The Mid City Merchants are “rooted in tradition” and “growing with you.”These phrases are the new tagline developed by students from two mass communication courses this semester.MC 4001, public relations writing, and MC 4031, advertising design, have spent the entire semester developing a new campaign to bring in new customers for their client, Mid City Merchants.Patricia Sterpu, advertising senior, said they developed the campaign to bring in a new target audience — 22 to 50 year olds.A new Web site, a new logo and new marketing strategy are just some of the ideas the students developed.Megan Keegan, advertising senior, said the tagline, “Rooted in tradition. Growing with you,” was developed using three concepts — historical aspect, symbol of growth and a call to action.Keegan also said creating a brand for Mid City Merchants is a great way to develop relationships with its customers. Sterpu said the students also created ways to help market the area. Koozies, coasters and T-shirts with the Mid City Merchants logo and tagline are just some of the ideas they developed.The students also created a viral video to show people the area. Sterpu said they plan to show the video on TV stations and YouTube.David Innis, advertising senior, presented a new Web site design for the Mid City Merchants.He said Web sites are the new face of business and having a professional and well-designed Web site will help establish credibility to new and old customers.Michael Hackett, Mid City Merchants board member and owner of Stay Doggy Day Care, said the new campaign was amazing and exactly what they were looking for.”We will probably use all of it,” he said.
 
 
 
—- Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]