Allen Hall Advertising

The standout difference between Allen Hall Advertising and an advertising class is that aha works with real clients. As a self-sustaining student run lead ad agency, we partner with real businesses that give us real money to execute real campaigns.

Working with clients can be difficult, but it yields lessons that can only be taught through tough love and hard work.

Five insights gained through working with real clients:

1.    Your idea is only as good as you can sell it
Half of working with real clients is convincing them that your ideas are amazing. I don’t care if you know how to save the polar bears, eliminate carbon emissions and end illiteracy all at once. Your ideas are useless unless you can effectively and succinctly sell them to your clients.

2.    Clients are people; people are picky
Working with real clients can be one of the most frustrating but valuable experiences. Clients want professional work, yet at the same time we are only students. Endless rounds of rewrites can only strengthen your work.

3.    Ruthless deadlines create personal growth
Clients don’t care if it’s spring break or finals week; deadlines are still deadlines and must be met.  Working with nonnegotiable deadlines pushes you to limits and shows you how to work under pressure.

4.    Projects must be realistic
In a portfolio class the sky is the limit. While AHA encourages innovation, we have to find ways to make our grand ideas possible. This means nimble thinking and action oriented skills. Here, there are larger consequences than a poor grade if you don’t get the job done. This added element of responsibility not only shines on a resume but teaches work ethic.

5.    Everyone wins with visibility
We can make as many fake ads as we want in classes, but they will be just that– fake. However, with real clients come real budgets. This means real media buys allowing your campaigns to become more than just a page in a portfolio. Exposure beyond the U of O can leads to jobs, networking and national exposure.

- Megan Nuttall