MOJO Ad unveils NASA as newest client for student-staffed ad agency at Missouri School of Journalism
Dylan Connell, BJ ’14, communications and public affairs manager at NASA
J-School alum and NASA strategic communicator Dylan Connell introduced students to their new client this week
By Nate Brown and Austin Fitzgerald
Photos by Nate Brown
MOJO Ad, the Missouri School of Journalism’s student-staffed, professional services advertising agency, is reaching for the stars this semester: students will build campaigns for NASA’s Artemis program, an historic initiative that seeks to once again land humans on the moon.
Three MOJO Ad teams will work throughout the fall semester to create distinct campaigns for Artemis, with students filling a variety of roles such as account manager, strategist, graphic designer and video producer.
“This was a dream scenario in so many ways,” said Jon Stemmle, professor and chair of strategic communication at the School of Journalism and co-director of MOJO Ad. “We’re working with one of the most well-known brands in the world — everyone knows NASA — and the students get to experience a different type of client than they typically get, since this is a government agency. This isn’t like selling a car or a burger, it’s promoting a path for the future of mankind.”
Students gaped in shock when the semester’s client was revealed on Monday, including senior Audrey Stowe, who has had a lifelong passion for space and NASA.
“I was beyond excited,” Stowe said. “I’ve always wanted to work for NASA in some way or capacity. Obviously, I found my calling through advertising and strategic communication so working indirectly for them on this client-project is so amazing.”
Stowe’s dream client was no secret, and many of her fellow classmates immediately looked in her direction when the news was announced. Stowe did not disappoint: As it all sank in, she shed tears of happiness.
“We had a public relations specialist from NASA come to one of our classes last semester, and I had mentioned to [Stemmle] that I was just super interested in working for NASA at some point,” Stowe said. “But that was months and months and months ago, so I’m really impressed that they remembered that about me.”
That public relations specialist was School of Journalism alum Dylan Connell, BJ ’14, communications and public affairs manager at NASA. He returned Wednesday to help brief MOJO Ad students alongside Lora Bleacher, the Artemis strategic communications director at NASA Headquarters who joined remotely from Washington, D.C. They spoke on NASA’s goals and guidelines and answered a host of lively questions.
“I think I’m having just as much fun as they are,” Connell said. “I remember sitting where they were sitting — quite literally — so to then be back as the person presenting to them is really a full-circle moment.”
After MOJO Ad co-directors Jamie Flink and Stemmle reached out to Connell about the possibility of becoming a client, Connell decided that the idea shouldn’t be confined to his own area of purview at NASA — the Gateway program, which intends to put a space station in orbit around the moon — but should reach, in his words, “the Artemis level” — chiefly Bleacher.
“I went and spoke to the folks at NASA headquarters who work above me, and I explained the idea that we could work with students and learn some really amazing things about how to reach out to the public, how to inform them about what we’re doing,” Connell said. “The ‘yes’ was pretty instant.”
Connell hopes that in tackling subject matter as expansive as the space program, students will come away not only with practical professional experience, but with a greater understanding of how to navigate difficult and demanding tasks as a team.
“I hope they learn that they should not be worried about having all the answers,” he said. “Through their relationships with each other and with the people they are going to work with throughout their careers, they will be able to overcome challenges.”
This challenge will come to a close at the end of the semester, when the student teams will present their campaigns to Connell and Bleacher, marking another entry in a string of prominent MOJO Ad clients that has included AT&T, Mondelez International’s Sour Patch Kids and Warner Bros.
Updated: August 22, 2024