A One-On-One Conversation with Lisa Dobias about the TexasMedia Sequence
From beginning her career at the notable Leo Burnett agency in Chicago, to now being a Senior Lecturer in The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, Lisa Dobias has made a large impact in the advertising industry, specifically in the realm of media. She is the founder and Director of the TexasMedia Sequence, the only academic program of its kind, educating advertising and public relations students in the diverse field of media through three key pillars: Insights, Interactive and Investments. I sat down with Dobias, the recent Moody College of Communication Teaching Excellence Award recipient, to discuss her passion for media and the program she created.
Do you want to elaborate how you got into advertising, and, more specifically, how you got into media?
Advertising always attracted me because of the idea that I could take a cause, a product, or a service, tell its story, and find a way to connect with people. I started out at UT as an advertising major and never once considered changing my major until I had the realization I didn’t want to pursue creative. I just didn’t feel the connection with the content as I had expected.
I come from long line of inventive folks – artists, architects, design engineers, interior designers, photographers and people like that – so I truly thought that art direction was my path. Immediately when I took the first required creative class I knew this career was not going to fit me. I was pretty good at it and made an “A” in the course, I just didn’t see myself doing that work for a living so I completely re-evaluated my plan. I decided that I would ride the wave out as an ad major one more semester and see where it lead me. As fate would have it, I took Media Planning that next semester, saw the potential for growth there, and found my new calling. In the process, I found out something else very important - I was very creative, just not a creative.
In the late 80s when I was in school media was a good job, but it wasn’t a great career. I knew a lot of really great people in it, but there were not as many companies doing it the way I had hoped. Media was still seen mostly as a simple tactic. It was a very “back office” department in many agencies who followed the practice of media like “Here’s our ad. Now go put it somewhere.” Media was viewed as the last step in the process, instead of part of the consumer journey. But I saw the huge potential for the media industry to reinvent itself.
What really attracted me to media was the idea that we could take our strategic curiosity and why-are-we-doing-it-this-way mentality into a part of our industry that really needed it, and we could change it. Even a bigger opportunity happened when I moved to teaching at UT and realized I could inoculate a whole bunch of people that felt this same way. TexasMedia has always been extremely passionate about changing the role that media plays, and wanting to elevate the industry as a whole. That’s really where the seed for the media program came from.
What was the inspiration for TexasMedia?
The actual concept of the media program happened when I was still an upper-division undergrad student at UT and needed some more in-major elective credit hours. The department was going through a pretty significant transition at the time in terms of faculty retiring or stepping down, as well as major industry shifts, so I recruited a faculty sponsor and encouraged a couple of my friends to join me in an independent study class. Our focus was a major research project that would culminate in strategic direction input for our department. Our group literally did phone interviews with every advertising student at the time, as well as every faculty member. We even interviewed a significant number of industry professionals all over the country. From this research came a strategic plan for the department in terms of “what’s next” vision, mission, and planning which we presented to the full faculty. About that time, I also had an amazing teacher who is still here, Dr. Pat Stout, who taught the 345J class. Five of us from that course talked her into teaching the first “advanced” media class. This honors course was basically an in-depth revisiting of the project we had done in the foundations course but with a smaller group, many more data resources, and much more experience. It was incredibly rewarding! Based on that class and the research from the other independent study I led, the recommendation I was most excited to present to the faculty was to someday start a media program. Completely full circle and many years later, I was hired to come and teach a couple of courses here at UT on a short-term basis. I was actually teaching ICM and Campaigns when Dr. Gary Wilcox, who was the department chair at the time, came to me and said, “Do you remember that thing you used to talk about? You know, that media program idea? Do you want to start that?” And voilà! So, the idea that eventually became TexasMedia actually started when I was around your age.
So, you were kind of the first cohort of the media program?
Yeah, I guess that’s technically correct. I know where those five people are today, and we are all still, with the exception of one person, somehow touching the media space. It’s pretty crazy! I have had a number of full circle moments in my life and that’s probably one of the biggest. What a great ride! We started the media program as an independent study series of courses in 1997, and in 1998, we got the go-ahead to actually brand the program as TexasMedia, so it’s been almost 20 years now.
You touched on the program evolving from being your independent study, to being the school's independent study, to being an actual program. How have you seen it evolve since then?
It’s evolved tremendously in terms of both content and the people. The program has always been set up on 3 pillars – Insights, Interactive, and Investments – but for the first few years, we didn’t have other instructors so I taught all of the courses as independent studies in an overload with my other classes. It was me trying to do media magic to get TexasMedia off the ground because I believed in it so much. A handful of years in, we were able to bring my mentor, dear friend, and brilliant colleague Gene Kincaid into the conversation. Gene had always said he was a digital guy, not a media guy, so it took me a while, but I eventually convinced him that digital and media were not separate but very connected entities. He agreed to join our cause, and his classes officially became a part of the media program. That is where the first Digital Metrics course that we now have originated. Few things have propelled TexasMedia more than having Gene come on board!
Probably one of the other biggest milestones was in 2014 when we had our Sweet 16 Anniversary. That’s the same year we got Tracy Arrington to join us. Tracy is an alum from the first official TexasMedia cohort who has had a highly successful career in media buying. Having her come back to take over the Media Investments course in addition to her continued work as a local Media Director has allowed us to push TexasMedia to a new level, and Tracy herself is an incredible asset for our students. Most recently, just last year following Gene’s retirement, we brought on Dr. Natalie Devlin-Brown to take over as our analytics and metrics lead. What an incredible win that has also been for us. Dr. Devlin-Brown is highly talented, forward- thinking analyst and publisher in the digital space, and her passion matches that of the rest of the TexasMedia team.
The curriculum plan that we have in place right now is the full manifestation of plan that I actually wrote in 1997. I really feel like we’ve hit the stride we set forth back when we were founded. We’re there, but of course still asking what’s next.
Now that you’ve reached what you planned it to be, is there anything you see that you want to change or anything you want to improve?
Oh, yes! There are many new things still to come. I have always had a running TexasMedia bucket list. Although a number of items on that list have been achieved over the years, there is always much more work to do. For example, I want to set up a mentor program for current students led by our alumni. That is likely to happen in the very near future, where current students will be paired up for their senior year with a volunteer TexasMedia Ex. This will give them someone on-the-ground they can go to, chat with, and get advice from, while the alumni get to stay involved and give back as they see fit.
That would be very helpful!
I agree, and I believe the TexasMedia alumni would love it too! I absolutely adore the fact that we get to invest heavily in our students while they are here and they continue to invest heavily in us once they leave via great projects, recruiting, and other support for our students. That’s just such a big deal! We wouldn’t be half the program we are today without our amazing alumni. I’ve always believed from the very first day that the media program is not in a classroom or in a lecture sllideshow. TexasMedia is really our students here and alumni out there doing their work and carrying our name with them.
Another example of short-term goal for the program I’d love to kick off is to officially require an online portfolio for all TexasMedia seniors as a last step before they graduate from UT with TexasMedia under their belt.
Finally, we definitely need to do more outreach telling our story because the narrative of our students and alumni is just so fantastic. And I want to better connect different groups of people across the TexasMedia community. I love it when you guys bump into someone who is 5, 10, 15 or now almost 20 years out and you make that connection. I want to fuel that fire, and keep that going to continue to honor our network and alumni for being so loyal and supportive.
Oh, I also want to do more competitions! We are very fortunate because we have really bright kids. When we go to competitions we win. We just need to find time outside of our already intense classroom projects to get into more competitions.
Ok, I’ll stop there for now. There are so many things on the TexasMedia wish list I have to really pace myself.
Transitioning over to applying for TexasMedia, what exactly is the application process?
The application happens for all advertising and PR students at the end of the 345J Media Foundations course each semester. The only requirement is that the student has to have earned a B or better in that course to be considered.
Students who haven’t taken Media Foundations yet should not apply. Students that are currently in that course can apply during their current semester, assuming they’ll make the required grade. You have to be able to start courses in TexasMedia right away after being accepted, so if you’re traveling abroad the semester following 345J or are not able to begin the program that following semester for any other reason, you should wait to apply.
Our committee reviews all applications after the semester end and notifies the new cohort before the next semester starts so that these students can add/drop and move into the classes they need to.
The application really hasn’t changed very much over the years – a resume, small writing prompt, and about 10 years ago when the pool of applicants had grown much larger, instead of interviewing everybody, we started requiring a short personal video. It’s designed to be about a minute and a half long conversation each applicant gets to create, which does two things; One, it lets the entire committee get to meet them in person, so to speak. Two, it allows each student to be considered as more than just an online submission or a piece of paper. They get to show off their unique personality which is important because beyond grades and other basics, we are looking for fearlessness, enthusiasm, and passion.
You’ve seen a lot of applications now over the course of what is now almost 20 years. What makes an application really stand out to you?
I have recruiters ask me this all the time too. I turn it around on them and say, “How do you decide who to hire?” Their answer is the same is mine – “You kind of just know.” Just like when you hire somebody, that person is the face of your company. When we admit someone into the program we need to make sure that they are the best flag carriers for us. Natural leadership is a big part of that. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have had a title in an organization. It has more to do with the fact you can illustrate in your application that you are not afraid to take charge. That doesn’t mean you’re dominating or forceful, but you’re confident enough to say, “I can do this. I got this.”
I will tell you that there’s definitely a group of individuals each semester that have stood out already because of the work that they did in the Media Foundations course, and by being proactive in that course. I want to make sure everyone understands it’s not about the final grade in that course as long as it is above the minimum. It’s really about being present, involved, and engaged in the class and the content. You can see when you look out into the audience who’s coming along with you. If a student is very proactive, comes to office hours, and gets to know the topic really well before they ever apply, that matters for sure.
We are also looking for candidates that illustrate that they understand and embrace the idea that this industry is messy to begin with, and only getting messier. They are comfortable with being uncomfortable. A student who is expecting there to be convergent answers is not the student we are going to be able to best serve. We want candidates who are going to be able to say, “Have you thought about this?” or “What about that?” Understanding how to navigate hard to navigate spaces, that’s what we’re looking for.
Finally, we’re looking for someone who has a fire in them somewhere, because we know it’s going to take that to get through each day in this industry. You’ve got to really love the work. You’ve got to be able to put yourself behind something 110%. That’s passion. It doesn’t necessarily have to be media yet. A lot of people feel like they shouldn’t apply because they don’t have media experience, but most don’t other than the foundations class. The biggest thing is that they have something else they are really passionate about. Maybe they’re part of an organization, a student group, or another outside experience. We’ve had award winning horse riders. We’ve had speech and debate team winners. We’ve had so many high school drum majors it’s crazy! So, we’re looking for somebody who can really get behind something because it’s going to take that.
There’s a lot of value in being in the sequence, but, in your opinion, what is the most beneficial thing students get out of the sequence?
Of course, it’s different for each student. Overall, I would say the biggest thing that we teach is how to deconstruct things. How to really pull information and ideas apart and understand them. To ask why and how. It’s the “So what” question. We really build a core of curiosity into students so that they not only want to know how to do something, but why they are doing it a certain way over another. We build a fluidity in the way our students approach things, which allows them to bring more to the dialogue. That’s something I’ve heard over and over again from our alumni. They had a heads up because they knew the industry’s vocabulary, they knew the relationships between things, and they could talk confidently, but really it was just that ability to take on new things that truly set them apart. They could deconstruct and reconstruct things in a different way than a lot of their colleagues that were their same level.
Is there anything else you want to say about the program?
I can’t even tell you how surreal my job can be. Back when we began I couldn’t possibly imagine that we would have more than 70+ applications for each 30-person cohort, and that those applications would be so incredibly strong. I would have never expected so many people would embrace the idea of advanced studies in media, or dreamed that we would see companies putting “TexasMedia preferred” on some internship and job descriptions around the country and that is all happening. Current students will go on recruiting trips or other visits and come back to say, “Gosh you weren’t kidding. They know who we are. And they are excited about what we are doing.” so the reputation is definitely there. But with all of that comes a need to remember there is always, as they say, “someone smarter in the room.” In other words, we will always work to ensure that we and our students stay grounded in sincere humility. This is illustrated by the official TexasMedia pledge of Modest Confidence. This vow means the TexasMedia teaching team and our students are excited and secure in our growth, abilities and successes, yet we remain bound to fostering ethical decision making, and are extremely humbled by they many things we still have to achieve. There will always much for us to learn and new ways for us to grow as we continue inspiring that next great generation of media thinkers and doers.
To learn more about the TexasMedia Sequence and how to apply click here.
