Four New Paltz students stepped outside the box and entered a contest to provide a new public relations campaign for the U.S. Postal Service.

Rob Jameson and Jae Verner combined their skills as Radio/TV Production students with the skills of two friends in the graphic design program, Alex Shilin and John-Paul “J.P.” Cannucciari to create a multimedia campaign for the postal service’s first PR Professional Experience contest.

Their entry for the contest - which asked students to create a campaign to market the USPS online products NetPost, Click-N-Ship and Direct Mail to 18- to 30-year olds - focused on the students’ concept of the “three e’s”: exposure, entertainment and expansion of the products. The New Paltz students used online videos to “tease” the products and lead people to the USPS Web site. The group focused their efforts toward online advertisements rather than television and radio spots. They considered the Web to be cheaper and more effective method of communication, especially to the campaign’s targeted audience.

“With creativity, we came up with some great ideas,” Rob said.

The New Paltz team was one of six semi-finalist teams to present their campaign to public relations professionals at the New York Postal Headquarters on May 15. They were up against teams from Dowling College and New York University, Fairleigh-Dickinson University and Montclair State University in New Jersey, and Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. Though they didn’t bring home the top prize, the experience wasn’t lost on them. The critiques and comments from the judges proved to be helpful.

“It will help us in the long run, win or lose,” J.P. said.

It was a lot of work and the team was grateful for the response they got from their instructor Gregory Bray, a lecturer in the Communication and Media Department, who served as the college’s representative. Rob, Jae, Alex and J.P. agreed that their campaign benefited from Bray’s critical and honest input.

The four students graduated in May. Alex and J.P. have started a graphic design company in Boston. Jae and Rob are working on a number of video projects that they hope to pitch to producers.