When semester-ending project presentations roll out in early December at Grand Canyon University, it’s not all bloviating on theory.
Communications instructor Reka Vicsacsan’s Communications Campaigns class is a prime example.
“We’ve had the class for several years just based on the syllabus, but this year I had this idea, ‘Why don’t we start working with existing organizations and help them out since we are doing it anyway?’ It will be more rewarding because we can see the effects,” she said.
The class divided into five groups and offered to work on communications campaigns for five businesses within Canyon Ventures, a startup business accelerator at GCU.
Vicsacsan was amazed.
One group worked with Nineteen Twenty founder Ashley Sankar and husband Zach to create social media campaigns through Instagram stories and LinkedIn posts, which garnered more than a thousand views on the former and increased impressions by more than 4,000% on the latter.
The student group of Olivia Caldwell, Jenna Reichert, Hailey Jimenez, Nathan Price and Kalli Kaskovich detailed the market for the apparel company, which targets young, trendy and eco-conscious consumers, and identified methods to reach a group that values authenticity and self-expression. Among their social media posts were an announcement for a New York City popup and hoodies that can turn into fanny packs.
The clothing’s transforming quality is a clever niche of the company, which struck a deal on an episode of "Shark Tank" last year, and Price got hoots from the class by modeling a long puffer coat whose bottom zips off and turns into a bag.
“I’m from California where you have to pay for bags, so clothing that can turn into a bag is super cool,” said the group’s Jenna Reichert. “If I forget my bag in the grocery store, I’m like, 'Oh yeah, my jacket is a bag.'”
Reichert and Price both landed internships with the company, and Price will continue on with Nineteen Twenty after his graduation today.
“We got a lot of real-world experience, to be honest, working with a brand, creating posts for them,” Price said. “They weren’t on LinkedIn, so they wanted us to grow their presence there.”
Other groups worked on campaigns for GCU’s IDEA Club and the Hungarian Cultural Heritage Association of Phoenix, which Vicsacsan founded, because not all businesses could follow through in a timely manner for the project. The other partners were Uncontainable, an activewear business in Canyon Ventures, and Powder Pal, a scoop and funnel system that can dispense powered nutritional supplements without a big mess.
The communications group working with Powder Pal, including Brynn Tardif-Simpson, Caden Kight, Mya Punt, Payton Ristau and Riley Isaacs, had several ideas to increase social media engagement by focusing on Christian messages and expanding its audience to mothers and people with disabilities.
The company founded by 2024 Canyon Challenge winner Lucas Patten used one of its Instagram posts targeted at mothers.
“I think overall we were able to help (the businesses) with some ideas, even though they didn’t use all of them,” Vicsacsan said. “He realized he could promote to moms, who use these scoops many times to feed their babies, while holding the babies with one hand.
“How can you sell a scoop when all these powders already contain a scoop? It was a really tough job. The fact they came up with these ideas amazes me.
“It expanded their horizons and helped the company.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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