the first seven weeks, they create marketing strategies and meet their clients. Within a week of Createathon ending, the nonprofits must tell their teams which parts of the delivered ideas that they would like executed and provide any revisions to the original design. After that, leaders will work with local companies to print any brochures, banners or flyers created by the team.

Despite not sleeping for 24 hours during spring break, Benfield said she was happy to spend her time working for a nonprofit.“I can’t imagine having had a greater spring break than this one. … This was the carrot dangling at the end of my spring break plans,” she said. “It’s been quite the journey, but it’s also been really rewarding.  Having the final pitch with our client just made every single unhappy moment or roadblock or ‘Why am I still awake?’ moment totally worth it.”