Many students, past and present, of Glenwood Elementary teacher John Keranen have had a chance to create ads for local businesses as part of boosting their media literacy.
Needless to say, Keranen is a fan of the Langley Advance Times’ annual Design an Ad campaign.
“I believe this program lets students see how much planning and thought goes into making a successful ad, and this expands their media literacy and their understanding of marketing and media,” he explained.
His students have been in Grades 4 and 5, a good age to get them thinking about media literacy.
“I have participated in the Langley Advance Times Design an Ad program for many years,” he said. “I find it to be a valuable opportunity for students to see how art can be used in a commercial setting.”
The students make a rough copy of the assigned ads and then they reflect on their designs, make changes if necessary, and complete a good copy for the newspaper.
Design an Ad is a chance for young people to talk about media, art, marketing, and community.
“I find the design process to be helpful for students, and we talk about having a good layout for their ads,” Keranen said.
Plenty of local students got to be part of Design an Ad this year.
“This year was the largest participation [since the campaign started more than a dozen years ago],” noted Langley Advance Times publisher Shaulene Burkett.
She and her multimedia advertising specialists went to 18 public schools throughout Langley and gave presentations to 506 students. In fact, requests to participate exceeded the capacity of the supplement. Burkett noted that she is looking at increasing the size next year, so even more classes can take part.
“The benefit to students is they have a better understanding of what goes into newspapers because we also explain content to them,” Burkett said.
Each of the participating classes had presentations on modern newspapers then each class worked on advertisements for two clients.
Burkett said she thinks Design an Ad’s popularity is growing because of teachers who have participated in the past sharing their experiences with others. Of the 18 teachers taking part this year, nine were first timers.
“I sent the email out to teachers,” she noted. “Within 22 minutes, I had 20 teachers [asking to participate].”
The other side of the coin is the client – Burkett said many of the advertisers look forward to participating in Design an Ad, and have the tough, but fun job, of choosing which creative student ad to put in the special edition.
“Our clients love it,” she said.
When the special supplement is printed and comes out in the newspaper, the students get to see the finished product and which of their ideas made the cut with the advertisers.
“Students enjoy participating in this program, and they are excited when they see their work in print,” Keranen said. “Students also get excited when they see the work of their classmates printed in the paper.”
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