Ray Gillette, a 1978 graduate of the WVU School of Journalism and creator of the”Whassup with the Whassup”Budweiser advertising campaign, will give two multi-media presentations at WVU Monday, Oct. 23, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The public is invited.

Gillette, president of integrated services at the international firm DDB Needham, is an expert on integrated marketing communications, and the IMC program has recently been added to the journalism schools graduate curriculum.

At 10 a.m. Gillette will present”The Value of Talk Value,”defined as word-of-mouth advertising that becomes part of pop culture.

At 2 p.m. his presentation on”Whassup with the Whassup,”will explore how DDB captured a larger, younger audience that sent Budweiser sales skyrocketing.

Budweiser was introduced in 1876, Gillette said, and grew to become the largest selling beer in the world. Sales started sliding in 1989, however, and continued to decline into the 1990s.

DDB was awarded the Budweiser business in 1995 and set about getting young adults to think about Budweiser again.”Our plan was to be surprising, entertaining and meaningful. To be’their’beer,”Gillette said.

One of the methods DDB Needham employed to market Budweiser was to generate a buzz that had people incorporating the advertising lingo into everyday conversationwhat Gillette calls”talk value.”Gillette said more than $20 million in free media exposure was generated for the”Whassup”campaign.

For more information on the talks, contact Mary Furbee or Kurt Schimmel, 293-3505.