By Hannah Stewart (Commâ19)
Duolingo has its owl, Geico has its gecko and Pillsbury has its doughboy. Now, thanks to a fourth-year student from the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design, tech giant Hewlett Packard has its own mascot: Lucy.
âBeing a CMCI student has been helpful because I have a creative, but also a business, background. Ìę
âMegan Solis
Megan Solis, who is studying advertising and plans to graduate in winter 2023, crocheted the doll mascot as part of her internship at HP. This past spring, Lucy went out into the world via TikTok; Solisâ creativity, meanwhile, ultimately led to her recognition with the companyâs InternStellar Award last summer.
âDemand generation is the focus of showing products in use,â Solis said. âBut why not do it all? I had a lofty goal to create demand generation, while also increasing viewer engagement and enlarging overall brand awareness.â
Solis didnât set out to be a master marketer. She initially wanted a career in public relations, and transferred from the University of Texas San Antonio to CMCI to pursue that field. In fact, she discovered her love of advertising through her internship with HP.
âI was on my web browser and was about to type âPR internships,â and then I thought, âWhy donât I just look up the best people to work for?ââ Solis said.
It was this confidence and self-starter attitude that helped Solis through the rigorous interview process, and eventually her internship.
âShe wowed our organization,â said Danielle Jones, Solisâ supervisor. âSheâs super creative with regard to how we can develop content.â
Jones is the North America marketing manager for HP, and as a member of that team, Solis was tasked with finding a way to engage with the companyâs target audienceâwhich slants Generation Zâand show the products in fun, relatable situations. After considering how other brands leverage social media, Solis had her eureka moment: Sheâd create a mascot.
The Lucy doll went through several iterations before reaching people on TikTok. Megan Solis poses with the original doll in the early days of her internship. Photo courtesy Megan Solis.
Impactful Internships
The interdisciplinary curricula of CMCI majors gives students a broad set of skillsâincluding creativity, critical thinking and collaborationâthat makes them suited for success as interns and young professionals.
By hiring our students as interns, employers can benefit from bringing fresh perspectives and insights to problems, while having a significant impact on a studentâs professional development.
Lucy, named for co-founder David Packardâs wife, is a small doll who wears an HP-logoed shirt. She was an instant hit with the HP team.
âItâs a great idea, and weâre excited for Megan to complete this project from beginning to end,â Jones said.
Feeling validated by the positive feedback, and with her HP experience winding down, Solis applied to the InternStellar Award, presented to interns who create measurable and meaningful impact. More than 200 interns applied for this highly competitive distinction.
Winning the award âwas an honor,â Solis said. âThere was a ceremony where I was able to meet executives and share my accomplishments. It excited me to speak about not only what I have done, but also my plans to carry ideas forward.â
In fact, HP extended Solisâ internship so she could see the project to completion and develop more innovative ideas.
After nearly nine months, HP launched a series of targeted ads featuring the doll in April; during the campaign, at least 10.7 million people saw the TikTok ads. While Solis said it was sometimes stressful to balance her part-time position and her full-time course load, she found it exciting to see parallels between her advertising classes and the work she did to make the Lucy campaign come to life.
âI can relate all my classes directly to what Iâm doing in my job,â Solis said. âBeing a CMCI student has been helpful because I have a creative, but also a business, background.âÌę