By: Kiley Landusky
Last night the OU ImPRessions internal account hosted an all-firm end of the year banquet in Ping lounge. It was a night to celebrate and recognize numerous accomplishments of the 18 accounts all linked under the ImPRessions name. Each account announced awards to two of their associates as an “outstanding associate” or “rising star”. The buffet table was not lacking; it included six gargantuan Subway party subs, two cakes and Insomnia cookies just to name some of its contents. The event began with the guests taking to the table and proceeded with a brief introduction from senior CEO Heather Bartman. VP of Operations Sienna Tomko followed and updated the members on the status of the Teahan application, case studies and account work.
The Athens County Humane Society account had an incredible year. Its account executive, Kate McFadden shared its successes with the guests. ACHS hosted four very successful events throughout the year including “Woof and Wine” on Mom’s Weekend. This event welcomed 95 guests and raised an astounding $1,300. It also had two live musical performances. This generated 11,691 impressions and a guaranteed sponsor from Kroger for next year’s event. The banquet guests got a glimpse of the event from a video produced by ACHS account associate, Tiffani Bauer. Kate announced her outstanding associate and rising star then passed it on to the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center account.
Katie and Ashley from AVW Productions followed and told us of their first feature length film premiere in Baker Theater, wrap up party at Red Brick and new cartoon show premiere. Backdrop magazine went up next. Ben and Allison told the crowd of the Breakfast with Backdrop event, advertising for Backdrop’s release parties, Backdrop beach volleyball tournament and campus-wide food drive as their philanthropy. Most importantly, they shared their appreciation for each other and ended their time in the spotlight with a hug. The crowd “awwwed” at the PR love in front of them.
Bird Arena then took the stage and told us about the survey they created to figure out how aware OU students are of events at Bird arena and also that they had written six different press releases for events in the arena. Cardinal Health came up next. They reminded us of their huge success last year as they won “best student-run campaign” and told us they wanted to continue their success this year. Of course they were again very successful. They developed a campaign for pharmacy students that can be used not just at OU but other colleges as well and focused heavily on social media. College Bookstore then told the guests about their blogs and Twitter contests such as their “Follower Frenzy” event which featured a gift card reward for a special follower and increased their followers by 209 people. They also benefited non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and My Sister’s Place through donations with purchase of t-shirts on Halloween weekend, Sibs Weekend and Mom’s Weekend.
College Green Magazine announced their excitement for their premiere of “Trashed”, a documentary film TONIGHT 7:00 pm at the Athena. Copperheads then came up and told us about the tailgates they hosted and World Series watch party. The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism account bragged that Dr. Stewart claimed them as his “social media S.W.A.T. team” and told us about their Scripps chat series once a month. The Scripps chat brings in alumni to discuss their accomplishments as students and professionals. This account also developed Twitter interaction between Scripps professors and high school students to help familiarize them with the Scripps school. Finally, they urged everyone to come to the “Farewell to Scripps” event 5:00pm-6:30pm this Friday with free Brenen’s and live music.
The Express account told the guests about their visit to the headquarters in Columbus and the survey they developed which generated 300 responses. Heather told us about the new ImPRessions account, FlashCrop, an app for students that creates note cards for studying. Nicole Spears then talked about the GoBus account. GoBus had two campaigns this year, one of them being SafeTravels which was asked to be repeated next year. Nicole also shared GoBus’s new slogan: “If you’re in the know, you’re on the go”. The House execs then talked about the tailgates they had in the fall and their “Toss the House” game which raised over 300 impressions for the new account. Theresa and MaryKate then talked about the ImPRessions internal account. They told us that their account had helped assist the other accounts, written blog posts, managed social media and planned the beginning and end of the year banquets. The ITS J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication told us about their accomplishments. ROTC followed and talked about their work with media relations and workshops to sharpen their PR skills. The Student Senate account told us that they strive to promote their name, create surveys and brainstorm for next year.
Heather Bartman took the stage and thanked all of the ImPRessions members. She announced Kate McFadden as the outstanding account exec of the year. She then passed it on to VP of Administration Dan Mulvey. Dan announced the outstanding account supervisor of the year, Kristin Yerecic, and the new ImPRessions board for next year. On it was Melaina Lewis as junior assistant director, Jasmine Garcia as finance director and Ashleigh Mavros as communications director. Dan asked the 2013-2014 account execs to stand and be recognized. Next year there will be ten ImPRessions accounts with about ten associates for each. The big reveal of the new ImPRessions logo appeared on screen and a round of applause followed. However, ImPRessions wasn’t the only one with a fresh look. Dan received a “Director Dan” t-shirt as a gift from Sienna and Heather which he proudly modeled immediately. Sienna and Heather were in tears as their time in ImPRessions winded to an end but were overjoyed in recognizing the future of the incredible organization. Kristin stood to tell the crowd what they were already thinking; they were an outstanding part of this team and will be missed. Heather closed by saying “stick around, eat cake, hug people”. The members did just that and took pictures together, laughed, jammed to a little rap and said their goodbyes.
From being at the banquet, anyone could see that ImPRessions is more than just a learning experience. It is hard work, encouragement, outstanding accomplishments and outstanding people who go above and beyond to help each other out and to build the brand they are responsible for. As a prOUd organization, it is tough to say goodbye to such a successful and fun-filled year. It makes the anticipation for next year’s ImPRessions even greater.
