Written by Carly Kester
For students in professor Steve Shaner’s print advertising class, Spring Sing is not only a time for busy schedules and family visits but also an opportunity for students to receive real-life sales experience and get paid for their hard work.
Throughout the semester, the class has created projects such as advertisements and billboards, but recently they were challenged with a bigger project: compete to see who could sell the most ads to businesses in Searcy.
They were charged with raising $1,500 worth of ads sold at $150 each. In addition, if the class managed to raise $1,500, the person who sold the most ads would receive $500 and the person who sold the second highest amount would receive $250.
The ads are usually created and sold by the Harding Student Advertising Association, but this is the first year a contest has been held instead. Shaner said he came up with the idea for the contest while teaching a particular lesson.
“In my print advertising class, we’re going through a lesson called out-of-home advertising, and [the contest] is out-of-home advertising,” Shaner said.
Shaner also said he wanted to teach the students how important it is to be able not only to create a product but also to be able to sell their product to clients.
“… I also wanted to really teach the point that in any kind of media, whether it be newspapers or radio or television, that nobody gets paid unless somebody sells something, and that selling is an integral part of advertising,” Shaner said. “Nobody likes to sell, but everybody needs to sell.”
The contest was announced only a week before it ended, but students worked hard to get as many ads sold as they could. The winner was junior public relations major Hannah Beall, who created four ads, and second place winners were Emily Wisely and teammates Ashley Moore and Kelli Phillips.
Altogether, the class made about $3,000 from selling ads not only to businesses in Searcy but also to departments on campus. The money remaining from the contest will go toward expenses and scholarships for the advertising department.
Shaner added that he is definitely planning on having the contest next year as well, saying that, “there is too much money on the table not to do it.”
