Category: Hands-on Experience

Debbie Yount to lead Lindsey and Asp in new direction

Debbie YountLindsey and Asp, the student-run advertising and public relations agency at the Gaylord College, has selected noted advertising professional and professor Debbie Yount as advertising agency adviser.

Yount joined the Gaylord College faculty in 2013 after serving on the college’s advisory board for six years. An OU advertising graduate, she has more than three decades of experience in branding and digital strategy, working in executive leadership positions at some of the world’s largest advertising firms, including Grey Global Group, Publicis Worldwide and McCann Worldgroup.

Yount will teach as well as lead the agency alongside Robert Pritchard, APR, Fellow PRSA, who is the public relations agency adviser. Yount is stepping into a position previously held by veteran Oklahoma advertising agency owner, David Tarpenning, who will continue to teach.

In her role at Lindsey and Asp, Yount will lead the new generation of advertising and public relations professionals to provide services in the areas of social media ideation, implementation and monitoring, as well as the strategic and creative services the agency already provides clients.

Now in its fifth year, Lindsey and Asp is emerging as a leader in generational marketing intelligence.

“The last of the Millennials entered college in 2014, and over the next few years, we will see the first members of the next generation – those aged 17 and under, known as the Plurals – enter college,” Yount said. “This new generation is more diverse than previous generations and does not necessarily buy into the concept of the ‘American Dream.’ The big questions for brands are: how will this generation approach buying decisions, and how will they use media?”

As a student-run agency, Lindsey and Asp is uniquely positioned to help marketers capture information about this next generation. Its students are on the cusp of the Millennial/Plural transition and can provide firsthand insights into the buying and media habits of their peers and their younger siblings.

“Insights from generational research can be of value to companies across the board,” Yount said. “Lindsey and Asp can be a resource for organizations that might not have the extra staff or budget for a large agency to conduct the research. We can meet that need.”

Lindsey and Asp was founded in 2009 as one of the first student-run agencies of its kind. Its clients have included international organizations like American Airlines, the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Army at Fort Sill and Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, as well as campus and local organizations like Healthy Sooners, the Norman Performing Arts Center and the Oklahoma Insurance Commission.

The Gaylord College celebrated 100 years of excellence in journalism education in 2013. The college confers bachelor of arts, master of arts, master of professional writing and doctoral degrees. The Gaylord College is the fifth-largest academic unit at the University of Oklahoma. Created by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1890, OU is a doctoral degree-granting research university serving the educational, cultural, economic and health-care needs of the state, region and nation.