D+ ImproV
Improv troupe event and social media marketing
D+ Improv is Drake University’s best, and only, improv troupe. The student lead organization provides live entertainment on campus by hosting live shows and performing at other events. I have spent three years on the organization’s executive council, two as the marketing director and one as the vice-president.
MY ROLE
My role as marketing director was to produce and share all promotional material for the troupe. This role required constant communication and decision making with the rest of the executive council. My job was to create posters for shows, update social media, facilitate communication with outside organizations, and give input on general troupe affairs as a leader.
EXPRESSING THE BRAND
Because of the brand’s small reach and focus on our energetic and comedic personalities, I often center the brand and marketing around the people in the troupe. This translates to frequently using pictures of troupe members on posters and social media posts. The goal is to communicate personable traits and increase troupe morale in the process.
SHOW POSTERS
The main role of the marketing director is to create promotional material for our live shows we host on campus throughout the semester. This involves creating posters to be placed around campus and social media posts to increase our reach.
Planning and Brainstorming:
To start each poster, I typically met with the rest of the executive council to discuss any themes or preferences for the upcoming show. I have a lot of creative freedom and adjacency in this role, so it is up to me to come up with ideas to theme the posters around each show.
Photoshoots:
For most posters I included images of our troupe members to be the focus of the posters. To get these photos I scheduled and organized photoshoots with our members and took the photos myself.
Iterations:
Once I have photos and a theme in mind I begin iterations on the design of the poster. This involves finding inspiration, sketching layouts, and even creating custom typographic elements to include.
Final Designs:
Before I can send the posters to be printed, I get confirmation from the rest of the executive council that the posters are good and have all the correct information present. Once everything is finished, I send the posters to be printed on campus. I also create a secondary version to be uploaded on social media, which requires me to adjust the formatting of the posters to fit on different formats.
OTHER PROJECTS AND DUTIES
Along with main show posters, it was also my duty to communicate to outside organizations through email and social media. I was responsible for being a point of contact for the troupe, and creating promotional material for other events as needed.
Brocal Chords Collaboration Show:
One of the largest events I led promotional material for was a collaboration event between two live performance student organizations. Coordinating promotion for such a large event was challenging, and required thorough communication and leadership skills to organize filming and photo shoot days.
I successfully learned new video and audio editing software to create multiple forms of content. My ability to collaborate and adapt allowed for effective promotion of the event.
The second half of the collaboration show special promo video.
Static Website:
During my own free time, I created a static website for our troupe. I developed the layout, color scheme, and fonts by what values the organization displays. I gathered images from my collection that I had taken during live shows and added them to the website to focus on our members for a personal feel.
REFLECTION
My time in positions of leadership on D+ has helped me grow in my skills in so many ways. It has given me time to explore and hone my technical skills while also pushing me to further my personable ones as well. My confidence, communication, time management, and ability to work under pressure were all refined in this role.