About Me

Hi! I am a senior Moody College Honors Student majoring in advertising and ​minoring in business at The University of Texas at Austin, a part of the Texas ​Immersive Institute (spring 2023 cohort) and the Texas Media & Analytics ​program (fall 2021 cohort).

I am passionate about experiential storytelling backed by analytical and ​creative thinking and interested in pursuing insights & analytics, strategy, and ​consulting roles. I hope to gain valuable insight into the consulting side of ​advertising and bring my knowledge of social media, immersive storytelling, ​and media strategy to each role I step into.

Learn more about my accomplishments on my LinkedIn or reach ​out to me at mnbenz3@gmail.com

Academics:

Stickell Fellow

The Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Fellowship is a prestigious honor that signifies The University of Texas’s most outstanding junior studying advertising. The honoree is nominated and chosen by the university’s faculty and staff, with no more than one student being nominated from each college or university. Among the nation’s nominees, approximately twenty outstanding students will be selected to become Stickell Fellows and participate in a 10-week internship program at a U.S. media organization, advertising agency, and client and supplier company.

Texas Media and Analytics

This is the University of Texas’s prestigious, by-application-only, media and analytics-focused advertising track. “Texas Media & Analytics students are cross-trained to bring innovation and accountability into every situation with which they are challenged.” This sequence has three classes: “Advance Digital Strategies,” “Digital Metrics,” and “Media Investments.” Through this program, I have gained hands-on experience with data visualization software such as Tableau and Pivot Tables, client services, and pitch presentations.

Texas Immersive

The Stan Richard’s School of Advertising and Public Relation’s newest major track focuses on exploring, creating, and explaining immersive technologies and their capabilities. Texas Immersive ”combines audience, storytelling, and emerging technology by having students work together to solve real-world problems through authentic, memorable, and relevant experience design.” Through this program, I have hands-on experience with UX design, project management, and adaptable project scaling.

Resume

My Work

Web AR (Augmented Reality)

Web AR (Augmented Reality)

In the Texas Immersive sequence, we learn about many emerging technologies. From VR and AR to full sensory experiences, I have been exposed to many emerging ways to connect with consumers. One of the technologies I have basic, hands-on experience playing around with and leveraging in full-scale productions is web-based AR (Augmented Reality).

Using 8thWall, an online AR application, I was able to transfigure a black lab statue onto a picture of my real black lab, Bella. While this is a silly example, this technology is fascinating, complex, and adaptable to various clients. Whether exposing a clue in an escape room or using it to show destroyed works of art in a museum, this kind of technology is awe-inspiring and a great way to give consumers agency in an activation.

Laundry Enhancement Brand (Brand Under NDA)

My class group agency, Ignite Media, created a pitch campaign deck targeting three unique personas for three products. This pitch was presented and shared with the senior leadership of a multi-billion dollar manufacturing company, specifically their laundry-enhancements sector. While the products and client are under NDA, the modified pitch deck with our research, insights, competitive analysis, personas, and campaign ideas are presented below.

I served as Strategy Lead, where my responsibilities included analyzing consumer laundry habits by conducting primary and secondary research and assisting with the allocation of a $200 million budget, the creation of three buyer personas, customer journeys, empathy maps, and a competitive matrix for a year-round, multi-faceted campaign to reach new consumer groups.

The presentation was awarded “Overall Winner,” “Best Campaign Tagline,” and “Best Presentation Experience” in the class-wide pitch competition.

Elysian Heights Expo

Elysian Heights Expo, the capstone project of the Texas Immersive Institute, explores the alternate reality of a “perfect” society ​run by the reigning AI ruler. Guests are invited to explore how the city of Elysian Heights works in a more productive and ​efficient version of existing human achievements.

An expo of technology, agriculture, and art showcases a society that has been perfected to science and produces the most ​“perfect” forms of each product every time. But a rebel emerges and begs guests to go against this way of life. She preaches a ​more humanistic and partneristic society run with empathy, compassion, and respect.

It is up to you, the guest, to embrace this so-called perfect society or help the expo characters realize their potential blindness.

Elysian Heights was produced by 30 students, one teacher, one teaching assistant, and six industry mentors. You can learn more about ​the team here. My role was to create the user experience (UX) specifically for Leon, the lion’s section of the activation. I utilized the ​applications Figma and Notion to keep my team up-to-date and organized regarding our section.

Elysian Heights ran 12/13 sold-out shows in one weekend with 270 attendees total.

Some of the technologies the teams utilized:

*Red boxes are tech I personally touched*

Dell Technologies

Dell approached the Texas Immersive senior cohort to create an immersive experience on The University of Texas’ campus for their 40th anniversary. The goal was to develop an awareness campaign that better connected the brand to The University of Texas at Austin, where Michael Dell created his first laptop in his dorm room. My group’s design, Dell’s Dorm, is a moveable installation (think moveable on campus, portable to senior high school college fairs, SXSW, etc.) that showcases the fantastic work Dell technology has allowed across multiple disciplines in various ways—this experience has excellent replay abilities through its gamified interface.

My group ideated, created prototypes, and pitched these ideas to Dell Technology senior leadership and their marketing department.

Kraft Heinz Plant Based

Through the Texas Media & Analytics program, my team crafted a year-round, multi-faceted campaign to generate awareness for Kraft Heinz’s newest product line, plant-based foods and condiments. Currently, this line is only sold in Canada and the UK, so our goal was to make a case and strategy pitch deck to appeal to the American consumer if and when the product line hits American supermarket shelves.

As Strategy and Team Lead, I was responsible for the consumer demographic generation and monitoring the progress, success, and connectivity of the project and team. I take immense pride in my team and our work for our efforts to share affordable and accessible plant-based products with a broader audience.

Girly Pop Sodas

Girly Pop Sodas is a brand I made in my Brand Storytelling course. I was tasked with choosing or creating a brand that connects with audiences on a deeper level through its brand voice. I created a brand surrounding the girls on their wellness journey. Girls who get excited by the colorful, non-alcoholic wall in the grocery store and who are interested in changing their lives for the healthier. Although the project was simply to create a brand and create a brand story for it (similar to Nike and Apple), I went above that expectation and created three products underneath the Girly Pop Soda line:

1. Healthy Girl Mocktail: Balances her gut health with Apple Cider vinegar-based pop. Comparable to Olipop, Poppi, and Culture Pop.
   
2. Active Girl Mocktail: Recharge, reset, and relax after an active day with CBD-infused pop. Comparable to Recess and Dram.
   
3. Sleepy Girl Mocktail: Wind down and relax the mind and body with tart cherry juice and magnesium-charged pop. Comparable to the viral homemade “Sleepy Girl Mocktail.”
   

The Girly Pop Soda consumer drinks all three mocktails in a week (or multiple a day). She’s here for the product’s aesthetic, taste, and benefits.

Logos

Mood Boards

The Girly Pop Soda girls embody all three of these aesthetics depending on their mood and plans for the day. We at Girly Pop Sodas want to help them step into whichever mood they feel with a chameleon drink aesthetic

While each product has a more specific aesthetic and color palette, the Girly Pop Soda brand’s overall color pallet, typography, and aesthetic are wellness, luxurious, delicious, nutritious, and it girl vibes, represented in the three mood boards above.

Disney Magic Bands Deluxe

Texas Immersive's first class is "Audience Engagement." Each team picks a fandom group that resonates with them and creates an interactive event to enhance the fandom experience. My team picked Disney World and enhanced the existing Magic Band technology and abilities to be a more immersive in-park and at-home experience.

Through interviews with past cast members (Disney World workers), Disney Vacation Club members, first-time visitors, and additional in-park interviews, my group was able to determine two different kinds of audience or persona types that visit the park: The Dreamers (First-time Disney World guests) and The Veterans (Frequent Disney World guests). Each of these personas expressed dissatisfaction with the pricey yet recommended Magic Bands. Magic Bands are wristbands that electronically store park and lightning lane (express line) passes and credit card information for easy access while in the parks. While there have been some updated versions, the bands are limited regarding interactivity in the park and have zero interactivity once you return home.

Based on this research and these insights, my group created an in-park, interactive dinner with a take-home, interactive souvenir cookbook to continue the magic at home. The initial idea is to have an interactive dinner with one of the princesses and then take home your cookbook and continue playing with them at home. The unique thing is that the story can be switched out quarterly to allow park guests replayability by seeing/experiencing new stories and receiving new cookbooks for a home like a collector's item.

Summer Moon

This communication plan pitch deck was crafted by my group in ADV 345J, Advertising and PR Media Planning, for our client Summer Moon. Summer Moon is an artisianal coffee shop from Texas that has expanded nationally. Our goal was to create a year-long communications plan for a new store location in Raleigh, North Carolina. We conducted secondary, quantitative and qualitative research, discovered and detailed target personas, and created a high-level strategy plan with a $100,000 budget.

SME Deck: Generative AI Search

As the first assignment in ADV 377, Advanced Media Strategies (the first course in the Texas Media & Analytics Sequence), each group had to become Subject Matter Experts (SME) on Google’s new generative AI Search called Bard AI (now known as Gemini). We had about two weeks to learn the ins and outs of the platform and its competitors as well as its strengths and weaknesses. This was then compiled in a pitch deck that was presented to the class in a similar style that a complex subject/topic would be presented internally at an agency.

This assignment was greatly beneficial for two main reasons.

1. I learned how to quickly become a subject matter expert on a platform and eloquently pitch its pros and cons to the classroom.
   
2. I learned a lot about the different AI technologies and their abilities. From the AI’s training to their ability to edit text and predict your next requests, I am confident in my abilities to utilize Generative AI in the workplace. Additionally, AI is considered to be the future of the advertising world and I am know embracing that change and letting it lead me and the brands that I will work on in the future rather than fighting the inevitable.
   

Canva

In the business minor marketing class, my group was tasked with creating a marketing plan for a brand of our choice and we choose Canva. In this marketing plan, we ran an internal and external audit on where Canva sits with it’s competitors, identified consumers, discovered the markets wants and needs, and detailed out the risks and benefits of the ideas.

Marketing Plan

Competitive Analysis

LuluLemon

In a project to determine ethical and sustainable practices of our favorite companies, I conducted research into Lulu Lemon’s environmental impact and what it’s doing to lessen it’s global footprint.

Fashion companies have long been at the forefront of complaints for excessive resource usage, specifically water and overproduction of clothes due to the quickening pace of trend cycles. However, brands like Lulu Lemon are doing their part in lessoning their permanent footprint, and instead giving back to the environment and consumers and that help them make their brand what it is.

Bryant Park

During my marketing class in New York City, we looked into both private and public domain marketing. In this example we looked at the public park, Bryant Park. Best known for being behind the famous New York Public Library on 5th Avenue, Bryant park has a host of free activities for New Yorkers and tourists alike to engage in. In this pitch deck, I dive into one activity they offer for free, Boot Camp by The Rise NYC.

In this deck, we dive into what it is, why it exists, who it’s target market and competitors are, and how it is doing in the market.

Click through to see UGC (User Generated Content) from me of my experience at Boot Camp :)

Downy

In the Intro to Advertising Creativity class, my group constructed a creative brief, static/print ad, a motion ad and an interactive/social media ad for the Downy brand.

Starbucks

In the Intro to Advertising Creativity class, my group constructed a creative brief, media plan and static ad with a thoughtfully curated strategy for printing and displaying. We focused on the rebranding of Starbucks energy drink, Baya. After concluding our research, we found that users complained about the skinny cans (commonly used for energy and alcoholic seltzer drinks) and the lack of labeling, specifically in terms of how much caffeine is there and what’s recommended for people.

Megan Benz

The University of Texas at Austin

Moody College of Communication

BS Advertising, minor in Business

Graduation: Spring 2025