By Emily Delgado

Journalism students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have spent the fall semester leading efforts to promote professor Travis Vogan’s recently published book, LeRoy Neiman: The Life of America’s Most Beloved and Belittled Artist.

This project is a part of a content marketing class in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications led by Jeff Grisamore, a professor of practice in the school.  

“In some of our higher-level courses we have the opportunity to incorporate real-world clients and real-world experiences into our coursework," Grisamore said. "This opportunity with Travis and his extraordinary new book — the first biography of one of our nation’s most prolific and recognizable artists — is a dream opportunity for our students and I’m really pleased with the student experience thus far.” 

In the class, students are presented with a client, in this case Vogan, and must come up with a content marketing plan, storyboard and executable deliverables. The class is broken down into four groups, each focusing on different deliverables. 

For Vogan, who isn’t well-versed in the world of publicity and marketing, it made sense for this project to be carried out by students.  

“I thought it would give the students an opportunity to do some promotion with an actual product,” Vogan said. “It would be helpful for me and the book because publicity is important. Promotion is not my forte; and it seemed like this would be a useful way for students to get some practice under Jeff’s guidance.” 

The content marketing class is a part of a variety of courses offered by the school that allow students to gain real world experience while pursuing their undergraduate degree.  

"I think it's important for students to get this hands-on experience,” Vogan said. “Our faculty have industry experience that they share with our students." 

In early October, Vogan and the content marketing students drove to Chicago for the book’s publishing party. Students got an inside look at the world of publishing and recorded content for their marketing plans.  

Josh Rihner, a fourth-year journalism student in the class, said one thing he wants to take away from the experience is the ins and outs of book publishing.  

The class is split into four groups, each working on different deliverables for Vogan.  

One team is producing a brand anthem, that will center around Vogan’s brand, a second group will focus on an explainer video focusing around why Vogan wrote the book, the third group, which Rihner is a part of, is working on producing a podcast series centering around LeRoy Neiman. The fourth group will be working on social media marketing for the book.  

“Through the podcast we are going to try to connect Neiman with the historical events that's he depicted in his painting,” Rihner said.  

Rihner, who has taken several similar experiential learning courses with Grisamore, said the courses helped him figure out another career path instead of traditional journalism.  

“I think experiential learning is important because it offers students a chance to have an idea in their head of what the professional world is like before you get there,” Rihner said.