SVACE Classroom Story
Bus wrap at the Pride Parade, part of an unbranded effort to raise awareness for PrEP (Pride month, June 2022).
John Rea has been teaching with SVACE for more than 20 years. His career began in design with his first job at Rolling Stone, hired by his then SVA professor, Bea Feitler. He migrated into advertising and is now the executive creative director of Digital Marketing at Havas Tonic. Like most SVACE instructors, John continues the tradition of hiring students out of the College.
Nivia Hernandez (NH): Give a brief description of your course, Digital Practices for an Integrated Advertising World.
John Rea (JR): My course teaches art directors, writers and designers the principles of creative thinking and how to apply them across multiple media channels, especially digital.
Pictured left to right: Liz Sadkowski, John Rea and Nancy Mauro. All attended John’s class and are now associate creative directors at Havas Tonic. (August 2022).
NH: What has been your experience guiding students interested in a career change in advertising?
JR: As marketing increases in our lives, so do the touch points. Many disciplines of communication now intersect in all ad agencies. Corporate identity, digital and interactive design, and social platforms. Advertising agencies are a great place to look toward reigniting or reinventing a career.
NH: How do you help students develop ideas? What tips do you give them on how to step into advertising?
JR: I tell students to take their interests and apply them to their ideation process. It’s what most passionate bloggers and influencers do. And to create briefs that allow for choosing platforms that they wish to express their ideas in... social, video, even outdoor. A good example of this is a recent unbranded, multichannel campaign for ViiV Healthcare’s new PrEP drug, created at Havas Tonic, a health and wellness agency in NYC.
Nancy Mauro’s work from John’s assignment to turn Zico coconut water into a hangover remedy. (Fall semester, November, 2019).
Nancy Mauro's work for a classroom assignment (Fall semester, November, 2019).
NH: Do you have a favorite assignment?
JR: I read an article about how coconut water is the perfect hangover remedy. I turned that insight into an assignment for Zico. The work featured is from Nancy Mauro. I liked her thinking so much, I hired her. She’s now an associate creative director at Havas Tonic.
NH: What’s your advice to students developing a portfolio?
JR: The more diversified your portfolio, the better. Show you can think in many categories and show how those ideas interact. Make every class count. Your SVACE instructor is likely looking to hire creative people at their agency.
This multichannel, unbranded effort to raise awareness for PrEP appeared in several cities, including San Francisco, Washington DC, Philadelphia and NYC. (Pride month, June 2022).