Public Utility Report Leads to Class Project

Dr. Arpan Yagnik, associate professor of advertising, with his students.

Dr. Arpan Yagnik, associate professor of advertising, with his students.

Credit: Penn State Behrend

Early this year, Erie Water Works, the organization that manages the Erie region’s public water system, emailed a seven-page Water Quality Report to its customers. The document listed improvements that had been made to the water distribution system, detailed results from water quality testing, and provided other educational information.

Dr. Arpan Yagnik, associate professor of advertising, received the report and was fascinated by the content.

“To me, it makes visible an often-unacknowledged aspect of shared governance,” he said. “Water and water quality is of vital importance to our lives.”

That’s why Yagnik, who studies and teaches creativity and communication, wanted to see if students in his COMM 421W: Advertising Creative Strategies courses could come up with creative ways to share the information in the report.

“They were asked to read the report and transform data into creative messages or simple ‘infobytes’ that people can easily understand,” Yagnik said.

The students worked independently, each creating advertisements using data gleaned from the report. Some chose to focus on key facts: “Over 30 contaminants tested. 100 percent negative.” Others opted to present messages to convey trust in the authority. Every ad relied on strong imagery and concise messaging.

Creative imagery created by COMM 421W. 

Creative imagery created by COMM 421W. 

Credit: Penn State Behrend

“Each of the students went through at least five iterations of their ads, some as many as fifteen, to perfect them,” Yagnik said. “Creativity and creativity training gives you a competitive edge, and our students understand that.”

In April, Yagnik invited the senior leadership of Erie Water Works to Behrend, where students presented them with more than forty creative concepts.

“The creative advertising and marketing ideas presented by the students inspired all of us,” said Craig Palmer, senior manager of Engineering Services at EWW. “It was apparent that the students did their research and did it well. The messaging was high-quality and extremely imaginative.”

Yagnik hopes to continue working with Erie Water Works on future projects involving Behrend students. Collaboration with external partners in business and industry is an important facet of the college’s Open Lab strategy in which students and faculty engage in projects with partners, giving students real-world experience while developing product, service, and process solutions for partners.