Cedar  Falls,  Iowa    50614        May  10,  2015      To  all  prospective  employers:    I  am  writing  this  letter  to  recommend  Whitney  Johnson,  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  to  work  with  in  my  Digital  Advertising,  Experiential  Marketing,  and  Advertising  Campaign  Development  courses  at  the  University  of  Northern  Iowa.        Whitney  was  on  the  executive  board  of  UNI’s  student  chapter  of  the  American  Advertising  Federation  (AAF)  and  in  that  capacity,  participated  in  the  2015  National  Student  Advertising  Competition  (NSAC),  where  Whitney  and  other  students  on  the  team  developed  a  $110  million  national  advertising  campaign  for  Pizza  Hut  to  increase  digital  orders.  The  team  took  first  place  at  the  District  9  competition,  with  high  accolades  from  the  client  representative  from  Pizza  Hut’s  marketing  team  and  other  professionals  who  served  as  competition  judges.    Whitney  was  an  account  executive  on  this  team,  managing  our  research  group.  Her  ability  to  focus  on  the  big  picture  while  keeping  spirits  high  earned  her  the  respect  and  appreciation  of  her  team.    Her  peers  called  her  an  “amazing  asset”  to  the  team,  one  who  always  stepped  up  to  take  on  new  responsibilities  without  being  asked.    Whitney  is  a  problem-­‐solver  who  does  not  shrink  from  a  challenge.        A  natural  self-­‐starter,  Whitney  was  able  to  lead  this  research  team  through  an  extensive  process  of  both  user  experience  research  and  in-­‐depth  consumer  behavior  research  into  our  target  market.    Whitney  also  helped  the  research  team  through  her  writing  –  translating  their  findings  into  concise  readable  copy  that  helped  create  a  winning  plans  book  and  campaign  presentation.    In  my  Digital  Advertising  class,  Whitney  built  a  strong  personal  brand  around  the  topic  of  how  small  businesses  are  marketing  themselves  via  social  media.    She  also  was  trained  in  content  marketing  techniques,  social  media  marketing,  mobile  marketing,  Google  Analytics,  and  Google  AdWords.    During  this  successful  and  ambitious  project,  her  initiative  led  to  her  to  interview  many  local  businesses  on  their  utilization  of  social  media  tools.    Whitney  has  earned  my  respect  as  an  advertising  professional  and  has  my  highest  recommendation.    Any  marketing  position  that  requires  productive  leadership  will  benefit  from  Whitney’s  talents.    She  is  a  strong  communicator  who  would  be  excellent  in  any  client-­‐facing  role.    Please  feel  free  to  contact  me  at  (319)  504.1644  or  matthew.wilson@uni.edu  for  any  further  questions  about  Whitney.    Sincerely,    

 Matthew  Wilson  Instructor  in  Marketing  College  of  Business  Administration    University  of  Northern  Iowa