Wiregrass Georgia Technical College was named among the top in the nation in the 2019 Collegiate Advertising program. The Collegiate Advertising Awards (CAA) is an elite program recognizing higher education organizations for excellence in communications, marketing, advertising, and promotions of their schools.
The 2019 CAA program had entries from the United States and Canada representing small community colleges to very large schools and universities. Submissions were reviewed by a national panel of industry experts, with a possibility of 100 total points. Participant’s entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their specific groups and categories.
Wiregrass’ Marketing and Public Relations team received a gold award for a series of four commercials titled, “It’s Time for Wiregrass,” under the TV/Video Advertising/PSA-Series. The college was one of two technical colleges in the nation to receive an award for the TV/Video category.
“Wiregrass Tech is a college that appeals to many different audiences,” shared Lydia Hubert, Wiregrass Director of Marketing and Public Relations. “Because of this, we created a series that speaks directly to each group.” The different audiences the commercials speak to include: high school students who are into gaming and high tech careers, service industry for those who have a passion for helping others, technical and industrial careers, and students who seek to participate in student life activities like Student Veteran Services, Student Government, and SkillsUSA Chapter. “Wiregrass was able to speak also to the different age groups from high school students, to young adults, to older adults looking to return online,” shared Hubert. When planning for commercials you have .30 seconds to tell your story. With the college appealing to so many various sectors of the population, the four new commercials, perfectly blended, share that story with the message, “it’s time for Wiregrass.”
Another point of pride for the college was who produced the videos. Glenn Boswell and TJ Taylor, owners of Motion Wave Production LLC, a video production company from Valdosta, produced the award-winning commercials and they are Wiregrass graduates. “It’s like a full circle experience for us,” shared Hubert. “We were excited to be able to partner with Glen and TJ with Motion Wave Production to produce these commercials. Both are graduates from our Digital Media Production program, and we are so proud of their success here in South Georgia. We were thrilled to work with them and have them tell our story.”
Awards were issued for entries that received top marks from judges placing them in the top 5 percent of the nation for advertising excellence. Judging criteria included creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality, and overall appeal.
Representing all areas of communications, media, marketing, advertising and promotions, the 2019 Collegiate Advertising Awards program contained some of the best advertising projects, arguably, in the world. Collegiate Advertising Awards is pleased to recognize the outstanding creative achievements of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College. The Marketing and Public Relations team at Wiregrass are Mary Ann Garner, Webmaster; Paige Duckworth, Social Media and Website Specialist, Jessica Thornhill, Recruiter Coordinator (now Director of Enrollment Management); and Lydia Hubert, Director of Marketing and Public Relations.
All winners are posted on the Collegiate Advertising Awards website at www.collegiateadawards.com. To view the winning commercials and new commercials since produced by Motion Wave Productions, visit the college’s YouTube page at Wiregrass GA Tech.