Published: March 9, 1998

A partnership between three School of Journalism and Mass Communication professors and a Boulder marketing consulting firm will develop advertising and marketing messages for non-profit organizations.

Ads for People will develop strategic marketing plans and create print and broadcast ads.

The team of former New York advertising executives has been selected by the National Interfaith Hospitality Network (NIHN) as its first client. NIHN is a network of more than 40,000 volunteers who turn churches and synagogues into shelters for the working poor and their children.

“We have been part of the ad wars and now we want to give back to the community and to society,” said Professor Larry Weisberg, who will serve as the managing director of the project.

Weisberg, the director of the graduate Integrated Marketing Communications program at CU-Boulder, said the new firm is most interested in helping organizations who help others through grassroots efforts.

Weisberg said Ads for People will help NIHN communicate its new vision to potential fund sources, volunteers and the government. They also will research ways to reach those in need of the service.

Brett Robbs, Ads for People’s creative director, is an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and director of the school’s undergraduate advertising program. He said the new venture will allow him to do more creative work and will open up opportunities for students at CU.

Businesses that can donate or discount their products and services to Ads for People should contact Weisberg at 492-0536.

Ads for People staff

• Larry Weisberg was president of Waring & LaRosa Advertising in New York and a marketing executive at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.

• Brett Robbs is a former creative director of DDB Needham in Washington, D.C., where he worked on accounts such as McDonald’s and National Geographic. He also has been a copywriter for McCann-Erickson in Chicago and Walker & Associates in Memphis.

• Mindy Kiger is a media consultant and adjunct professor at CU-Boulder. She is a former senior partner and associate media director at Ogilvy & Mather where she worked with SmithKline Beecham, Kimberly-Clark and Duracell.

• Sandy Keziah and Victoria Kindred are founders of the Boulder-based strategic planning consultant firm Kindred/Keziah. Keziah was an account manager for M&M Mars at DDB Needham. Prior to moving to Boulder, he was the senior account planner for Diet Coke and Lowe & Partners/SMS. Kindred worked in consumer research and account planning for the DMB&B agency and worked on accounts for Procter & Gamble, Norelco and the American Red Cross.