UPB begins team to advertise new events

A group of students with the University Program Board will begin a new form of interactive event and activity promotion by taking their advertising and publicity efforts to the streets of campus.

"The UPB Street Team is just what it sounds like," said sophomore Ashley Hunter, a Street Team leader. "We are a team of UPB volunteers that get to go out on the ‘streets’ all over campus and promote UPB programs. We come up with some pretty creative ways of promoting our events."

The team was created last semester as an alternate source of advertising by Hunter and other UPB members, according to sophomore Kate Rutecki, UPB director of event promotions.

The goal of the street team is to create an electric sense of excitement about events brought to campus by UPB, Rutecki said.

The street team aims to generate a positive response by students to UPB-sponsored events, Rutecki said.

The group will also "motivate the JMU community to attend UPB events and encourage interest in volunteering for UPB as a whole," she added.

Rutecki said that the street team was designed to make UPB promotion more personal through direct interaction with students. "Last year, we had a lot of fun promoting by booking the commons and getting the word out," sophomore Claire Goget said.

Hunter said that the Street Team will be doing promotion in the next month for the Black Eyed Peas show at the Convocation Center on Nov. 13.

According to Rutecki, one idea ther group is "extremely stoked" about is similar to the way Publisher’s Clearinghouse works. A random winner will be picked and someone will show up at their door with a huge ticket to the Black Eyed Peas.