Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Creating & Managing In-House Creative Agencies BY: Hamza Khan, Bailey Parnell, Lucas Gobert, Tesni Ellis, Donica Willis, & Troy Murray August 2014: John Austin forms Student Affairs Creative—a group of writers, editors, designers, community managers, and social media marketers that consolidates marketing & communications resources across the Ryerson Student Affairs portfolio. How do we bring value to our colleagues’ projects that support the whole student? Could this strategy work at your institution? Join us to hear Creative’s journey from idea to inception, and learn about our unique model for consolidating marketing & communication resources.

1. TEAMWORK MAKES
THE DREAM WORK
Creating + Managing In-House Creative Agencies
@RyersonSA

2. THIS IS SA CREATIVE
Bailey Parnell
Donica Willis
Hamza Khan
Lucas Gobert
Tesni Ellis
Troy Murray

3. WE’RE NEW IN TOWN.
I ALSO THINK WE’RE THE ONLY ONES IN
TOWN...

4. LEARNING OUTCOMES
You’ll understand the importance of an Innovation Unit to meet the complex
challenges of tomorrow’s students.
You’ll understand how #RyersonSA was successful in creating an Innovation
Unit.
You’ll learn how to structure, support, and sustain an Innovation Unit at your
respective organization.

5. CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Teehan+Lax (Facebook)
Jet Cooper (Shopify)
Behance (Adobe)
Fjord (Accenture)
80/20 (Square)
The list goes on...

6. STUDENTS ARE CHANGING
More technology
More access
More options
More distractions
In the face of all of this, how can we earn their
attention, trust & loyalty?

7. BUT HIGHER ED ISN’T...
Despite the evolving behaviours and
expectations of our students, we continue to
under-resource our marketing &
communications efforts.

8. Doing things the way they’
ve been done is a horrible
reason to keep doing it.
We need something good + different.

9. The next step.
iUNIT

10. INNOVATION UNIT
What is it?

11. DEMYSTIFYING IT
Creativity = The ability to make connections
between seemingly disparate points.
Innovation = The ability to create value in a
new (and exciting) way.

12. IN-HOUSE CREATIVE AGENCY
“We’re an in-house agency that offers a combination of
strategy, design, technology and advertising services to
clients. We are creative and expert-led. We’re made up
primarily of creative professionals, and are strongly
defined by values. We know who we are, and that is
very important to growing as a team. Identity helps us
understand what you we’re good at, where we create
value and where we are headed.”

13. #RYERSONSA
“Good + Different”

14. WHY?
User Experience is how you treat your
students. Are we supporting recruitment?
Retention? Evangelism?

15. WE BELIEVE IN CHANGE
Our constant focus on change has made it a
value of #RyersonSA.
But it wasn’t easy...

16. CREATIVITY VS. INNOVATION
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

17. PHASE 1: BUY-IN
Committees
Audits
Consolidation

18. PHASE 2: SKUNKWORKS
If at first you aren’t supported, do it
anyways.

19. PHASE 3: TROJAN HORSE
We were originally called the “innovation” unit.
A budget is reflection of an organization’s priorities.
A small group of us knew that this was important.

20. SANFORD’S THEORY
The power of constraints + RyersonSA’s
support.

21. THE STRUCTURE OF A
CREATIVE TEAM
Positions, Hiring, Retention, etc.

22. GRAPHICS & WEB DESIGN
Hi, I’m Donica Willis.
My superpower is Recalibration.
Here’s what I do:
● All things creative from web to print
● Transform ideas into visual masterpieces
This is how my work supports the portfolio:
● I help RyersonSA ensure visual materials are communicating
effectively & consistently to students & other audiences.

23. DIGITAL COMMUNITY/STORYTELLING
Hi, I’m Tesni Ellis.
My superpower is Empathy.
Here’s what I do:
● @RUStudentLife studentlife.ryerson.ca
● Story seeking, facilitation, and encouragement
● Coordinate, publish, and disseminate SA’s student-facing
communications and promotions
● Work with and learn from students
This is how my work supports the portfolio:
● Cultivating a sense of digital community on (and beyond) campus
● Ensuring students know what SA does and how and why we’re here for them

24. CONTENT + COMMUNICATIONS
Hi, I’m Lucas Gobert.
My superpower is Energy.
Here’s what I do:
● RyersonStudentAffairs.com
● Editing + Content Strategy
● Teach / Support Storytelling
This is how my work supports the portfolio:
● I encourage colleagues to share their work/stories on the blog.
● I ensure that #RyersonSA’s text is clean & clear.
● I help colleagues think about the stories in their work, and how to share them.

25. SPONSORSHIP + FUNDRAISING
Hi, I’m Troy Murray.
My superpower is Grit.
Here’s what I do:
● Sponsorship
● Fundraising
This is how my work supports the portfolio:
● $$$

26. DIGITAL MARKETING + PR
Hi, I’m Bailey Parnell.
My superpower is Ingenuity.
Here’s what I do:
● Campaign creation + management
● Marketing + PR
● Teaching + idea sharing
This is how my work supports the portfolio:
● I connect students & staff to their communities
● I tell the stories of RUSL & #RyersonSA
● I raise the competencies of #RyersonSA staff & students

27. COORDINATOR
Hi, I’m Hamza Khan.
My superpower is Harmonizer.
Here’s what I do:
● Workflow + Prioritization
● Politicking + Shit Insulating
● Systems + Innovation
This is how my work supports the portfolio:
● I help chart the course + stay on track.
● I secure + allocate resources.
● I remove obstacles from the team’s way.

28. COMMUNITY: STUDENTS
RU Student Life

29. COMMUNITY: STAFF
#RyersonSA

30. WHAT DO WE DO

31. FULL SERVICE
“These agencies excel at executing on complex projects
where many disciplines are required. These are often
the largest and most profitable organizations within
creative services. While they have all four service
categories, it is often the advertising component that
leads the business and most projects serve larger
campaigns or a marketing goal.” - Playground Inc.

32. DELIVERABLES
STRATEGY
● CONSULTING
● PLANNING
● RESEARCH
DESIGN
● VISUAL
● USER EXPERIENCE
● PHOTOGRAPHY &
VIDEOGRAPHY
TECHNOLOGY
● EDUCATION
● DEVELOPMENT
● SYSTEMS
ADVERTISING
● PROMOTIONAL
● PUBLIC RELATIONS
● MARKETING

33. HOW WE WORK
Holacracy
Cloud-Computing
Project Management
Sprints
Fun

34. WHAT WE’VE DONE
CASE STUDIES

35. TESNI
#ENDSH

36. TROY
RBC MONEY SMART

37. BAILEY
#ROADTORYERSON

38. DONICA
REBRANDING

40. LUCAS
5 DIRECTORS, 5 DAYS

41. HAMZA
@RYERSONSA

42. YOU NEED AN INNOVATION UNIT
You’re going to risk losing students without
one.

43. Q&A
1. What were you doing before SA Creative?
2. What is the most challenging part of SA Creative?
3. What are you doing to prepare for the Class of
2019?
4. What does student affairs look like in 2020?

44. CHECKLIST
Challenge
Resources
Structure
Capacity

45. THANK YOU!
@RyersonSA