Full Recap: Grade 9 Capstone Project

On Tuesday, June 7th 2023, we were back with one of our favorite events of the year - the annual FATE Student Showcase! Our 9th graders developed marketing and advertising campaigns for Merit and our 10th graders designed a Merit product collection.

Videographer: Carl Schrónez

INTRODUCTION

Each year our 9th and 10th grade FATE cohorts participate in an end-of-year capstone project where they put their skills in business, entrepreneurship, marketing, and design-thinking to practice! Five 9th grade teams were asked to create a Marketing and Advertising Campaign for Merit (our cause-based fashion brand) which included a 60-second commercial, a print advertisement, and a pitch presentation. A panel of expert judges in the PR and marketing field was tasked with declaring the winner - securing them a cash prize and their campaign will be promoted by Merit! Our 10th graders were split into four teams and developed a Merit Product Collection. These collections were on display trade show booth style and available for presale at the Student Showcase. The team with the most pre-sales is declared the winner and their collection will be produced in full by Merit!

Grade 9: Marketing & Advertising Campaign for Merit

Just a few months ago, our 9th graders were put into 5 teams to work on their Grade 9 Capstone Project: Creating a Marketing and Advertising Campaign for Merit. Each team was responsible for creating a 60-second commercial and a print advertisement.

Let’s meet this year’s Grade 9 Project Teams:

D Office

Team Members: Khloe, Makayla, Marie & William

Theme: “Let’s Color the World Together”

What They Learned: “Throughout this process we were able to learn a lot about the Merit brand, ourselves and our outlook on others. We learned about the importance of appreciating each other’s ideas, how to rely on each other, and how to make a commercial.”

Merit Magicians

Team Members: Amari, Devin, Nevaeh, Raymond, & Xavier

Theme: “Inspire the Next”

What They Learned: “We learned about teamwork and compromise because everything can’t go your way. We learned how to be patient with each other and how to deal with frustration.”

Teen Titans

Team Members: Alyssa, Kadyn, Olivia, & Tony

Theme: “Building a Family Away From Home”

What They Learned: “We learned that Give Merit creates a level of impact that transpires throughout the community. In return it forms bonds and positive experiences in different locations based on past family-like experiences.”

Team Sauce

Team Members: Briana, Camariah, Dha’kiyah, Martez

Theme: “Merit is More”

What They Learned: “We learned patience, how to work together and deal with hardships, how to share the spotlight, and how to have fun while doing it.”

Great Lake Legends

Team Members: Christian, Kadynce, Laya & Messiah

Theme: “Legacy: Make Your Mark”

What They Learned: “We learned to never give up even if things get tough, how to work together as a team, how to ask for help, and the importance of communication.”

ABOUT THE GRADE 9 CAPSTONE PROJECT

Creative Concepting

To begin developing a marketing and advertising campaign, each team needed to go through the “creative concepting” phase. With professional support from a variety of industry leaders including: Quikly, Woodward Original, and our Creative Team provided by Creative Circle, students applied what they learned about the Merit brand to their brainstorming sessions. Each team first thought of words that came to mind when thinking about Merit, which were then narrowed down into a few campaign theme ideas. For example, the two words that really stuck for Great Lake Legends were “memorable” and “legacy” and they wanted to focus on how Merit is leaving a mark on the world and inspiring others. This eventually led to their theme of “Legacy: Make Your Mark”. With a campaign theme established, teams began to storyboard their commercial, develop a script, and decide the locations, props, costumes, and cast for their commercials and print ads.

The Creative Team

Before production begins, each team has to pitch their marketing and advertising campaign idea to our Creative Team that is made up of professionals from Creative Circle who are tasked with bringing each team’s vision to life. This year’s creative team included:

Allison Farrand, Photographer
Adam Luger, Videographer
Jeff Martin, Graphic Designer
Paige Merritt, Producer
Stephen Timblin, Copywriter
Stevie Ansara, Producer

Production

One of the most exciting days is each team’s film day! Each team has the opportunity to travel throughout Detroit to a variety of locations to shoot their commercial scenes. This year’s locations included: Campus Martius, the YMCA, Wayne State University, our very own Kat Grow’s house/neighborhood, and the FATE Space (our temporary space and the one currently under renovations!)

Pitch Preparation

With their commercials and print ads complete, each team is tasked with creating a pitch presentation that describes their project goals, creative process, campaign theme, why they picked their theme, target customer, details about their commercial, details about their print ad, where they will advertise their campaign, and what was learned. These pitches were shared during our annual FATE Student Showcase!

2023 STUDENT SHOWCASE - GRADE 9

On Tuesday, June 7th 2023, we held our 5th annual FATE Student Showcase at the Jam Handy! All 5 teams pitched their marketing and advertising campaigns for Merit and premiered their commercials and print ads for the first time. In order to pick a winner, each team was evaluated by a panel of judges who are experts in the PR/Marketing field. Our expert panel of judges included:

Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, Founder, Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design
Dexter Sullivan, President, Black Legacy Advancement Coalition
Tanisha Streeter, Vice President, Merit Park
Hajj Flemmings, Founder, Modern Athlete & Rebrand Cities
Nachaela Trice, FATE Alumni & Third Year Student, Aquinas College

The judges were asked to score the overall presentation (criteria included: participation, content, innovation, planting feet, focusing on the audience, projecting voice, and finishing each sentence strong) as well as the commercial and print ad (criteria included: quality and visual appeal, relevance and usability, and innovation).

We heard rave reviews of the 9th grade presentations this year - each student stood with confidence as they presented their lines and engaged with the audience! What was even more special was how supportive the 9th graders were of one another! Before the presentations started, they huddled together to have a moment as a cohort and when the winner was announced - everyone was so happy for the winning team! We are just SO IMPRESSED. SO PROUD. AND IN AWE. of each and every student and the hard work they put into these capstone projects.