ProfAgency, Rowan’s student-led advertising agency, was recognized for the collective efforts of their members during the last school year by winning the 2024 Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Dr. Frederick H. Teahan Chapter Award for Chapter Firm. 

The award commends the work of students who are a part of a nationally recognized on-campus PRSSA firm. The club members’ collective work throughout the 2023-24 school year was compiled together for the awards submission. 

“It was very gratifying,” said one of four of the club’s presidents and senior public relations major, Camilla Wells. “I loved being a part of ProfAgency last year and I love it even more now as a leader. I’m so thankful to be a part of this amazing team.” 

In ProfAgency, members collaborate to create public relations and advertising projects which are overseen by four student account managers. 

The team of account executives for the last school year who put together this project were 2024 graduates Adriana Bartolomeo, Olivia Gill, Saige McFarlane, as well as senior Samantha Deeney. 

“My favorite memory was the satisfaction from completing the project,” said Deeney. “There are many steps involved, from talking to the clients and understanding their goals to making sure each student is channeling their strengths while creating work that fits each goal. I believe every single client got solid work that can be used to advance their own objectives while simultaneously giving students strong pieces for their resumes.”

The club’s advisors Professor Lisa Fagan and Professor Asi Nia-Schoenstein assist members and help organize club meetings. The club’s evolution has been the most interesting aspect Fagan says from her time spent with the team and clients. 

When Fagan came to Rowan in 2019, the club was originally filled with a small group of students and was called Ad Dynamics. 

“We had a very small group, probably only about five people, and there were two people that were supposed to be taking it on and running it,” said Fagan. “It just really wasn’t running the way that I thought that it should run. Since I’m a practitioner, I know the way that agencies should run, and I endeavored with the departments to get it running the way an agency would run, and not have it be a club, but have it be like a real agency.” 

The organization was rebranded with the help of Fagan and students into ProfAgency in 2020 following the pandemic and worked as a solo agency for advertising companies. By 2022, the club merged with PRaction, the PR agency of PRSSA. 

Fagan and Nia-Schoenstein, the independent advisors of the clubs, became co-advisors of ProfAgency and worked together to grow the agency and find new clientele and members.

“We grew the agency, we got more students, more clients,” said Fagan. “We finally brought the two teams together, we housed it under the PRSSA umbrella, and we produced really good work with really good students and clients. So this to say, we barely survived Covid, but what happened with that rebranding, and then the combination of the two individual agencies becoming one has been, I think, part of the success formula.” 

Concentrating as a department on aiding the two charities they endorse, Organ Donor Day and Cystic Fibrosis, many of the PR and advertising clubs on campus strive to raise awareness and fundraise for these causes. 

Projects related to these charities were included in the entry, while the agency collaborated with around eight clients in these event-driven advertising opportunities. 

For one of the current club presidents and senior communications studies major, Sean Lynd, his goal for the club is to focus on the work each team is assigned at hand. 

“We have many clients this year, some new and some returning from previous years,” said Lynd. “We are extremely excited about the work we are doing now and feel it is a great opportunity to gain experience.” 

Additional winning projects submitted for the title included campaigns for the Delaware Blue Coats and the non-profit organization Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. Students created various email campaigns and visual advertisements the companies used to promote events throughout the year. 

“This is a testament to all of the hard work our agency has done,” said Wells. “We will continue to work on our projects for clients and make them the best they can be. We also hope that we will have more interest from clients because they see what we can do.” 

The agency is focused this semester on producing work with new companies,” said Deeney. “Combining advertising and PR work in the healthcare world, members are working with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to place healthcare communication under the students’ creative umbrellas.”

Maintaining clear communication and prioritizing teamwork is key to the club’s success.

“The most important part of a campaign is making sure that everyone is on the same page,” said Deeney. “If a message gets lost in translation, the final product will be all over the place. Making sure each person understands the client’s central message and is also happy with their work is the ultimate recipe for success.”

Composed of students from diverse majors and clubs on campus, this agency invites any student interested in learning more about PR and advertising to meetings. 

The club gathers every other Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Victoria 260, Room 200. The next meeting is Oct. 30, and all communications students are encouraged to get involved in the organization. 

“You cannot underestimate the value of the students who join the club and participate willingly and voluntarily, amongst all the other things that they’re trying to accomplish in life and produce this high-quality award-winning work,” said Fagan. “It was their work. It wasn’t ours, we guided them but they did it.” 

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