1981 WKU advertising students competed for the second time in the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition as the Winkin, Blinkin and Nodd agency.
1987 WKU advertising students changed their agency name to ImageWest, with a capital “w”, and competed in the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition. They also started a separate student-run advertising agency.
2000 Kentucky’s Council on Post-Secondary Education approved Western Kentucky University’s second program of distinction. The agency is part of Western Kentucky University’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting’s Center for 21st Century Media Program of Distinction, which is approved and funded by Kentucky’s Council on Post-Secondary Education Regional Excellence Trust Fund.
2003 The School of Journalism and Broadcasting moved into Mass Media & Technology Hall, a 18.5 million new building. Offices, workspace and focus group facilities were specially created and designated for the full-service agency.
Imagewest’s first full time agency manager, Heather Garcia, was hired to launch the new full-service, student-run advertising and public relations agency.
2004 The new adventure begins. Imagewest opened its doors and recruited five interns for the spring semester. The agency had a ribbon cutting and grand opening.
Imagewest serves as a model for other universities nationally and internationally.
The Imagewest, “Good Job Gnome” joined the agency.
Imagewest became an award-winning agency.
2005 Imagewest expanded offices to accommodate more students and equipment.
2006 The Imagewest Ninja Gnome character was created.
2008 Imagewest awarded five Summer Internship Abroad Scholarships and traveled to Malaysia to work with a client.
2009 Imagewest celebrated its five-year anniversary with an open house and awarded five scholarships.
The Imagewest life-size Ninja Gnome mascot was launched.
To eliminate confusion and enhance branding efforts, WKU advertising students changed their agency name from Imagewest to Red186 and competed in the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition.
Imagewest awarded four Summer Internship Abroad Scholarships and traveled to Madrid to work with a client.
2010 Imagewest expanded offices to accommodate a client reception area, conference meeting space, and additional work space.
Imagewest awarded four Summer Internship Abroad Scholarships and traveled to Barcelona to work with a client.
2011 Imagewest celebrated its seven- year anniversary with a grand reopening, ribbon cutting and open house.
Imagewest awarded five Summer Internship Abroad Scholarships and traveled to Paris to work with a client.
As it’s often said, “and the rest is history!”