Our Roxo agency this spring is celebrating 10 years of history and client work with strategic communication students and its client community. The agency has grown from employing a dozen students to nearly 30 each semester. The unique, student-driven, full-service advertising and public relations agency has taught, employed and prepared approximately 400 students in the past decade with real-world client work and community-service learning projects. Roxo students have served more than 100 businesses and organizations in Texas.
Members of BNSF deliver a presentation to the Roxo agency.
Roxo opened its doors in 2011 through a generous corporate partnership with BNSF and the BNSF Foundation. The goal of the program is to provide students in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication with experiential-based learning that makes a positive impact in the community. Structured like a social enterprise business, Roxo’s revenue generated from client works goes back into the students’ education and service-learning experiences.
Over the past 10 years, the agency has donated approximately $50,000 worth of work to the Fort Worth community. Its corporate social responsibility initiatives include mental health awareness for young people and suicide prevention, a focus of one of their recent clients, Cook Children’s Medical Center. The Fort Worth-based medical center hired the student agency to help promote Raising Joy, a podcast that’s part of their suicide prevention initiative known as the JOY Campaign.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with Roxo over the course of several semesters, and I’m always blown away by their energy, creativity and professionalism,” says Kim Brown, public relations manager for Cook Children’s. “Roxo has helped us think outside of the box and take our campaigns to new heights, especially with the JOY Campaign. They took a personal interest in our goal to reduce youth suicide attempts and were completely invested in our mission.”
Additional current and past Roxo clients include: Fort Worth Report, MHMR of Tarrant County, The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, Unbounded Leather, TCU Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Near Southside, Inc., Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, GM Arlington, Project 4031, Southside Preservation Hall, Empower Fort Worth, Leadership Fort Worth, and local social media influencer Tiffany Blackmon.
“Working with Roxo was a joy,” says Kristina Robertson, executive director and co-founder of Project 4031. “If you’re given the opportunity to work with their amazing team, your answer should be a resounding yes. We are grateful for the opportunity.”
Members of the Roxo agency pose with their clients from the MHMR Foundation.
Because they work with real clients and charge a fee for service work, Roxo students are expected to perform at the same level as industry professionals. For these juniors and seniors, that means real outcomes, real portfolio pieces and real-life success when that hard work pays off.
“Roxo has prepared me for my future by allowing me the opportunities to gain experience in working with clients, the process of creating specific deliverables for our clients, time management, project management and so much more,” says Emma Huels, a Class of 2021 graduate of the Schieffer College.
Above all, the student ad agency works to harness creativity in ways that help and inspire others, building the next generation of ethical industry professionals.
“Roxo is the cool, innovative and enriching internship that everyone wishes they could have,” says Preston Harless, a senior strategic communication major and Roxo’s inaugural director of diversity, equity and inclusion. “Working on real client work in an environment of brilliant, motivated communicators creates an unparalleled experience.”
Members of Roxo’s Spring 2022 executive team, including Preston Harless (second from right), pose for a photo.