Lindsey & Asp

VIDEO: Kevin King, 1:40

The University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication staff realizes that a college student is in need of more than research papers and multiple choice exams. Hands-on experience is critical for a students learning and preparedness for future jobs and careers. Joe Foote, Dean of Gaylord College, with the help of Dr. Shari Veil and professor David Tarpenning, has created Lindsey + Asp - the active advertising and public relations agency inside Gaylord that is run by the students themselves.

Lindsey + Asp provides students with the opportunity to create actual campaigns for several local businesses and organizations. “Lindsey + Asp is a unique type of experiential learning,” said David Tarpenning, the advertising advisor for Lindsey + Asp. “There are educational aspects to it, but it’s also a business.” According to Tarpenning, Lindsey + Asp billed more than $25,000 last year.

Lindsey + Asp has a creative team and media team that handle creative and media accounts, in addition to clients. Junior advertising major Tim Ketcher is on the creative team that is currently working on a campaign for the Oklahoma Insurance Department. “For me, Lindsey + Asp is all about good people to work with, strong ideas with research to back it up, and then watching us execute it better than anyone else,” he says.

The state-of-the-art facility offers everything students need to create the campaigns for their clients and gain sufficient hands-on experience before entering the corporate world. Some of the clients of Lindsey + Asp students include American Airlines, Habitat For Humanity and the Norman Police Department. In Septemeber 2011, Lindsey + Asp landed its largest contract yet of $77,500 with the Office of Strategic Communication for the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill.

Lindsey + Asp is a very unique aspect of the Gaylord College that gives students precious experience with real-life businesses, and it expects a lot from its students. The motto says it all: “We are the new communicators. Today’s media are our playgrounds. We are creating relevance in an otherwise cluttered world. We are the knowledge and the know-how, but also the pomp and panache, and everything in between. We are the bridge between you and your audience.” The University of Oklahoma is taking experience to a new level with Lindsey + Asp.