Talking Dog partners with Share the Magic Foundation

In honor of International Literacy Day on Sept. 8, Talking Dog, the student-led advertising and public relations agency at Grady College, announced it will work with Share the Magic Foundation as one of its clients for the academic year ahead.

Share the Magic Foundation, a non-profit that provides services, programming and books to improve literacy, was created by Malcolm Mitchell, a former UGA football standout who played for the New England Patriots after graduation.

“The students’ Gen Z perspective along with their technical knowhow will help us advance our programs and merchandise our brand so we can take things to the next level like UGA always does,” said Mitchell, who is an author of several children’s books, including “The Magician’s Hat.”

This project will be directed by Paw Print, a division of Talking Dog dedicated to working with non-profit organizations.

Talking Dog is tasked with helping to raise awareness and visibility of the Foundation, engage community leaders and generate partnership and financial support. Tasks at hand for Talking Dog include a brand and website audit, a social media campaign and a PR plan with media kit.

“I am so excited to work on this campaign because literacy in America is something that is really important to me and anything I can do to help is so exciting,” said Ike Epstein, a fourth-year public relations major and co-director of Talking Dog.

Epstein said he hopes this is the start of a multi-year partnership.

Talking Dog just completed a record-setting recruitment, generating nearly 170 applicants for about 75 spots in the agency. The students will serve a variety of local and national brands throughout the academic year, culminating in presentations and Battle of the Brands, a friendly competition next spring.

According to the Share the Magic Foundation website, more than 600,000 students have been served to date through in-school and virtual programs.