MSU Advertising Class Provides Students with Unique, Hands-on Experience

Michigan State University helps advertising students prepare for a career in a post-COVID world

By: Megan Lentz

To say the 2020-2021 school year was hard on students is an understatement.

College seniors were faced with the challenge of preparing for their careers in an ever-changing
world full of unknowns. At Michigan State University, an ADV 486 advertising class prompted
students to face the hardships of COVID-19 head on by creating an advertisement that
encouraged audiences to visit East Lansing as the pandemic subsided.

ADV 486 was one of the last classes alumnus Jackson Butcher took in his college career before
he graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s in advertising management, and the class was one of his
favorites. Butcher and his group were tasked with assisting the city of East Lansing by creating
an ad that would highlight local businesses and stimulate the economy – all while keeping the
challenges of COVID-19 in mind.

“This class really helped me prepare for a career in the field,” said Butcher. “The steps we took
in taking on a real client with a real problem that they wanted to solve is often what I deal with in
my current job – and being prompted to think creatively about the pandemic situation was a great
skill to gain as well.”

Butcher broke down the process of creating this ad and explained how similar it was to the real
advertising field. He and his group brainstormed, planned out locations, had a few shoot days
and edited the video around the idea of a ‘new normal’ – a theme they came up with to
emphasize that East Lansing was open and ready for people to visit.

At the end of the assignment, members of the city board reviewed each advertisement and picked
one to be featured on the city’s website. Though Butcher’s ad was not selected, he still felt that
ADV 486 helped him engage with the advertisement creation process in a way he hadn’t before.

Butcher currently works in advertising and marketing for a high-end construction company in
Southeast Michigan and still occasionally watches the video he created in his senior year.
Though the COVID-19 years were hard on students across the country, MSU’s Department of
Advertising + Public Relations held themselves to a high standard for the benefit of their
students and ADV 486 is just one example.

For more information on classes in MSU’s Department of Advertising + Public Relations, visit
https://comartsci.msu.edu/departments/advertising-public-relations
The opening shot from Butcher’s ADV 486 advertisement showing
East Lansing was open for the public.

A scene from Butcher’s ad highlighting one of many small

businesses in East Lansing.