Campaign for Campus Brand Ambassadors by Ashley Abbott

Campus Brand Ambassadors Styles and Design Ashley Abbott, Haley Haas, Hannah Walden, Evvie Walker don@vergepipemedia.com

Introduction This campaign for Campus Brand Ambassadors was designed by five Auburn University public relations students for PRCM 4500. PRCM 4500 is an undergraduate course led by Terry Knight in the School of Communication and Journalism.

Table of Contents

Client Analysis

Situational Analysis

Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

Execution

Evaluation Plan

Conclusion and Recommendations

Contact List

Timetable

Appendices

Executive Summary For our client, Campus Brand Ambassadors, Styles and Design Public Relations made a campaign focusing on attracting and educating students on the opportunity to become a Campus Brand Ambassador. This is ultimately a way for companies to get their brand to college campuses through a third party. Verge Pipe Media, a local Auburn agency, has been working to gain staff, create events and find companies that want to help make the ambassador program a success in southeastern universities. Verge Pipe Media originally wanted to target local companies that would use Campus Brand Ambassadors to promote their company on Auburnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus. However, in order to promote companies through an ambassador program, Campus Brand Ambassadors needs a strong online presence that would create awareness for potential employees and clients. Styles and Design Public Relations gathered information through a focus group with nine college students ranging from ages 21 to 22. The point of our focus group was to gain knowledge on what college students would look for in an ambassador program and how willing they would be to participate in one. After hearing responses from Auburn University students, Styles and Design Public Relations decided the best way to create awareness would be to create an event on Auburnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus where employees would hand out promotional goodie bags that provide knowledge about the program and links to all of Campus Brand Ambassadors social media sites.

Client Analysis Verge Pipe Media is a digital marketing and public relations company based in Auburn, Ala. The company was founded by Don Crow in 2010. According to their website, “Verge Pipe Media is a strategic public relations and digital marketing agency bringing inbound marketing to Higher Education and forward thinking brands. We believe in the power of social media, word of mouth marketing, compelling storytelling, visual branding and ‘snackable content’ to reach today’s more mobile (smartphone) savvy consumers.” This year Verge Pipe Media has begun a new venture, Campus Brand Ambassadors. A brand ambassador is a person who talks about the company they represent in a positive way, in front of potential customers. However, many companies do not have the time, knowledge or resources to hire their own brand ambassadors. The Campus Brand Ambassadors business model is designed so that when companies hire them, Campus Brand Ambassadors will provide all of the staff and services to promote that company on Auburn University’s campus. These services will include social media campaigns, hosting corporate events and promoting the business around Auburn. Campus Brand Ambassadors’ goal is to create a “one-to-one marketing experience.”

Strengths Since Campus Brand Ambassadors is a relatively new company, there are not any obvious political strengths. In the future there could be several positive political opportunities for the company. Campus Brand Ambassadors should continue to be consistent in following the social and political norms of the areas they operate in.

There are many social benefits that come from using college students as representatives for Campus Brand Ambassadors. College students are typically involved in multiple different things on campus as well as groups outside of campus. The wide range of people that can be reached through just one college student would be extremely useful to a brand trying to get their name or product out to the public. Greek life in particular would be a major resource for advertising purposes on a college campus. Having a brand sponsor a sorority or fraternity philanthropy event would reach a large number of people both involved in the specific greek organization putting on the event and the people that are attending the event. An economic strength of Campus Brand Ambassadors is the amount of students who attend large state universities like Auburn. Most of these students are financially supported by their parents and are always looking for ways to make more money. Campus Brand Ambassadors would have a large amount of students willing to work for the company for virtually any amount. The students that are in college today are part of a generation that has grown up around computers and social media. The college-aged employees working for Campus Brand Ambassadors would have the knowledge necessary to know how to advertise through social media posts on different platforms. Campus Brand Ambassadors could utilize their tech-savvy employees in using different forms of technology for the act of purchasing or promoting the product or service. For instance, employees could use tablets or iPhones at events to allow people to pay instantly through credit card swiping applications or virtual sign up sheets.

Weaknesses Campus Brand Ambassadors is in the beginning stages of growing as a company, so it has to set up rules, codes and employee guidelines that will work with the businesses culture. Since the company is so new, there is not many political weaknesses. A social weakness of Campus Brand Ambassadors is the lack of a permanent office space. Having a consistent meeting place for employees to work and collaborate is a foundation for growing a successful business. Attracting clients is a main priority for Campus Brand Ambassadors and not having an office may send the wrong message to potential clients. A company like Campus Brand Ambassadors needs an office to space that is centrally located to businesses that could be potential clients. Another social weakness of Campus Brand Ambassadors is lack of a client niche. Going into a business which already has competition from a larger corporation makes it harder to find clients and not having a specific market or specific list of clients to go after wastes time and funds. Since Campus Brand Ambassadors is a relatively new business most of the funds to get the company started will have to come from current employees which may limit the company. Working with a limited budget may affect the certain aspects of the company. It will limit the number of employees they can hire, or it may cause limitations on the kinds of promotional tools they can use to reach potential clients. As of right now Campus Brand Ambassadors does not have a specific employee that focuses on social media engagement and updating the businesses website. Since social media and traffic on its website will be the biggest promotional tool for the company, they will need to hire an employee to work as a social media expert whose job

it is to work directly with these outlets. A key to growing and getting the attention of clients and future employees will be through the company's online presence.

Opportunities Campus Brand Ambassadors has a great political opportunity to reach out and cultivate relationships with economic development. By becoming actively involved in the Auburn Community through Chamber Events and City Council meetings, Campus Brand Ambassadors has the political opportunity to make local contacts that will ultimately promote business opportunities and events. Campus Brand Ambassadors also has the opportunity of seeking national companies that will need students to promote their business on college campuses. Social media is going to be a huge opportunity for Campus Brand Ambassadors. There is no social media presence currently and most students spend a lot of their time on all forms of social media. Facebook and Instagram are going to be huge opportunities to create awareness and attract students to Brand Ambassadors. Social media will not only help bring awareness to college students, but it can also promote the events that Brand Ambassadors will be hosting. If students are seeing the events and their friends participating in them on social media, they will be more likely to join for the next event. Social Media is also going to be the easiest and most efficient way to promote Campus Ambassadors to a large number of students in universities across the Southeast, which is the ultimate goal. A great economic opportunity for Campus Brand Ambassadors is to get involved with local businesses in Auburn. By working together, the local companies will be

bringing awareness to Campus Ambassadors and students will be helping the local economy by encouraging students to visit their stores and events. The Campus Brand Ambassadors website has a domain but has no information on it, so a large opportunity is going to be to design the website in an interactive way that is going to attract college students. If students find the website interesting and appealing, then they are going to be more likely to want to become an ambassador and participate in the events.

Threats A political threat to Campus Brand Ambassadors is alcohol laws in Alabama. Campus Brand Ambassadors has said they do not want to work with companies that are alcohol based, for example Bud Light, however even other companies that want to throw parties or events that involve alcohol can put Campus Brand Ambassadors in a tough position. In Alabama, legal drinking age is 21, with a minimum age of 19 to work as a server of alcohol. Aside from just the law on drinking, citizens of Alabama have a complicated relationship with alcohol, due to the conservative nature of the state. These laws would limit the type of employees that Campus Brand Ambassador could hire or limit the type of companies that they can work with. A social threat to Campus Brand Ambassadors is the amount of students already involved in company run ambassador programs. Companies such as Victoria Secret, Yik Yak, Her Campus and Kiss My Southern Sass have an advantage to reaching the college student demographic because they are big names that look good on a resume. Also, due to their big names, a lot of these companies already have a big following on campus. Friends recruit friends which grows the ambassador group and they are able to interact

with a lot of big organizations on campus, such as greek life. Due to the way students view ambassador programs as employees and consumers Campus Brand Ambassadors will have to work hard to compete with name brands. An economic threat to Campus Brand Ambassadors is the cost of paying their employees. The Campus Brand Ambassadors pay their ambassadors $15 an hour with a 2 hour minimum. Although this is a great way to attract potential employees, many larger companies get students to intern for free with the promise of experience and a good thing to put on their resumes. Paying students this much will increase the cost of hiring The Campus Brand Ambassadors and could inhibit them from gaining clients. Although the Campus Brand Ambassadors secured the website domain http://www.campusbrandambassadors.com, if you google Campus Brand Ambassadors, they are nowhere to be found. Due to the myriad of other organizations that use the term “Campus Brand Ambassadors” it will take time for Campus Brand Ambassadors to develop enough of a web presence to get on the main page of Google. Due to the small scale nature of their business, this is a major threat to getting to company up and running. The Campus Brand Ambassadors will have to take extra steps to develop a presence online, via their webpage, Twitter and Instagram to compete with the numerous corporations that use the term “Campus Brand Ambassadors.”

Situational Analysis According to their website Campus Brand Ambassadorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; goal is â&#x20AC;&#x153;to provide well trained, attractive and professional staff for events like trade shows, sporting events, welcome receptions and guerrilla marketing campaigns to present your brand in a personal way. Our one-on-one interaction with consumers gets your brand in their hands and on their minds. We can also provide interactive social media support during the event to help leverage word-of-mouth and social media shares.â&#x20AC;? The mission of Campus Brand Ambassadors is to supply clients with a personalized brand ambassador experience. Campus Brand Ambassadors aims to simplify the entire staffing process for our clients by providing them with energetic and engaging brand ambassadors. Our principal function is to supply patrons with the highest quality promotional materials by training brand ambassadors to excel in public relations strategies, social media practices and guerilla marketing tactics. Due to Campus Brand Ambassadors incomplete website they are unable to reach out to students looking to get more information about Campus Brand Ambassadors, potential employees and companies that could hire them. Seeing as they are an up-andcoming business, it is understandable that their online presence is lacking. Currently, Campus Brand Ambassadors have put their efforts on hold in order to obtain fresh ideas and develop a unique strategy to attract employees. However, in order to build an employee and client base they will need to work on recruiting students who are experts in social media, allowing them to build their online presence and gain clients.

Since Campus Brand Ambassadors is a relatively new business, it has a limited number of stakeholders. These stakeholders include their four employees and their one client, Sodexo. Moving forward the potential clients who could hire Campus Brand Ambassadors for its services will be added as key stakeholders in the company. The company’s key publics will be its potential employees, more specifically college age students in their junior or senior year. These potential new clients and employees see the company’s incomplete website and lack of social media presence to be a problem. Styles and Design Public Relations hosted a focus group to gather research about the public’s perception of Campus Brand Ambassadors. The focus group had nine students in attendance which consisted of two boys and seven girls. The students were from a variety of majors that included: supply chain management, building science, prevet, human resource, marketing, journalism, interior design and business administration. All of the students were seniors at Auburn University with ages ranging from 21 to 22. The focus group was held on Thursday, March 3 at the Auburn City Public Library’s conference room starting at 6 p.m. and it lasted approximately 30 minutes. There were 22 questions prepared for participants to answer and only 20 questions were asked. Below is the list of the questions that were asked: I. II. III. IV. V. VI.

In your opinion, what does being a Brand Ambassador entail? What are some ambassador programs that you have heard of on Auburn’s Campus? In regards to Brand Ambassador programs what do you feel are the expectations of the sponsoring brands or groups? What have been the most positive characteristics of brand ambassador programs or teams you have been exposed to? What have been the most negative characteristics of brand ambassador programs or teams you have been exposed to? If you could design your ideal brand ambassador program to be a member of, what would some of the characteristics be?

VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX.

What are the social media platforms that you use in your personal life? In your job? What social media do you like to see brands advertise on? What type of things do you like to receive from brand ambassadors on campus? What types brands are you interested in? What brands would you be interested in hearing more about through a campus brand ambassador program? If you were to join a campus brand ambassador program, what benefits would you be looking for to keep you interested in the program? In your opinion, do you think being a Campus Brand Ambassador sounds appealing to a junior/senior in college? What kind of events would you be interested in helping with as a Campus Brand Ambassador? How many hours a week would you be willing to spend as a Campus Brand Ambassador? Are there any ambassador programs that you think are doing a great job promoting brands/events on college campuses? What kind of hours would you be willing to work during non-traditional work days? What pay would be worth your time? What do you think is the most effective way to promote a brand to students? What brands are you interested to see come to Auburn's campus? When it comes to competition, Campus Brand Ambassadors faces the issue of

competing with companies that already have established brand ambassador programs. Companies like PINK, Spotify, Yik Yak and Bud Light already have programs on Auburnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus. The popularity of these companies has led them to have employees who spread the word about not only the products they are promoting but about the job in general. Seeing as the market is somewhat saturated, Campus Brand Ambassadors has a big job to do in order to establish themselves in the brand ambassador world. Based on the information gathered in the focus group, the target publics Campus Brand Ambassadors should be trying to attract as employees are college sophomores and juniors. We originally assumed that Campus Brand Ambassadors would target college seniors as well, but our research showed that older-aged students would not be as receptive to a smaller part-time job since they are typically doing extensive internships or

looking for post-graduate jobs. The target markets that Campus Brand Ambassadors should advertise to are college students who are frequent social media users and brand followers. Students that diligently follow other brands on social media are more receptive to advertisements from new brands on social media.

Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics Goal â&#x20AC;˘

To create awareness of the Campus Brand Ambassadors

Objectives â&#x20AC;˘

To gain five new employees who are well versed in social media and website design within three months of the conclusion of this campaign. o

Strategy: Use promotional material stating that Campus Brand Ambassadors is hiring.

Tactic: Have employees hand out promotional material during event on campus, as well as create job postings online to be shared on all social media platforms in order to make potential employees aware of openings.

â&#x20AC;˘

Increase Social Media Following on Twitter by 10 percent and Instagram by 10 percent within the next three months of the conclusion of this campaign. o

Strategy 1: Create promotional items to inform Auburn University students about social media

Tactic 1: This strategy would involve interns handing out the goodie bags during the event to increase the number of people who are aware of the social media pages

Strategy 2: Create engaging social media presence

Tactic 2: Campus Brand Ambassadors using social media at least 3 times a day to post visual content to engage followers.

Execution This campaign was designed in order to increase students awareness of the Campus Brand Ambassadors. Our experience working with students has led us to believe that the best way to communicate with Auburn University students is through face-toface communication. This type of communication can be accomplished by hosting a Campus Brand Ambassadors event on Auburnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus during O-Days. O-Days at Auburn allow clubs and certain businesses that employ students to have tables on the Haley concourse. They have the ability to pass out flyers, goodie bags, candy or just be a visual element on the concourse. Our event will involve having a tent during O-Days. This tent will be staffed with current Campus Brand Ambassadors, who will be giving out goodie bags to students in order to make them aware of Campus Brand Ambassadors. These goodie bags will include an infographic about Campus Brand Ambassadors, a koozie with the Campus Brand Ambassadorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; logo, social media cards and a sweet treat. Campus Brand Ambassadors will also have other prizes that will be given to students who engage with us on social media during our time on the contest. If students tweet us the #CampusBrandAmbassadors and find us on the concourse to show us their post they will receive official Campus Brand Ambassador promotional items that will not be offered to the general public. These items include color-changing cups, sunglasses and bottle-opener key chains. The ambassadors working at the Campus Brand Ambassadors table on O-Days will be wearing matching outfits consisting of a Campus Brand Ambassadors t-shirt and jeans. These t-shirts will have a similar logo displayed on the front as the promotional items and the back of their shirt will have the official hashtag #CampusBrandAmbassadors. Auburn University provides O-Day participants with a

standard issued table and two chairs. In addition to this table, we will set up a large white tent with a colorful Campus Brand Ambassadors banner hanging in the back. A basic table cloth with cover the table since the main focus will be the banner and the promotional items and cards on top of the table. Applications will also be on the table for students to fill out if they are interested in employment with Campus Brand Ambassadors. By directly promoting these applications during O-Days, this should help us in meeting our goal of gaining a large job applicant pool so we can hire five new employees within three months of the conclusion of this campaign. The job postings online will be enhanced by the popularity of Campus Brand Ambassadors as a result of advertising our brand to Auburn University students. Incentivizing students to follow our social media accounts to receive promotional items will help to increase our Twitter and Instagram following by 10 percent each within the three months after the campaign. With the conclusion of the initial campaign, continuing to post on social media frequently with engaging content will create a strong and loyal following. Please refer to appendices A, B and C to view social media posts, goodie bag communication items and koozie design. Other Suggestions for the Event â&#x20AC;˘

Ambassadors should be wearing matching outfits.

â&#x20AC;˘

The booth will need to be decorated to be visually appealing. o

We suggest having a tent, table and chairs.

In the back of the tent, there should be a large colorful banner with the Campus Brand Ambassadors logo.

The table should have all of the items that students can find in their goodie bags neatly displayed on the table, and it should also include applications that students can take if they are seeking employment.

Evaluation Plan The main goal set for this campaign for Campus Brand Ambassador is “to create awareness of the Campus Brand Ambassador.” To determine if the main goal was met and the campaign was successful, Campus Brand Ambassadors must have achieved the objectives laid out for this campaign. Campus Brand Ambassadors should have gained 5 new employees within three months of the campaigns completion who are well versed in social media and web design. The company’s social media should have seen a 10 percent follower increase on both Instagram and Twitter.

Conclusion and Recommendations In conclusion, by Style and Design Public Relations organizing this campus event, we believe we can bring recognition and understanding to the Campus Brand Ambassadors name. By holding an event on the concourse, Campus Brand Ambassadors advertise themselves to hundreds of students who will not only want to engage with the company, but also work for it. Once they reach the Auburn students, the company will be able to hire more Campus Brand Ambassadors to help expand their website and social media reach. This will help Campus Brand Ambassadors gain clients and become a flourishing business in Auburn. Below are a few recommendations that Style and Design Public Relations has come up with to enhance Campus Brand Ambassadors experience with this campaign. •

To complete the website before any events are held for Campus Brand Ambassadors

•

Once the website is live and events on campus have been held, hold focus group on Campus to gauge the level of public awareness for Campus Brand Ambassadors

•

Once Campus Brand Ambassadors have created an awareness on Auburn’s campus and gained tech savvy and reliable staff brig the Campus Brand Ambassadors to the Downtown Merchants Association. We believe that including them in this business venture could have a positive impact on client base at Campus Brand Ambassadors.

Budget Total Budget allotted: $1,500 Gift Bags: -Koozies: $400 o Made by Stamp, 500 koozie for $0.80 a koozie -Social Media Cards: $8.49 o Made by Vistaprint, 500 cards -Informational Card Stock: $245 o Made by Office Depot, 500 copies -Candy: $52.00 o From Target, 5 bags of variety pack candy -Gift Bags: $375 o From Target, 500 bags for $0.75 Staffing: -4 employees: $120 o Two hours of work at $15 an hour

Total: $1,200.49

Contact List Purpose: An event during O-Days (fall) to recruit students to become Campus Brand Ambassadors. Guests: All Auburn University Students are welcome to stop by the tent. Number: We will make 500 gift bags to hand out to students. Style: Casual, Campus Brand Ambassador Employees should have on matching shirts with the Campus Brand Ambassador logo on it Venue: Auburn University Haley Center Concourse Food: No food will be provided at the event. However, there will be candy in the promotional gift bags that are handed out. Drinks: There will be no drinks provided at Auburn O-Days. Music: We will have a speaker playing music on the table. Furniture: Tent provided by Verge Pipe Media. Auburn O-Days provides the tables. Decor: There will not be a lot of decor. However, the tent should be visually appealing. There will be a large colorful banner with the Campus Brand Ambassador logo on it. We will also have all the promotional items in the goodie bag displayed on the table and a stack of applications for anyone interested in becoming a Campus Brand Ambassador. Staffing: Campus Brand Ambassadors will be the primary staff and we will need 4. Security: There will be no need for security because this is an on campus Auburn event. Licences & Permissions: Communicate with Auburn SGA to gain permission to be on the concourse during O Days. Promotion:

•

Verge Pipe Media interns will post on Social Media (mainly Facebook and Twitter) as well as write press releases and blog articles stating they will be on the concourse during O-Days.

•

In order to receive a gift bag the student must promote Campus Brand Ambassadors on a form Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag: #CampusBrandAmbassadors.

•

Each item in the gift bag will have the Campus Brand Ambassador logo on it, which will help promote Campus Brand Ambassadors as well.

Social Media Post: •

Social Media Post for Facebook and Twitter (refer to appendices page for graphics): “Join the Campus Brand Ambassadors on the concourse this Tuesday from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. for goodie bags, information and more! Be sure to hashtag #campusbrandambassadors on Facebook and twitter for the chance to win free merchandise!

Contacts:

•

Don Crow: Don@vergepipemedia.com

•

Koozies: customink.com

•

Auburn O-Days: http://www.auburn.edu/student_info/student_affairs/involvement/cso/get_involve d/OrganizationsDays.php

•

Canva: www.canva.com

•

Sign World: 334-821-6303

Timetable

May 2016 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Auburn University summer classes begin

Introduce VP interns to CBA concept

Have interns become Hootsuite certified

Memorial Day off

Create social media schedule of when to post on Hootsuite

26 Begin creating social media content for CBA

June 2016 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Begin to create contact list of potential CBA clients

Design media kit and Analyze social media accounts for CBA

20 Print physical copies of digital promotional designs

27 Pick up printed CBA promotional items

Continue with social media post creations

Order koozies, pens, etc. for ODays

10 Design different promotional items for CBA

Officially begin to contact clients about CBA

4 th

SATURDAY

July 4 weekend off

Draft press release for CBA

Finalize contact list and official CBA materials

FRIDAY

Follow up with hard-to-reach potential clients

Contact Auburn University for ODays spot in August

July 2016 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Finalize contracts with clients and begin plans for ODays

Send in client logos for promotional items

Create social media campaign to publicize CBA at O-Days

Design digital promo items for clients

Make sure all CBA promotional items for O-Days have arrived

Continue creating content for CBA social media

Write blog post about CBA

Auburn Summer Classes End

August 2016 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Write blog post advertising ODays

Plan how tables and items will be presented at ODays

Auburn Classes begin

Confirm spot at O-Days

Train employees how to speak about CBA

Gather and finalize all materials for ODays

O-Day arrive 30 minutes early to set up

Appendices A.

Examples of Communication: Twitter

Examples of Communication: Facebook

This photo can be used as a cover photo for an event. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Join the Campus Brand Ambassadors on the concourse this Tuesday from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. for goodie bags, information and more! Be sure to hashtag #campusbrandambassadors on Facebook and twitter for the chance to win free merchandise!

Collateral for Events

The graphics below can be put in the goodie bags to be handed out on campus. They can also be posted in social media to add visual to informational posts.

Transcript from Focus Group

Q: In your opinion, what does being a brand ambassador entail? Participant’s answers: Part-time work with a flexible schedule. Handing out free things. Planning events for college students to come and get free things. Q: What are some ambassador programs you have heard on Auburn’s campus? Participant’s answers: PINK, Spotify, Yik Yak, Jessica Simpson, Bud Light, Hanky Panky, some moonshine brand came one time. Q: In regards to brand ambassador programs what do you feel are the expectations of the sponsoring brands or groups?

Participant’s answers: to provide things that people will want, like if its koozies and stuff like that people are interested in. But like, Victoria’s Secret will pass out those stupid little stuffed dogs which is pointless. So, you want whatever you give out to be something that people will actually want not just something that is easy to give out. Q: So say Victoria's Secret is the company, what do you think they as a company expect out of their brand ambassadors? What kind of qualities do you think they want in someone to represent them? Participant’s answers: Someone who is outgoing, and social. And I feel like it is probably specific based off of whatever organization it is too. People that aren’t afraid to just talk to anyone. Or I guess they would want you to be in a specific group, like a sorority or fraternity, so they would know more people. Q: What are the most positive characteristics of brand ambassador programs or teams you have been exposed to? Participant’s answers: They have really good social media. The girls on Victoria’s Secret are always posting the cutest stuff. They are really good with that. Yik Yak brought that mechanical bull that was a huge thing. Q: What are some negative characteristics of brand ambassador programs or teams you have been exposed to? Participant’s answers: When people are overbearing or obnoxious because you can tell who wants to talk to you and who doesn’t. On the concourse for example, they will go out to you regardless of if you are avoiding eye contact or not, so be sensitive to that. Q: If you could design your ideal brand ambassador program to be a member of, what would some of the characteristics be?

Participant’s answers: On my own terms, when I am available. Properly placed for what the product is, for example Victoria’s Secret will do stuff at Moe’s Barbecue and stuff on certain nights when girls will be there, they make sense where they put it. Like they should tell you where to be. Q: What are some social media platforms that you use in personal your life? In your job? Participant’s answers: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. Q: Do you feel like there is a difference between the types of social media you use in your personal life then in your work life? Participant’s answers: Yes. Twitter more with work and Facebook more with work, it's more appropriate than Instagram. Q: What social media do you like to see brands advertised on? Participant’s answers: Instagram, I love when they do the sponsored ads, it is always something I want. If Snapchat does the sponsored ones with geotag, I look at those. Q: What types of brands are you interested in? Participant’s answers: Clothes, makeup and stuff, and the food ones. The Wendy’s ads always pop-up, I love that. Q: What types of brands would you be more interested in hearing about through a campus brand ambassador program? Participant’s answers: From the brand ambassadors I would like to see free things. At another campus, I saw them handing out Kind Bars, which is small and cheap. Q: If you were to join a campus brand ambassador program, what benefits would you be looking for to keep you interested in the program?

Participant’s answers: It would be nice to get frees stuff. Or maybe like if you were to go to that company you could get a discount. Q: In your opinion, do you think being a Campus Brand Ambassador sounds appealing to juniors/seniors in college? Participant’s answers: Yeah, it is something to put on your resume. It would be easier because you know more people when you are older. But if you were a sophomore it will give you more time to build up your knowledge of the brand. Seniors are worried about finding a real job. Q: What kind of events would you be interested in helping with as a Campus Brand Ambassador? Participant’s answers: Ones that take place downtown. Q: How many hours a week would you be willing to spend as a Campus Brand Ambassador? Participant’s answers: Not that much. Probably like eight or so hours max. Q: Are there any ambassador programs that you think are doing a great job promoting brands/events on college campuses? Participant’s answers: PINK is the best, Bud Light is pretty good too they are always giving out free stuff. Red Bull or the tanning place is always giving out free stuff. The Jessica Simpson brand is always giving away free things. Q: What pay would be worth your time? Participant’s answers: I would say at least minimum wage. Like $12 an hour. Minimum wage would be fine if you were getting free stuff too. Minimum wage could be fine if you had control over your hours.

Q: What do you think is the most effective way to promote different brands to students? Participant’s answers: Free stuff, free koozies or anything with their name on it. Even coupons to use on the more expensive items they sell. Q: What brands are you interested to see come to Auburn’s campus? Participant’s answers: If Verge Pipe had an app that shows which companies are giving away free stuff on campus. Snapchat that would be fun or even Instagram. I wouldn’t complain if Free People came and gave away free stuff. Maybe Target too.