Armand McCoy

Armand McCoy has brought his “gifts, talents, and blessings” to the University of Oklahoma in the capacity of Executive Director/Faculty Advisor of Lindsey + Asp, a professionally run but student-led agency serving local, regional, and national clients.

McCoy came to Gaylord College in Spring 2022 from his role as president of Trifecta Communications in Oklahoma City. Truly though, McCoy didn’t only recently come to the school. He’s had a relationship with Gaylord College for a decade or more, initially through his role at Trifecta and then as a student in Gaylord’s graduate program in Strategic Communications and Digital Strategy.

His passion for teaching and storytelling came largely from his grandfather, himself a teacher and artist who believed that everyone was “painting their own masterpiece.”

Almost every semester while with Trifecta, he’d talk to a class at Gaylord. McCoy said he’d also spend summers with Cleveland County 4-H, talking to teens about the basics of marketing and advertising that, let’s say, could help them build a lawn-mowing business, for example.

McCoy walked for graduation in May, part of the first cohort of master’s recipients from this new program at Gaylord College. However, the schoolwork didn’t culminate until July 8.

“It was a whirlwind 20 months,” he said.

Raised in Chicago as a Cubs fan on the city’s Southside, and after three years in Kansas City, McCoy made it to Oklahoma as an undergraduate at Oklahoma City University. His time in Oklahoma City has coincided with the city’s growth as a ‘Big League City.’

And now is his opportunity to mentor a group of students from the University of Oklahoma in running a big-league agency. His vision for Lindsey + Asp centers on preparing students not only for their careers but also for maximum impact.

“My victory for me is that if I do my job well that students are not only prepared in the four walls of Gaylord but that once they leave, wherever they go, they can make the greatest impact,” McCoy said.

At Lindsey + Asp, the student leadership team are placed into roles such as creative director, director of advertising, director of public relations, a digital director and oversees their various teams. This fall, McCoy said, the agency will have its first Director of Marketing.

Students have the ability to have impact in real-world positions, serving real-world clients such as ONIE (Oklahoma Nutrition and Information Education), OU Athletics, Carnival Corporation, Spotify and Dress For Success. Moving forward, McCoy said, it’s time for Lindsey + Asp to tell its own story.

Since 2009, Lindsey + Asp has been “the bridge between you and your audience,” as the agency’s website touts. Students aren’t required to be part of Gaylord College; the agency has employed students from the business school, for example. They’re grouped into account teams, McCoy explained, learning the systems, lingo and best practices in how to effectively serve clients.

One of the ways Lindsey + Asp can especially help clients is with storytelling for the next generation. Gen Z has grown up with smart devices in hand, the first generation of natural content creators. They’re authentic. They’re open. They’re vulnerable.

And they’re much less about the quest for perfection that has pervaded social media since its inception during the first decade of the 2000s. But ever the marketer, McCoy was able to notice patterns during a recent interview with Gen Z students.

“I looked down and they’re all wearing white tennis shoes,” he said.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“Usually, me, my shoes are always black or brown,” he said, adding that he’d typically only wear white tennis shoes if he was relaxed or playing a sport.

Statistically, to have seven Gen Z students in otherwise varied styles of dress all in white tennis shoes, McCoy noted, might be information a shoe store or manufacturer would like to have. This newest generation of young adults already has tremendous influence. They’re only going to have more impact, McCoy said, and more buying power.

Who better to help real-world clients navigate this real-world opportunity to tell brand stories to Gen Z?

“We want to have specialization as a youth culture agency,” McCoy said.

Another area of impact McCoy brings to the agency is his interest in issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, often referred to as DE&I. He talked about a Cheerios campaign from 2013 that depicted a multi-racial family in a positive way.

“What I loved about it was that in advertising, strategic communications, we have this opportunity through things like frequency and natural repetitiveness, you are able to normalize the world so that those who may not feel seen, that just becomes normal,” he said. “When I’ve seen brands use their platforms to normalize behavior like diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, that’s when great things happen.”

McCoy’s first day with Lindsey + Asp came soon after spring break. While he only spent five weeks or so with the most recent 40 or so students before May 2022 graduation, his excitement for the fall semester was palpable.

“You can see that passion bubbling up inside of them,” he said.

That passion combined with real-world experience is leading to high-profile career opportunities for Lindsey + Asp alumni. For example, the agency’s most recent digital director is now working for the Boston Globe.

“That really excites me that students can be able to thrive in that place and that space to allow those seeds to blossom,” he said.

But ultimately, McCoy said his job at Lindsey + Asp comes down to a simple concept.

“My job is to give them all the gifts, talents, and blessings so that they’re ready to lead when they get out into the world.”