ADV 486 Campaign Honors Late FOX 2 Meteorologist and MSU Alumna, Jessica Starr-Rose
By: Lexa Becker
Photo Credit: Novi Parks Foundation
In early December of 2018, MSU lost one of our own. FOX2 Meteorologist and MSU alumna, Jessica Starr-Rose, took her own life following the complications of a surgery. She was a 2005 graduate from the College of Social Science. In spring 2022, AD+PR professor of practice, David Regan, led his ADV 486: Integrated Advertising Campaigns capstone students to help raise money for a weather-themed splash pad in Starr-Rose’s honor in her hometown of Novi, Michigan.
“The family came up with the splash pad idea,” said Regan. “They had gotten in touch with Novi and gotten an approval to put it together. They needed $400,000 and when they contacted us, they were only around $100,000.”
In this class, Regan splits up his class into groups he calls “agencies.” Each agency works on the same real-life client and the goal is to come up with eight different marketing ideas to present to the client by the end of the semester. For this project, the class was challenged to find creative ways to market the splashpad and help raise the remaining funds. The student research team send out a 25-question questionnaire to different schools to find what drives certain people to donate.
Nick Skorupski graduated in the spring of 2022 with his bachelor’s in public relations and is now working toward his master’s in advertising at MSU. Skorupski was in Regan’s spring 2022 capstone class and was part of one of the agency teams to help market the splashpad.
“One of the ideas we came up with was wearables for children like wristbands,” said Skorupski. “The children would bring them home and when the parents asked about them and that’s how you could get to the parents since the splashpad is for the children. We also pitched promotion in hospitals because people spend a lot of time in the waiting rooms and they are always looking for a flash of life.”
The Starr-Rose family is working with the Novi Parks Foundation to install the community splashpad at Bosco Park in Novi in 2023.
“For me it’s one thing to work on an account; in this case, we had a chance to do good for a positive change, for kids to have a place to enjoy,” said Regan.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 is available for anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
To help bring Jessica’s Splashpad to life, donate online at https://www.noviparksfoundation.org/Splashpad-Donation.aspx.