Joe Phua, assistant professor of advertising, helps students apply classroom concepts through hands-on experiences, such as designing digital advertising campaigns for local small businesses.
“My department (Advertising and Public Relations) is one of the top-ranked programs in the country, so I am really glad to be here,” Phua wrote in his UGA faculty profile. “I am very lucky to be able to work with some of the most prolific, well-known advertising and PR scholars in the field and call them my colleagues.”
Among other courses, Phua teaches digital and social media advertising strategies. “Every semester, students apply concepts from the class as they work in small groups to design a digital advertising campaign for a local small business,” he explained. “I think this gives them a real-world perspective on how advertising campaigns work, including interacting with a client, assessing their needs and suggesting feasible digital advertising ideas based on the client’s budget and concerns.
“In the classes, we also examine and discuss the latest digital technologies used for advertising, including mobile apps, virtual reality games, social media, viral videos, native advertising and more,” Phua continued. “Digital technologies keep evolving, so I have students keep up-to-date with the latest digital advertising news through hashtags and articles I curate on Twitter. We discuss the latest news during class and brainstorm ideas about how to incorporate these technologies in real-world, feasible advertising and marketing campaigns.”
Read more about Phua at www.uga.edu/faculty/profile/phua-joe/.