Specs Howard School of Media Arts would not be where it is today without the ongoing relationships and support that everyone at the school maintains with its graduates, employers and other media professionals. In many cases, graduates have become employers!
Through testimonials/endorsements, special appearances and visits, graduates and employers were at the heart of just about every Specs Howard advertising campaign and special event (open houses, workshops, etc.) that I worked on.
The Specs Howard Mafia (as it's sometimes fondly called) is a collaborative effort among every department at the school, from admissions reps to faculty to career services. Over the years, I worked very closely with every department at the school to find graduates (old and new) for commercials, photo shoots, news stories, interns and event speakers. I also worked very hard to cultivate and maintain relationships with a professional network of my own and hired many grads to work in my department over the years.
Quite simply, I could not have done my job without these people.
Through testimonials/endorsements, special appearances and visits, graduates and employers were at the heart of just about every Specs Howard advertising campaign and special event (open houses, workshops, etc.) that I worked on.
The Specs Howard Mafia (as it's sometimes fondly called) is a collaborative effort among every department at the school, from admissions reps to faculty to career services. Over the years, I worked very closely with every department at the school to find graduates (old and new) for commercials, photo shoots, news stories, interns and event speakers. I also worked very hard to cultivate and maintain relationships with a professional network of my own and hired many grads to work in my department over the years.
Quite simply, I could not have done my job without these people.
GENERAL
OPEN HOUSE - I had GRAD button pins created for alumni to wear at in-house Specs Howard events to showcase the number of grads in attendance since not all grads are as high profile as Anne Carlini (above center). Take WRIF's promotions staffer Tim Morley (pictured above left), for example. While Anne made a special appearance at this January 2012 open house, Tim worked the WRIF table. We always had our media partners in attendance at open houses, and five radio stations (WRIF, 89X, AMP, Channel 955 and WYCD) were with us that night. A number of station staffers wore these buttons, including Specs Howard grad Slim (below center), radio personality from Channel 955 and members of their promotions team.
MEDIA MAYHEM WORKSHOP - Since we worked so closely with 89X, morning show hosts Dave & Chuck took an active role in helping us educate prospectivestudents about working in radio by making special appearances at variousin-school events. This particular photo was during our Media Mayhem WorkshopSeries.
SPECS HOWARD EVENT - Specs grad Harlan Huckleby, spoke about his media career at the school's "Ask The Experts" event held at CBS/CW Detroit studios. Since he graduated from Specs Howard he has worked as an account executive for Greater Media Detroit, Palace Sports & Entertainment, and finally CBS/CW Detroit.
SPECS HOWARD STREET TEAM - The Specs Howard Street Team recorded a radio spot to promote the school and our video show partnership (Out in the D) with WRIF. All members of the street team were Specs Howard graduates: (left to right) John Hoover, Josh Hill, Greg Gogava and Gasper Rubino.
TELEVISION TESTIMONIALS
Specs grad Jason Hall was an associate director at WDIV when this commercial (above) was taped. He also worked at the school as a high school coordinator soon after this commercial aired. I worked closely with WKBD to produce this series of commercials at Russell Industrial Center. The commercials starred graduates Annie Turner, Chris McLeod, Renee Vitale and Jay Hudson (see his ad below). I cast and coached the talent, assisted in writing the scripts, helped select the music and location, hired the make-up artist, hired a photographer, and worked as the production manager on the set at Detroit's Russell Industrial Center, over two very cold grueling days, in an unheated building. I also assisted with editing the rough cuts.This series won WKBD's Charlie Forbes his first Emmy Award.
In addition to this ad, Jay appeared in numerous street team videos for us and helped produce countless radio ads for Specs Howard School.
Specs graduate Zach DuFresne was an Assistant Editor at Griot when he starred in this ad campaign for Specs Howard School. To produce this ad campaign (there were four spots in total), I interviewed each grad prior to the shoot and created a list of questions and probable answers for WKBD's director Charlie Forbes to build a script. I attended each shoot and assisted Charlie in coaching the talent and making sure each question that needed answering got asked. I also assisted in the raw edit of each commercial.
RADIO TESTIMONIALS
Stories are best told by the people who've lived them. So when it's come to writing testimonials, I provided copy points to the talent for all the ads below so they've known what we want to talk about (concept, topic, angle) and what has to be included in the ad (name, phone number, dates, etc.). Giving them room to be themselves makes for what I think is a much more natural delivery and believable ad.
Specs Howard graduate Screamin' Scott, a radio personality at WRIF, preparing to record a spot for Specs Howard School.
Specs Grad: Screamin' Scott, WRIF
Specs Grad: Jay Hud, 89X
Specs Grad: Nick Craig, Channel 955
Specs Grad, Renee Vitale, WDVD
Specs Grad: Anne Carlini, WRIF
Specs Grad: Arms Bumanlag, 89X
Specs Grad: Ice, Channel 955
Specs Grad: Noize, Channel 955
Specs Grad: Jeremy Campbell, WRIF
