Hear from our clients and team members
Check out testimonials from previous clients and students below.
Client Testimonials
“The work SOC3 delivered for Nestlé was truly outstanding. From ideas for a fully built, student-designed website to creative brand activations like a culinary competition and truck concept, their ideas were both innovative and audience-centric to help promote our global next-gen entrepreneurship platform in the United States. The integration ideas they proposed in connection to our brands were smart and provided us with fresh ways to bring our initiatives to life on campuses and beyond. We were blown away by the professionalism, creativity, and passion they brought to every detail!”
Dan McCabe, Senior Manager, Community Affairs at Nestlé
“It was a true pleasure collaborating with SOC3. The thoughtfulness, creativity, depth of knowledge, and excitement everyone brought to the presentations was really something special. Without a doubt, our time with SOC3 has been a standout moment this year. Please extend our sincere gratitude to the students—we are confident they have incredibly bright futures ahead.”
Dave McNamee, former Vice President, Global Corporate Communications and Jeff Tobler, VP, Head of Global Media & Talent Relations + Influencer Marketing, Expedia Group
“I’m inspired by the next generation of PR leaders at American University’s student-powered integrated communications agency, SOC3. I had the pleasure of working with them in Fall of 2023 as they developed innovative campaigns, toolkits, digital content, and more that will bring to life some of The Home Depot’s most impactful stories of the economic impact we have in communities across the country.”
“As we were listening to the presentations from SOC3, we felt as if they had been in our meetings as they were able to capture the opportunities we had been discussing with different target audiences and create unique storytelling deliverables across various verticals. We appreciated how deeply SOC3 immersed themselves in ALDI and that the deliverables touched on different workstreams including earned media, local advertising, creator content and activations. We also commended them on their focus on KPIs - they understood how to measure success. We are inspired by their work!”
Liz Risoldi, Senior Vice President, Zeno Group
Sarah McDonald, Director, Public Affairs at The Home Depot
“I’m absolutely blown away by the materials SOC3 delivered for WEC. The sheer quantity of work, paired with such creativity and professionalism, is truly impressive. Huge thanks to the entire SOC3 team—I’m excited to dive in with my team and start putting these incredible resources to use!”
Jessie Ebersole, Director of Programs, Washington English Center
“The League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia was thrilled to be selected as SOC3's non-profit client. We provided them with background information on LWV, our voter information platform Vote411.org, and the audiences we want to reach for the 2024 elections, with a special focus on young voters. The students quickly absorbed our material and developed creative ideas and implementation methods for each activation. They were a delight to work with and we look forward to putting their deliverables into action for the 2024 elections.”
Barbara Zia, President, League of Women Voters of DC
“We were excited to work with Professor Kumar and the SOC3 cohort to explore content creation strategies that would allow us to promote our restaurant’s story, space, and menu items. We appreciated the cohort’s observations about our restaurant and the recommendations that they provided us. We are looking forward to using some of the creative deliverables that they came up with!”
Andre McCain, Founder of HalfSmoke + Butter Me Up
“We have worked with other universities in the past and these are largely academic exercises where the plans sit on a shelf. All the deliverables created and presented by SOC3 will be used by our team and are incredibly helpful.”
Scott Kratz, Building Bridges Across the River Senior Vice President & 11th Street Bridge Park Director
“The students of SOC3 brainstormed ways our Campaign could highlight the plight of ordinary American families fighting to bring home their loved ones held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. They launched and maintained our TikTok campaign. The students also developed several effective advocacy campaigns that BOFH can add to its toolbox and use to garner the attention of media and political leaders. Perhaps even more importantly, the SOC3 team helped our Campaign bring hostage diplomacy out of the shadows and into the hearts and minds of a younger generation of Americans.”
Neda Sharghi, Past Chair of the BOFH Steering Committee
“DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program works with a network of over 50 corner stores in food-apartheid areas of the District to provide healthy food options at affordable prices. We were excited to work with Professor Kumar and the inaugural SOC3 cohort to explore fresh perspectives on how to tell the Healthy Corners story and drive awareness to our newly re-launched Healthy Corners app. All five groups shared insightful observations garnered through their research, and we have already begun to incorporate some of the cohort’s recommendations, including a restructuring of the Healthy Corners app recipe page based on the SOC3 students’ presentation.”
Melissa Gold, Director of Communications & Marketing, DC Central Kitchen
"Hearing from the SOC3 teams was an absolute pleasure, and we walked away from the presentations feeling genuinely energized and inspired by this next generation of communicators. We loved seeing how each group approached our two briefs from completely different angles and we were impressed by how many of their ideas touched on concepts and opportunities we've been exploring internally - a true sign of how on-point their thinking was. Their creativity stood out, and it was always backed by strong data and insights, which made every recommendation feel both exciting and strategically grounded.”
Taylor Gray, Head of Global Masterbrand, Mainstream/Upscale & AMER PR, IHG Hotels & Resorts
“SOC3 is an incredible opportunity at AU that operates as a student-led integrated communications agency, consistently providing valuable real-world experience to its students through real client work. I encourage future students to take full advantage of this experience, as it provides a unique opportunity to develop both professionally and academically alongside your SOC peers!”
Team Testimonials
Natalie Gillum - Community Engagement
Hall Harrison - Brand Development
“This semester's experience in SOC3 completely exceeded my expectations. When I showed up to DMTI every day, I was actually excited to take part in whatever we were doing that day. Whether that be going to Anacostia for field research, to Georgetown for a content creation day, or conducting a brainstorming activity, everything we did was dynamic and exciting.”
“It is very rare that students are given the freedom to direct their own work here at AU. In SOC3, not only were we given the agency to create deliverables that bolstered our future careers, but the resources and structure to ensure that the fruits of our labor were used to create real change.”
“SOC3 was truly a rewarding experience. It is the most hands-on experience I have had in a course, and I really valued my time in SOC3. There is no doubt that the course was stressful at times, but if you go in with the expectation that it’s going to be hard work, you’ll be better off in the long run. It’s also work that pays off; it’s even more rewarding when you put in hard work that ends up producing something you’re proud of.”
Becca Kriensk - Community Engagement
Lila Delaronde - Creative Strategist
SOC3 has been an amazing way to learn from others about so many aspects of the communications field. As a Film and Media Arts major, my knowledge has grown immensely, and I feel as if I have such a stronger grasp on how a brand functions. I enjoyed listening to my classmate’s ideas and being able to take part in conversations that I felt truly mattered!”
