Grady students rebrand Athens entrepreneur, Hannah Eppling

During the Fall 2024 semester, local entrepreneur, Hannah Eppling, worked with Sabrena Deal’s ADPR 5741: Integrated Campaigns class to rebrand herself and her businesses. 

Eppling owns Little Characters Theater Troupe, a local organization providing acting camps, classes and workshops for local elementary to high school students. The organization strives to be an accessible entry point to theater, which can be intimidating for newcomers. Teachers help to affirm students and build their confidence, so when the time comes they are ready and excited to perform to an audience. 

Eppling also operates Geode Theater Company, which provides improv and theater classes to local adults. Eppling wants to help Athens residents revive their sense of creative freedom and form a sense of community, using Geode as the means to an end. 

The project was initially presented to Deal’s class as a rebrand of Little Characters, but the class quickly decided working on Eppling’s personal brand would be more effective. Students created a full brand guide including, but not limited to, visual branding, a new website, mock social media posts and a new logo.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Eppling.

Grady College: What was the scope of the assignment? What kinds of materials did the students create?

Hannah Eppling: We went in thinking that we would have Little Characters be the main driver of the campaign, but in our initial meeting, I shared about the other creative endeavors I have ongoing and hopes for myself. The students proposed that the main focus be to branding Hannah Eppling. They started with a logo, brand colors and a whole brand kit, and then went on to build a website including custom photography, business cards and other paper assets, a social media and SEO guide, and more! 

GC: How has being a part of the Grady campaigns class positively impacted your business?

HE: In the past few years, Little Characters has been growing its presence in the community, but I’d wanted to share with the community about my other passions and offerings as well. They started by giving me a huge jump start in my confidence to make the jump into making my own brand, and feel as though the materials they created will help benefit the business for years to come. 

GC: Were there any ideas or strategies from the campaign that you found particularly valuable?

HE: For them to completely build a brand from scratch is a big undertaking. Because the brand is my name, it felt very personal. I was amazed at their ability to truly see my hopes and goals for the business and create assets that match it perfectly.

GC: Have you implemented any of the recommendations or materials provided by the students? If so, what results have you seen?

HE: I got a slow start with the year but am currently getting my business cards printed, updating the website (due to officially launch in April!) and then getting the social media ready. I have been able to get some new projects by having a better grip of my branding, and I am SO excited to see the growth once I have all my professional assets set up. It is also great to be able to tell my students’ parents about the options I offer for teambuilding for adults and other organizations using similar programming that they know and love for their students! 

GC: What was the collaboration process like? Did you feel your business’s voice was heard and understood?

HE: It was spectacular! The students were clear in communication and really drove the whole project. They set up meetings, came prepared with an agenda and materials, and truly listened to me. I was surprised by how much they were able to get to know the business and goals in such a short time span.

GC: Were there any standout moments or particularly creative ideas that impressed you?

HE: They really wanted to see my work in action, so the whole team chose a Friday night to come to one of my adult improv classes, and I was so touched that they came! They participated, expressed how much they learned and were very eager to show their classmates again, so I led more improv and communication exercises on the last day and it was such a memorable and joyful experience! 

Also, one of my practices is to lead a reflection and encouragement exercise at the end of each of my sessions. Professor Deal opened this up to her whole campaigns class at the end of my activities on the last day of class. It was truly inspiring to see how much her leadership inspired the students through the semester.

GC: What advice would you give to future businesses working with the PR Campaigns class?

I would absolutely suggest businesses working with a campaigns class at UGA. Funny enough, I was a PR major (not at UGA) back in undergrad and I was on the other side of it. I was very impressed with the structure, eagerness and output of these students! 

Editor: Madden Callahan, emc50486@uga.edu