Get to know some of our College of Media faculty. Shachar Meron is a senior lecturer in advertising.
What is your educational background?
I actually started out as an art major as a freshman, then I shifted after that to the Division of General Studies as an undeclared student, trying to find my way. I wanted something that was creative but would still have a viable job opportunity. I took ADV 150, which I thought was so cool, and that’s how I got into advertising.
I got my bachelor’s degree in advertising here at Illinois and then I stuck around a little extra to get my master’s in advertising here from the College of Media.
You owned an advertising business—can you tell me more about your experience with that?
I have one currently, and I also had a different one years ago. The one years ago, I was in Chicago, and I had a creative partner. I was a writer and strategist, and she was an art director and designer. We worked together at a few agencies, and we had some freelance work that we did together. We used that to launch a business called BatesMeron Sweet Design. It still exists, we named it after ourselves, we started just the two of us. It was a brand design boutique so companies that were new that needed branding, or ones that needed rebranding would come to us. I did that for five years, then I sold my half to my partner and went onto other things, including coming down here to teach. Now I own a brand strategy consultancy called Bluegreen Branding. It’s a virtual agency consultancy. I have a different partner that I work with now, but we both have jobs, so this is something that we do on the side. My consulting business has been going on for about five years now. We got our start and then about a year later, Covid hit and all of the sudden, it was a real benefit to having a virtual agency.
What is your favorite class to teach?
I don’t want to choose! I feel like they’re my children and I can’t pick! I like different things about different classes. I’m glad that I’ve been able to create all of them the way that I want to. I really like ADV 250 Advertising and Brand Strategy because it’s very big picture, like here is the world of advertising and brands and how it fits together. Whereas my ADV 400 copywriting class is enjoyable because it’s creative, and it’s where I started. I really like ADV 490 Sandage Studios/Agency Experience because it’s a small tight-knit group, and we run it more like a business than an actual class. So I can’t really pick just one.
What is your favorite part of teaching college students?
There’s a certain hunger in people who are young and curious and are still exploring all of their options, while learning about new things for the first time. I really enjoy being a part of all that. I really like collaborating with students, I like being able to meet with them one on one and a lot of times it’s a conversation about their career, or their future. I think that’s my favorite part, learning more about them and trying to help them find their way.
How have you seen the advertising industry change over the years, and where do you see it heading in the future?
With advertising, it’s often on the forefront of change in society and brands; lots of times advertising is focused on what’s new. At the same time, there are universal fundamentals of advertising that don’t change and I’m glad that we teach them here because it helps them stay relevant. For example, no matter what technologies are being introduced or changing the way we communicate, it’s still about forming a connection with your target audience. We’re in the persuasion business, which means understanding the people you’re trying to connect with and then trying to show them here’s a brand that meets what you want and need. As far as things that are changing, I’m using AI in my own consultancy work and also I’m starting to teach AI more in my classes, and I’m excited by that technology. Also just thinking about globalization, brands are much more multicultural than they used to be. The Internet is a part of that reason, but not the entire thing. Brands try to be more mission driven and value driven than ever before, which is a good thing but it’s not always relevant to the market that we’re talking about. There’s a lot that’s always changing.
What is your biggest piece of advice to college students?
Explore what interests you, but with the purpose of eventually creating your own path and your own career around what you want and what you’re good at. In advertising there’s like a million directions you could go. You can really make your career your own, you could start your own companies, you could create your own roles, all that kind of stuff. But many students hesitate to try new things and to explore. I think a lot of times, it comes down to short-term thinking like not taking a class because they don’t like when it meets. I get that, but then you’re passing up a class that is based around the future you want. There are so many opportunities to try things during this time of your life, just try them, check them out. But keep an eye out, if you’re like, hey, I like this, look for what more you can do.
—Interview by Rhia Thakkar, New Voices Intern
