This semester, students in the Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications class partnered with Real Simple, the lifestyle brand housed under America’s largest digital and media publisher Dotdash Meredith, to develop an integrated marketing campaign on the Hopkins campus.
The class, offered by the Center for Leadership Education, began by forming an advertising agency called HopView Advertising. HopView focused on primary research insights to help them determine which events, contests, social media content, and promotional posts might best support the goals of their campaign, Live College Simply.
Caroline Bates, HopView’s co-department manager for public relations and social, said that campaign’s central goal is to reach a new demographic for the media outlet. “Our class is running the Live College Simply campaign at JHU to gain insights about the type of lifestyle content that Gen Z women want to engage with. Through this campaign, we aim to use insights generated from market research to develop content recommendations and strategies that Real Simple can use to engage a new market of college-aged females and increase brand favorability within this demographic,” Bates said.
As a result of their market research, the agency has planned a number of on-campus events to grow Real Simple’s target market, including distributing copies of the magazine and hosting exercise classes in which participants receive giveaways.
According to Leslie Kendrick, senior lecturer in the CLE and the class’s instructor, this project provides meaningful, hands-on experience for her students. “The experience that students gain through this class is one that his highly regarded by employers since students learn how to manage a budget, their peers, and a timeline. In addition, they are challenged to produce (and implement) high quality deliverables for and communicate professionally with an external client,” Kendrick said.
John Griffin, a senior in the class and the Finance department manager agrees. “Working on a client-facing, budgeted project helped me learn how to implement skills learned in class such as
client research, target market ad implementation, and budget management,” Griffin said.
Hopkins students can still catch the Live College Simply campaign at several events around campus over the coming week. Details below.
Real Simple Workout Week – Monday, April 4 – Friday, April 8
The O’Connor Recreation Center, Multipurpose Room, Johns Hopkins University, Homewood Campus
In collaboration with the recreation center’s Cycle45, yoga, and boxing classes, we will highlight Health & Wellness through REAL SIMPLE’s brand experience that focuses on mental and physical wellness. A Brand Ambassador and Hopkins workout instructor will host classes where participants will receive a wellness-themed goodie bag and be introduced to this lifestyle brand. There will be decor and mirrors to create photo opportunities, which will further expand the campaign’s reach.
The Real Simple Smoothie at Good Part & Co. – Monday, March 28 – Sunday, April 17
The O’Connor Recreation Center, Good Part & Co. Juice Bar, Johns Hopkins University, Homewood Campus
This limited edition menu item at the Rec Center smoothie bar will be available to students and all those who visit the Rec Center! Get excited for this smoothie whose flavor will be co-developed with the Good Part & Co. to develop a taste reminiscent of REAL SIMPLE’s fresh and simple brand identity. Also, at this juice bar there will be a QR code that can be scanned to access other REAL SIMPLE recipes.
Real Simple Lemonade Stand – Friday, April 15 (1:00 PM – 4:00 PM)
The Breezeway, Johns Hopkins University, Homewood Campus
Here, participants are able to read and receive their own special copies of REAL SIMPLE magazines, alongside some refreshing lemonade to ring in the spring season. This event is free and participants will have the opportunity to win prizes and engage with the “Live College Simply” social media accounts.