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FARMINGTON HILLS — Carter O’Driscoll, 16, a junior at Farmington High School, recently turned a class assignment into a $10,000 licensing deal with YouTube.
“I was surprised and excited,” he said.
The Ugly Sweater Project is an annual part of Nina Merget’s marketing class at Farmington High School. Students design an “ugly sweater” for the holiday and incorporate the logo of a major brand that resonates with them. Students researched who to contact at the company, emailed them, shared why they selected their brand, and included their design.
O’Driscoll, a sophomore at the time, was a member of the Marketing I class. He has always liked YouTube and designed a sweater with its logo.
“Make it more ugly,” he said Merget instructed him.
Initially, he reached out to the head of marketing at Google, which owns YouTube. When he didn’t get a response, he contacted marketing executives at YouTube. According to his teacher, she had already given him the grade, but he wanted to pursue it for a response.
“He showed initiative and resilience,” Merget said.
It took YouTube representatives awhile to respond, but when they did, they tied his design in with the company’s 20th birthday.
“They had been sitting on the document for a while and working within their team to decide what to do with it,” said Alisia O’Driscoll, Carter’s mom. “They came up with this 20th anniversary gift idea, which is awesome.”
YouTube celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025.
O’Driscoll connected with Gina Johnson, the director and head of executive and internal communications at YouTube.
“It’s not every day you get an ‘Ugly Sweater’ email subject line at work,” Johnson said. “I was intrigued, and it was hard not to appreciate his design and effort.”
YouTube is committed to giving creators a platform to share their stories, she continued.
“We realized this was the perfect opportunity to recognize Carter’s creativity and stand behind YouTube’s promise to empower and compensate creatives at every level,” Johnson said.
Among the things O’Driscoll learned from his marketing class is to be mindful of his online presence.
“Not posting anything too crazy — keep it professional, school related, and sports related,” he said.
According to Farmington Public Schools, YouTube produced hundreds of Carter’s design and sent them to Farmington High School. The other “ugly sweaters” were shared with YouTube employees as part of a holiday giveaway.
“I was glad I could give them to my classmates, O’Driscoll said. “I think they really like them.”
When asked what he was going to do with the $10,000, he replied, “An IRA fund.”
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